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Newsletter - June 2010
Hello
everyone!
Just back from my hour power walk in the park on such a beautiful day. Yes,
the latest research on women above age 40 is that they need an hour of vigorous
exercise a day! This information is from a book by Miriam E. Nelson, PhD called The
Strong Women's Guide to Total Health
Managing stress and anxiety.
I have most recently seen a number of patients plagued with anxiety. I thought some discussion on this topic would be helpful to all.
There are many reasons in this day and time that people seem to be increasingly overwhelmed with worry and anxiety... along with this depression. Certainly stress related to the pressures of the economy being down, terrorism and personal pressures (especially the cumulative effect of many events) can lead to anxiety. This is known in the field of psychiatry as "Generalized Anxiety Disorder".
The symptoms are many: hyper-vigilance (a constant
edgy and watchful feeling), nervousness, shakiness, difficulty sleeping or
relaxing, dizziness, sweaty palms, heart palpitations, worry and negative focusing.
It becomes difficult to concentrate and focus. Headaches and GI (irritable
bowel) can occur. These symptoms can greatly interfere with daily functioning
to the point of having to go to the emergency room.
Symptoms can initially be managed with medications....primarily Benzodiazepines.
These are drugs like Xanex and Ativan. Care needs to be taken in taking these
drugs for long periods of time due to dependence in some people. Others, however,
do very well maintaining themselves with these medications for long periods
of time. Another medication used is a beta blocker like Inderal.
How to manage stress and anxiety.
Psychotherapy using cognitive behavioral therapy along with insight oriented therapy and supportive therapy works very well. Another excellent mode is hypnotherapy. Teaching relaxation/stress management techniques as well as beginning a regular exercise program helps manage and reduce the symptoms. Initially combining these therapies with medication in many situations is definitely needed. Hypnosis can be used to defuse the symptoms and reframe the response to certain situations that provoke anxiety. Getting overwhelmed with our thoughts and catastrophizing needs to be addressed with certain people.
I was listening to a CD series by Dr. Gerald Epstein called Emotional Mastery. He refers to these thoughts as "emotional terrorists". This is most appropriate given the difficulty caused by these thoughts. Remember we think 40,000 thoughts a day and under stress can think 60,000. Most of these thoughts are repetitive addictive negative inner critic thoughts. Learning to effectively deal with them is the key to stress management and anxiety reduction.
Overall, in my experience given the right tools and concerted effort, most people are able to deal effectively with this problem.
What is anxiety?
Along with depression, this most ubiquitous of negative emotional states is
generated from within--as opposed to fear, which is a response to something
happening outside of us. The literal meaning of anxiety is a "twisted
rope"! Anxiety is always produced in relation to time--that is, in regard
to concerns about the future. We cannot actually know the future; it is only
potential, not something that actually exists. However, we tend to treat the
future as an actual thing, susceptible to being manipulated, controlled, or
modified. This unfortunate self deception, from which most of us suffer, prompts
the fretting and discomfort that characterize anxiety.
Anxiety Imaging Exercises.
Desert Storm
Close your eyes and breathe out three times. See yourself entering a desert
carrying a backpack. As you walk, you notice darkness, looming ahead of you.
You know this means a sandstorm of anxiety is coming toward you. As it approaches,
see yourself removing a folded tent from your back pack. Unfold it and set
it up, driving the four pegs into place, raising the tent, then going in
through the flap and closing it behind you. Sit peacefully in your tent as
you hear the sand blowing around and over the tent. Know that when you hear
the sandstorm pass completely, your anxiety has passed. Then open your eyes.
Blue Light
Close your eyes, breathe in and out three times, and see yourself entering
a beautiful meadow. See yourself taking in the blue-golden light, a mixture
of bright golden sun and cloudless blue sky, and breathing out the carbon
dioxide as gray smoke, which you watch drift away and disappear. Let everywhere
in your being, helping you to become calm and quiet. Let the blue light circulate
though your fingertips and beyond, to encircle your body in a sapphire blue
glow. See the inner and outer blue light linking. Know that your body is
a bridge allowing this linking. When you see the blue light link, know that
your anxiety has passed. Open your eyes.
Calm Water
Close your eyes. Breathe in and out three times. See and sense your entire
being becoming like the surface of calm water reflecting the starry sky.
When you have fully sensed this, know that your anxiety has gone, and open
your eyes.
Excerpted from:
Healing Visualizations: Healing
Visualizations: Creating Health Through Imagery
Imagery Credits:
Rope Knot: Leo Reynolds
Sand storm on the Sands of Forvie: Martyn Gorman
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