General Anxiety Disorder - Episode 12

Episode Transcript

(00:30):
Welcome to Psycho That Well dash me. I'm your host, Daniel Bartley,
along with Merhri Mar Weeks. Hieverybody. So today we're going to talk
about generalized anxiety disorder. But beforewe start, we want to put out
a disclaimer that this episode may betriggering for some people and is in no
way meant to replace mental health care. So go ahead, and Mary and
Mars start out with the ever popularfricking statistics. Yes, so it's estimated

(00:57):
that six point eight million adults inthe US from a generalized anxiety disorder,
but out of those, only fortythree percent ever seek treatment. More women
than men suffer from it, andit's one of the most common disorders that
people suffer. It's also gotten worseover the pandemic. They say that it's

(01:19):
estimated that there was a twenty fivepercent increase with the COVID pandemic and the
social isolation, and there's also beena spike in adolescence and they think that's
probably also linked not only to socialisolation, but as we talked about in
a previous episode, all the socialmedia and the lack of you know,
physical communication between individuals. Yes,and whenever we talk about anxiety. It's

(01:44):
normal. We all suffer from anxiety. Yeah, we all have anxiety at
some point. It's just whenever itbecomes persistent and interferes with your life.
So this is an excessive anxiety andoccurs more days than not. And it's
a worry related to basically everything.And you know, on a personal note,

(02:04):
I again have diagnosed myself with ageneralized anxiety disorder and a medicated for
it, because that's you know,it's just like you worry about everything.
It's just yeah, it's a persistentworry. You're overthinking things, right,
and you find it hard to controlthe worry, Like even if you want
to, you just can't stop thosethoughts in your head. And the anxiety

(02:28):
and worry associated more often than notwith yeah, yeah, No, anxiety
and worry are associated with three ormore of the following and occur more often
than not in the last month.And it's a restlessness or feeling keyed up

(02:51):
easily, fatigue, trouble with concentration, or your mind goes blank like mine
just frickin did, irritability, muscletension, sleep disturbance. This can be
trouble falling asleep, staying asleep,or not feeling rested, and like Danielle
said, it causes significant distress orimpairment. And I know, like a
lot of my patients who had this, they would say, like I go
to bed and it's like this tapein my head. I just can't you

(03:15):
know. My mind is like racingabout if this happens or if this happens,
and it's almost sometimes it becomes likecatastrophic thinking. So it's like the
worst case scenario and they just can'tstop that. Yeah, and it it
physically can oftentimes people are going tothe hospital because they think that they're having
a hard attack. Yeah. Yeah, because it can lead to a panic

(03:36):
attack of panic and then you havethe chest page, which we can talk
about panic disorder in another one anotherepisode. A lot of the risk factors
is again as most of the thingsthat we've discussed, there's a large genetic
component. I think everyone in myfamily suffers from GAD, including my children.
Unfortunately. Social isolation, childhood trauma, domestic violence are all risk factors

(04:02):
for this. Yeah, and differencesin brain chemistry and function, development and
personality. So the meds that weusually use for this are the SSRIs,
a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors, sothe zoloft, the prozacs, the paxels
selects. Yeah, effects are effect. Effects are a snri right, and

(04:29):
then also hand in hand with themedications. As we've said repeatedly, agnausium
is the therapy such an important partof this, Yes, to get to
how to stop that your mind fromgoing to those places. So some of
the things that they teach you ismindfulness, mindful of meditation. And that's
I know it sounds kind of maybefor some people, you know, I

(04:51):
don't know out there on left field, but mindfulness is just being present in
the moment, sensing and feeling andinterpreting your feelings without any judgment. So
you know you're anxious, I knowI'm anxious, and not judging that anxiety
and just like kind of talking yourway through that. And you can do
that through what they call mindful breathing. And that's just breathing in for five

(05:15):
seconds, holding it for five seconds, then out for five seconds. And
if you practice it, I mean, like the first time you do it,
it's not gonna work, but ifyou repeatedly practice it, it starts
to really help calm you down.Guide in imagery, which it doesn't have
to be guided after you do itfor a while. And you know,

(05:35):
we used to do that in groups, basically just taking yourself to a place
that you know, you feel relaxedand calm and seeing yourself in that space.
And then there's also the three thethree threes they say for overthinking.
Identify three objects, identify three sounds, identify and move three body parts and

(05:58):
you just keep doing that and andhave that overtake your thing that you're in
the present. And then the fivefour three two one, which uh and
this is especially good for panic attacksand I know from experience because I've had
them and it does work. Andthat's five things you can see, four
things that you can touch, threethings that you can hear, two things
that you can smell, and onething that you can taste. And again

(06:20):
you just keep doing that until youcalm yourself down. Yeah. Right.
Also to whenever we talk about medications, I'd kind of like to just touch
on benzon benzodiazepines. Yeah, beensorry, I was gonna say the other
one, benzo diazepines that they theyare very helpful for a short amount of

(06:42):
time. But and those drugs areyou're at a van xanax klonipin. But
we as I know me, Ican't say we, but me as a
provider, doesn't like to use themfor long periods of time because research shows
that they can become a thing andyour body will need more and more and
more of them. But they areused. They are definitely definitely used,

(07:09):
and they're definitely have it for me. But the and the thing is also
not only does it does it affectyour mind and body so you become dependent
on it, but then it blocksyour ability to deal with it because you
take it and well, now I'mhappy and it's gone. And then just
taking an sr SSRI I daily orss n r I daily will help hopefully

(07:30):
regulate the anxiety and the long run. So we are going to have a
special guest on a young lady thatis going to talk about anxiety and what
she goes through on a daily basisand what she does for her anxiety.

(07:53):
Our special guest today is going totalk to us about her generalized anxiety disorder
that she has. Welcome to theShell. Thank you, thanks, We
appreciate it so much of being on. So just kind of give us a
rundown, like when did you firstnotice that you had anxiety, meaning that
were you an anxious child? Didyou? Did you have anxiety more in

(08:20):
high school later on in life.I believe that I've had it most of
my teenage to adult life, butwithin the last couple of months, I
would say since the holidays, thathas really gotten worse to where I've noticed
it, others have noticed it,and it's becoming at times hard to manage.

(08:46):
Would you say that it affects youreveryday life, meaning that getting up,
going to work. Yes, Iit affects me in different ways,
depending on like what what like triggersit. There's times that I just want
to sleep. There's times that Iget so anxious that I feel like I'm

(09:07):
going to jump out of my skin. I get real itchy. I just
I isolate myself. I just wantto be alone. How about any other
signs and symptoms that you get.Do you get irritable at all? Yes,
I get very moody, I getemotional, and then I the smallest

(09:33):
thing can set me off. Howabout any side effects of rocking, sweating,
chestis comfort. I would say thatI've had the sweating. I thought
it was menopause, but I'm startingto think otherwise I do get the chest
pains, and it seems to mewhen I get really anxious, my blood

(09:58):
pressure goes out of whack. Yeah, okay. We talked about the different
things that the reasons why people dohave anxiety, some of the risk factors,
of genetic factors. Anybody in yourfamily have any mental health disorders,

(10:18):
whether it be anxiety, depression,bipolar. The only one that I know
one hundred percent is my mom.Okay. He suffers from chronic depression and
severe anxiety. I want to saythat my aunt suffers from the depression,

(10:43):
but that's never been confirmed to me. Okay. Now, also some childhood
trauma or any type of trauma.Have you had any trauma that you Yes,
I have had trauma most of mylife, although I did not know

(11:03):
about it until I recently started intoweekly therapy to try to figure out why
I am so up and down allthe time. Okay, And what do
you guys work on in therapy?Right now? We are doing E M
d R. It's a different kindof treatment. I was scared to death

(11:28):
just even considering it. It tookme a while to decide to do it.
But she just makes me, letsme have the control over what my
mind does, and we discuss anythingthat pops into my mind to whether it's
happy moments, sad moments, roughmoments, or just plain blah moments.

(11:52):
Yeah, and then what does shedo whenever you bring up these happy sad
moments? We discuss each of them, and then if it gets to be
where I don't want to, westop with that. She had me set

(12:13):
up like a box to where wheneverwe're done, we're going to tuck away
what we discussed in that box.That way, when I'm ready, I
can open it back up to continuewith the progress. That's great. Do
you feel like it's starting to work? Yes, I I worry about it

(12:37):
because I feel like I'm not makingprogress, but I do believe that I
am because I'm starting to notice differentthings about myself. And some times a
session is very emotional. Sometimes asession is very I'm very angry, but

(13:00):
then I on my drive home,I can reflect on it all and it's
just like a big relief has beenlifted. That's great because whenever people are
in therapy, people don't realize thatyou are reliving that trauma. And sometimes
it you know, it takes awhile because you are reliving everything correct.

(13:24):
A lot of people tell me thatit took all my life, that all
everything has happened all my life,So it's going to take some time for
me to rebuild what is broken.Yes, now, how about medication.
Have you tried medication management? Ihave, and I've tried numerous things.

(13:50):
I can't remember them all, butright now I am currently on taxel and
boost bar. Recently, the boothbarwas added because I was noticing the anxiety
was getting so bad, and myfriends noticed and they took the time to
say, telling, your anxiety isgetting bad. Well, that's great that

(14:13):
you have friends like that, becauseit's so important. We talked about on
another episode how important it is to, you know, notice things about your
friends, like if they start tocome isolated, notice things about your coworkers,
people that are generally you know thisupbeat, go happy, lucky,

(14:33):
and or you know, sad attimes and anxious. That we need to
notice these things and talk about it, you know, definitely, talk about
what's going on with them, openup, reach out, call them.
Definitely, It's so important to dothat. And that's great that you have
great friends like that. Yes,I'm very fortunate because I was. I

(14:58):
am one that that I isolate andI push a lot of my closest and
dearest friends away. But they nevergave up on me, and to this
day they are the reason that I'mstill breathing because they know they know me,
probably better than I know myself rightnow. Yeah, So I will

(15:20):
forever be grateful for the support systemthat I have. It does take a
village, yes, sometimes to makethings better, and I do not have
that with my family. So myfriends are my family, yes, and
that's hey. As long as youhave people that love you and care about
you, I mean, I havea huge network. I have family,

(15:41):
but I have a huge network offriends that I consider my best, like
the bestest friends that are family tome. And they're coworkers, they're friends,
they're they're just it's just amazing.So it really is. And the
biggest thing is is that they nevergave up on me when I wanted to
give up on myself. Yes,they wouldn't let me. Well that's awesome.

(16:06):
Who does to them? Shout outdefinitely? Yes, absolutely, And
I'm so grateful and I love themall more than they will ever truly know.
So how about do you do anylike mindful meditation, anything like that
ever, you know, like,this is why I'm anxious, this is

(16:26):
what I need to do, anythinglike that ever. Not I wouldn't say
so, because I'm the type thatI just sleep, Oh okay when I
get really bad or get really anxious. I'm a cat moam. So she

(16:47):
is like my life. And wheneverI start getting really anxious or something,
if I'm not home, I willlook in my camera just to say hi
to her and make sure that she'sokay. Yeah, she's my reason for
existing. She puts up with alot of tears. I hold her a
cuddler. I take a lot ofpictures of her because she's my baby.

(17:11):
Well, I think you should trythe mindful meditation too. I believe in,
you know, even the positive selfmanifestation in the morning. You know,
I get up because we all havebad days. I get up and
say I'm going to have a goodday now. Sometimes it doesn't work out
that way, but you know,just talking to yourself and it feels so

(17:33):
weird at first, but it reallydoes help. So if you could maybe
do that for me, and youcan let me know, like whenever you
get up in the morning, justbe like Hey, I'm gonna have an
awesome day. You know, I'mnot gonna let these triggers get me.
And if they do get you,then once you know you do get anxious
about it, I want you tostop and say, hey, this is

(17:56):
you know. I need to domy deep breathing to you know, do
these positive coping skills. One thingthat I will mention of everybody deals with
it in their own way. SoI get tattoos every once in a while,
but every tattoo has a meaning tome, and like the most recent

(18:19):
one is believe in yourself. Sowhenever I struggle, I will look at
some of my tattoos and remember whyI got there. Yes, can you
look at that tattoo every morning?Girl? I do? I do because
it's right on my heart. Wellgood, I'm glad. Yes. Anything

(18:41):
else you want to add or sayof you know people that are struggling,
I would want to say, don'tgive up. Don't let others ruin your
life. When there are other peopleout there that really do love you and

(19:02):
care for you and cherish you,even though it's hard, try not to
push them away. If you dopush them away, try to let them
back in. Let them know thatyou're struggling, don't completely isolate yourself from
the ones that truly do love youand care for you. And when you're

(19:23):
struggling, you do know which onesthat you can count on. Never give
up on yourself and never stop fighting. Oh I love it. Thank you,
thank you so much for being onand thank you sharing your struggles and
your story and your treatment, andthank you, and just remember you're never

(19:44):
alone. Take care, m