Episode 274: Anxiety Bytes: Any Tips for Brain Fog?
Join Kelli and Erica as they answer a question from one of our lovely listeners about brain fog... or brain frog if you're Kelli.
Show Notes
Question from a listener: Any tips for persistent brain fog?:
So, quick disclaimer, if anyone is experiencing new or persistent symptoms, it’s worth chatting with your primary care provider to rule out any underlying issues that may benefit from some care.
Ruling out brain fog, or any distressing symptom, as a stress or anxiety symptom can help us find some peace with it because it loses some of its fear factor when we know there isn’t a more sinister cause.
Brain fog is a result of chronic stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, and overworking. What do all these things have in common? A nervous system that is just tapped.
So, taking care of our nervous system can help us start to shift the cycle bit by bit. Take a nap or simply close your eyes and breathe just a little deeper for a few minutes. Prioritize sleep instead of another episode of…. Simplify and delegate. Move your body with a walk or a few minutes of dance or jumping. Take a cold shower, or splash cold water on your face. Crunch ice cubes.
Any symptom can become habitual in nature thanks to neuroplasticity, so the more we can work with the brain fog, or any symptom, without completely battling it while showing ourselves grace and compassion because it’s a frustrating cycle that can take far longer than we’d like to shift.
List to episode 271 with Christie Weepy and episode 269 about how symptoms, like brain fog, can become chronic for more on the cycle of anxiety symptoms.
Episode 273: Reframing Problems
Join Kelli as she chats about the power of reframing our problems.
Show Notes
Kelli discusses:
When we’re struggling with a challenge or problem it’s enticing to jump into analyzing and solving mode.
But research has found that a far more effective strategy for problem solving is to actually slow down and reframe by asking 1) What is the problem? And 2) Is there are different way to look at the problem?
Example:
1) What is the problem?
Admittedly, sometimes I get annoyed at my husband, and it seems like his tendency towards carelessness is the problem. However, I’ve come to notice that his carelessness of spilling crap everywhere doesn’t always bother me. It bothers me much more when I’m already feeling edgy, stressed, or tight for time.
2) Is there are different way to look at the problem?
Well, I could notice that I’m feeling stressed and tired. I could expand further and notice that there just isn’t enough time in the morning to clean up after making my kids breakfast. And there isn’t enough time in the morning because we’ve been getting to bed a little later and waking up a little later. So really, getting a little more sleep and getting to bed just 10-15 minutes earlier would make a big difference.
Keep in mind, if your body is feeling a lot of anxiety, give it a little support first before diving into reframing. We have lots of episodes on grounding and self-care for those high anxiety moments.
Here is an interesting webinar from the Institute of Coaching about problem solving effectively.
Episode 272: Illness Anxiety with Phil Lane
Join Kelli and guest Phil Lane, clinical social worker and psychotherapist, as the discuss Illness Anxiety.
Show Notes
Phil Lane is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist in private practice. He is also a proud anxiety and panic attack survivor. He specializes in the treatment of anxiety, panic, impulsivity, depression, and mood disorders. He is the author of the forthcoming book, "Understanding and Coping with Illness Anxiety," due to be published this November. You can find Phil on Instagram at @therapist_phil and his upcoming book at https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-and-Coping-with-Illness-Anxiety/Lane/p/book/9781032637914
Kelli and Phil discuss:
What does health anxiety look like?
Was illness anxiety part of your (Phil’s) experience and do you mind sharing a little bit about your experience?
What makes us susceptible to illness anxiety, especially when we haven’t necessarily experienced a specific health scare? And why can it become so sticky?
I think many of us that struggle with illness anxiety hold this belief about ourselves that we are neurotic or a hypochondriac, an outdated diagnosis these days. Can you clear up this misconception by sharing a bit about your experience with clients? Are those of us that struggle with illness anxiety neurotic nervous nellies, or is there something else going on?
How can we cultivate a sense of camaraderie with our body? I think those of us struggling with illness anxiety start to fear and even feel betrayed or frustrated by our bodies. How can we start to feel safe in this sensation-filled body of ours?
Episode 271: Anxiety and Chronic Pain/Symptoms with Christie Uipi
Join Kelli and guest Christie Uipi as they discuss how anxiety and chronic pain/symptoms go hand in hand, creating an anxiety-pain cycle, and how we can support ourselves in breaking that cycle.
Show Notes
Christie Uipi is the Executive Director of the Better Mind Center and a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. She lectures nationally on psychotherapeutic interventions to treat chronic pain and is committed to cross-disciplinary collaboration between mental health and physical medicine. Christie is also a recovered chronic pain patient herself. The healing process was so profoundly transformational for the quality of her life that she has dedicated her career to supporting others through their recoveries. You can find Christie at bettermindcenter.com.
Kelli and Christie discuss:
How chronic pain and anxiety go hand in hand?
How “pain” can also cover chronic uncomfortable or unsettling sensations that are caused and/or exacerbated by anxiety, like IBS, brain fog, fatigue, etc.
Christie’s personal journey with anxiety and chronic pain.
If I'm experiencing physical pain in my body, how do I know if it's being aggravated by my anxiety?
How can we feel safe coming home to a place we associate with pain and fear?
Techniques to help chronic pain sufferers get back into their bodies.
Episode 270: A Gentle Reminder for a Discouraged Day
Join Kelli as she shares a gentle and simple reminder to lean into on a discouraged day.
Join Kelli as she shares a gentle and simple reminder to lean into on a discouraged day.
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Given this discouraged day, what is one small thing that you’re able to do, easily within your reach, that is in alignment with your values?
When I think back to the hardest days of anxiety, the days when I couldn’t leave the house and was having multiple panic attacks a day, I was very consumed and very limited.
But, when I acknowledged that anxiety was my current reality, as painful as that was, and something that I was actively working through, I was able to start taking small steps toward a meaningful life.
So, on a really hard day I would move my body, one of my top values, by doing 20 min of yoga instead of a spin workout, or even though I couldn’t go grocery shopping, I’d have my husband pick up some ingredients on the way home from work and try a new recipe for dinner, and while I didn’t have a lot to give because I was so busy surviving, I was able to make my husband a cup of coffee.
I know these actions seem small, they were wayyyy smaller than how I wanted to be living my life at the time, but they were
a) within my reach and
b) in alignment with my values.
Here’s the thing, even seemingly small steps toward the life you want to live, what you care about or value, in spite of a discouraged day, still cultivates self-efficacy, the belief in yourself to take on challenges.
So, you can see why cultivating this, even in small ways, can support us as we start stretching and challenging ourselves more and more!
Even on a discouraged day, we can move toward our values in small simple ways that continue to grow that self-efficacy – discouraged days aren’t necessarily a complete loss. And sometimes we need a breather, which is valuable for nourishing a tapped nervous system.
Episode 269: Anxiety Bytes: How Do Anxiety Symptoms Become Chronic?
Join Kelli and Erica as they answer a question from one of our lovely listeners about how anxiety symptoms becomes chronic.
Join Kelli and Erica as they answer a question from one of our lovely listeners about how anxiety symptoms becomes chronic.
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli and Erica answer a listener’s question:
“I would like to know if it is common for people to experience anxiety symptoms that can last for days or weeks? I am always reading how anxiety symptoms can come and go, or shift quite rapidly, but there seems to be a lack of information on symptoms that can stick around for long periods of time. In my experience with anxiety over the last 5 years, I’ve noticed some symptoms can stick around longer than others, almost like my mind fixates on it and I can’t move past it. I LOVE your podcasts by the way, I have been a regular listener from Melbourne, Australia for the last 4 years.”
So, why do we experience chronic symptoms? Three words: HPA axis dysregulation. HPA stands for hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal. The HPA axis modulates a vast array of physiological processes, like our fight or flight response. Typically, the HPA axis is a negative feedback loop, meaning that when our corticosteroids increase to a certain threshold due to stressors, the hypothalamus slows or shuts down production of those corticosteroids.
However, the HPA axis can become dysregulated, becoming overactive in the face of trauma, anxiety, worrying, constantly burning the candle at both ends, etc. In a sense, we get stuck in survival mode.
Survival mode impacts our entire body. Being stuck in fight or flight mode causes all manner of chronic physical systems, like IBS, headaches, muscle tension, nausea, racing heart, etc. Cortisol also causes us to be chronically hypervigiliant and hyperreactive, causing us to become more sensitive to physical sensations when they do appear. It’s easier to feel fearful or reactive of the physical symptoms, perpetuating the anxiety cycle further.
This cycle is largely what underpins those struggling with chronic pain as well. So, that’s why so much of our work becomes about supporting the nervous system. When we support our nervous system, it recalibrates in a way that the HPA axis can becomes regulated and stop firing on all cyclinders all the time.
Episode 268: Gameplay and Storytelling to Heal from Anxiety with Daniel Hand
Join Kelli and guest Daniel Hand, therapeutic counsellor, author, and game designer, as they chat about the benefits of using tabletop role-playing games to navigate and heal from anxiety, trauma, and more. Not into Dungeons and Dragons like Dan and Kelli? No big deal, there are lots of ways to make this therapeutic intervention accessible to anyone, whether they're into hobbits or not!
Join Kelli and guest Daniel Hand, therapeutic counsellor, author, and game designer, as they chat about the benefits of using tabletop role-playing games to navigate and heal from anxiety, trauma, and more. Not into Dungeons and Dragons like Dan and Kelli? No big deal, there are lots of ways to make this therapeutic intervention accessible to anyone, whether they're into hobbits or not!
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli and Daniel chat about the uses of gameplay and storytelling in psychotherapy.
Dan shares what lead him to using role-playing games in therapy.
Dan shares what types of game he incorporates into therapy session, such as Dungeons and Dragons, the One Ring, and so many other genres!
Dan and Kelli chat about the value of playing a character that is molded from a version of themselves, but also removed or distances enough to see new perspectives and possibilities.
Dan shares what using role-playing games in therapy can accomplish that traditional therapy doesn’t always.
Dan and Kelli talk about the benefits of role-playing games for those that struggle with anxiety and trauma.
Dan and Kelli geek out about beholders and their dice collection.
You can find Dan at https://monomythcounselling.co.uk/
Episode 267: Anxiety in Sheep’s Clothing
Join Kelli and Erica as they chat about the tricky nature of anxiety and how they recently got bamboozled by it, as well as helpful reminders and more!
Join Kelli and Erica as they chat about the tricky nature of anxiety and how they recently got bamboozled by it, as well as helpful reminders and more!
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli and Erica chat about how everyone can get bamboozled by anxiety. Recently, Kelli slipped from being excited about a job offer for an exciting nurse coaching position, to obsessing over how she could make this opportunity work with her schedule and her family’s schedule. She was rutted before she even knew it… anxiety in sheep’s clothing.
How and why do we get rutted?
Sometimes it starts when we just want to "think things through" in order to make a decision.
But when we respond to a sense of urgency with more urgency we're actually innocently perpetuating the anxiety cycle. Frenzy feeds more frenzy!
Decisions made from scarcity breed more scarcity.
Biologically, some behaviors (e.g. avoidance, suppression, frenzy) send danger signals to our brains and bodies, which cues the fight or flight response.
As we react with more urgency, we cue more danger, more anxious thoughts, more physical anxiety symptoms, which we then react to with more urgency, cuing more danger, more anxious thoughts, etc.
We're not wired to solve anything from a place of do or die; our cognitive processing, emotional regulation, and perspective are disrupted. Stress hormones have a clear and measurable impact on our cognitive abilities. The only thing we're wired to be from a do or die place is react, in order to survive.
A solution…
Slow down; give yourself some breathing room by putting the decision on a shelf, and even stepping back and asking the bigger questions.
Recent research highlighted in an interesting webinar from Harvard's Institute of Coaching about effective problem solving indicates that most of us jump straight into analyzing and solving, but this is often ineffective and eats up precious mental bandwidth.
The most effective problem solvers slow down and step back; they step out of the details and reframe the problem by asking questions like “Am I even solving the right problem?” or "Is there a different way to look at this problem?"
It can be hard to see the value in slowing down and stepping back, especially when we're feeling urgency, but there’s truth to the expression "muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone."
Can you think of a time, however seemingly small or insignificant, when taking a step back was of value? Even when urgency, doubt, or distress were present?
Episode 266: Self-Compassion for Anxiety with Dr. Russell Kennedy
Join Kelli and Dr. Russell Kennedy as they chat about what self-compassion is, common barriers/challenges, work-arounds, and more! Spoiler alert: This episode aims to bring the abstract idea of self-compassion down to earth, so that it's accessible to anyone!
Join Kelli and Dr. Russell Kennedy as they chat about what self-compassion is, common barriers/challenges, work-arounds, and more! Spoiler alert: This episode aims to bring the abstract idea of self-compassion down to earth, so that it's accessible to anyone!
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli and Dr. Russell Kennedy discuss the power of practicing self-compassion, especially when struggling with anxiety and alarm.
What is self-compasion? Self-compassion is the essence of healing!
Benefits include increased resilience and increased motivation to make changes and reach our goals.
Kelli and Dr. Kennedy discuss how they have benefited from the practice as well as the barriers they faced to practicing self-compassion.
Kelli shares how it felt abstract and inaccessible at first. Finding practical applications helped.
Dr. Kennedy shares how he felt resistance to self-compassion, at first.
Kelli:
If I catch myself asking “what’s wrong with me?”, I’ll simply ask “what do I need right now?” I’ll switch gears from trying to solve or fix, which completely overlooks my expeience and is quite dehumanizing, to actually listening and understanding what I’m feeling and what might support me. 8 times out of 10 the answer is a 10-15 minute power nap!
Other times it’s too feel grounded by walking on the grass or hugging my friend Mandy.
Somatic exercises, like butterfly hug. My body really likes any type of tapping over my thymus gland on my chest.
Resourcing. Imagining a place or person I feel warmth, joy, light, and safety. Even when I was completely consumed by panic attacks, my mom or husband would instill some sense of safety, that’s why I reached out the them!
Dr. Kennedy:
I imagine my younger self and sometimes even look at a picture while beaming love, kindness, and support.
It doesn’t really matter what we “do” to show ourselves self-compassion, it’s more about the essence of holding ourselves in a warm, loving, and kind regard, like we do with a pet or loved one!
Episode 265: The Subtle Oppression of Relentless Self-Improvement
Join Kelli and Erica as they chat about the subtle oppression of relentless self-improvement. Spoiler alert: Sometimes less is more when it comes to self-growth and healing!
Join Kelli and Erica as they chat about the subtle oppression of relentless self-improvement. Spoiler alert: Sometimes less is more when it comes to self-growth and healing!
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli and Erica chat about a quote from Corey Muscara, a meditation teacher, former monk, and instructor of positive psychology at UPenn: “sometimes you just need to stare out of a window and do nothing. Don’t meditate. Don’t problem solve. Don’t even try to relax. Just let yourself be without the subtle oppression of relentless self-improvement.”
We have internal and external expectations to work 40 hours a week, be an engaged parent, exercise, meditate, make healthy meals, volunteer in our community, get outside, etc. This is just too much for one person!
Dr. Sarah Woodhouse said it well, when we’re feeling tapped, overwhelmed, triggered, etc. one of the best things we can do is SIMPLIFY.
It’s ok to give yourself permission, you don’t need anyone else to give you permission, to slow down, simplify, and play or engage in an activity for the sake of doing it, not because it meets some self-improvement end goal.
There is so much value in unstructured time and play too. Play includes anything you do recreationally that brings you joy or excitement, whether it’s a video game, sports, writing short stories, woobling, collecting stamps, etc.
Research shows that play has lots of benefits, like boosting overall well-being and life satisfaction, helping us cope with stress, and improving our physical health.
It’s a nice reminder that we don’t have to constantly be “working” on ourselves or toward a goal to grow and change. By just being we’re taking care of ourselves and our mental and physical health and well-being too. Play is self-care.
Episode 264: A Mindful Moment to Change the Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety
Join Kelli and Erica as they chat about a short and simple "off the cushion" (a.k.a you don't have to be seated with your eyes closed on a cushion chanting ommmmm, unless you want to!) mindfulness exercise to change the neurobiology of fear and anxiety. What does woobling and bird watching have to do with changing the neurobiology of fear? You'll have to tune in to find out!
Join Kelli and Erica as they chat about a short and simple "off the cushion" (a.k.a you don't have to be seated with your eyes closed on a cushion chanting ommmmm, unless you want to!) mindfulness exercise to change the neurobiology of fear and anxiety. What does woobling and bird watching have to do with changing the neurobiology of fear? You'll have to tune in to find out!
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli and Erica chat about the neurobiology of fear and anxiety. Kelli and Erica discuss:
Big Bang Theory is a great show no matter what Erica says.
Nerdy nerd nerd: different fancy sounding parts of your brain have different jobs.
When we are distressed, some of those parts of our brain stop communicating with one another. Check out this wonderful video from Tara Brach that we reference.
Mindful moments - when we bring an open compassionate curiosity to our experience, we change the neurobiology of fear and help integrate the different parts of our brain again.
Next time you’re plagued by distressing intrusive thoughts, try this exercise
Notice and name the thought.
Example: “I’m having the thought that I’m not good enough" or “I’m having the thought that I’m going to lose my shit on the airplane.”
Then see if you can step out of the context of the thought and notice what emotions are coming up in your body. Fear? Shame? Sadness? Defeated? What are the characteristics of the emotion, in other words how do you know it’s fear or sadness?
Mindfulness re-establishes and reinforces a solid communication connection between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system, allowing the prefrontal cortex to become more adept at down-regulating fight or flight when anxiety and overwhelm arise.
A study from UCLA found that when we consistently name an emotion and drop into its felt sense in our body, like we did in the quick exercise earlier, rather than get caught up in the content of our thoughts, it activates the prefrontal cortex and deactivates the limbic system, meaning more balance and presence and less fear.
If anyone know how to wooble and can tell Kelli how to make Doug the pug’s snout, she’ll be eternally grateful.
If you leave us a written review, please shoot us an email at notanotheranxietyshow@gmail.com to let us know you did so and we’ll mention you by first name only, if you’re ok with that, and give you some love in the next episode!
Episode 263: Defusing Anxious Thoughts with Shit Talking Shrinks
Join Kelli and guests Paulie Siegel and Victoria Aron, two licensed therapists, as they discuss strategies for working through anxious thoughts in the context of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Join Kelli and guests Paulie Siegel and Victoria Aron, two licensed therapists and hosts of Shit Talking Shrinks, as they discuss strategies for working through anxious thoughts in the context of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli interviews Paulie Siegel and Victoria Aron, two licensed therapists and co-hosts of the podcast Shit Talking Shrinks where they break down mental health topics, the human experience, and society at large.
Kelli, Paulie, and Victoria discuss:
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
Common myths surrounding acceptance
Unpleasant thoughts and emotions are part of normal healthy psychological functioning, not an indication that you are deficient.
It can be hard to accept painful thoughts and emotions when struggling with anxiety, OCD, or panic attacks because anxiety can be so limiting that it feels like something must be wrong.
Examples of ACT-based strategies for working through anxious thoughts and emotions, such as defusion and expansion
Values-based living.
Our personal experiences (and challenges) with incorporating ACT into our respective lives - it’s not always roses!
It doesn’t matter if a thought is true or not, it only matters if the thought is serving and supporting us in living a meaningful life.
Episode 262: Intuitive Eating to Ease Food Fear and Anxiety with Gillian Hood
Join Kelli and guest Gillian Hood, intuitive eating coach, as we talk about the relationship between food and anxiety, as well as how intuitive eating can help us make peace with food.
Join Kelli and guest Gillian Hood, intuitive eating coach, as we talk about the relationship between food and anxiety, as well as how intuitive eating can help us make peace with food.
To tune into the episode, listen on iTunes or Spotify.
Show Notes
Kelli interviews Gillian Hood. Intuitive Eating coach Gillian Hood supports women in breaking free from disordered eating, body hatred, and a life revolving around food. Learn more about Gillian and her work here.
Kelli and Gillian discuss:
What is disordered eating? What are the similarities and differences between disordered eating and eating disorders? How does body image fit into it?
How does anxiety exacerbate eating and body issues? How do eating and body issues exacerbate anxiety?
Food and body focus/obsession can be coping mechanisms as well as distractions to avoid anxiety and other uncomfortable feelings. Why doesn’t that coping work well long-term?
It's not about the food or your body! It’s about understanding where your food/body challenges, beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors come from (childhood, peers, diet culture, online sources, healthcare, the wellness industrial complex, etc.). Understanding your food/body challenges is an important part of beginning the healing process.
Other factors that influence food and body issues, which are often forgotten or ignored, include trauma, social determinants of health, racism, classism, ACEs, and two relatively new "isms" - sizeism and healthism.
The main components of making peace with food and your body: unlearning diet culture, intuitive eating, Health at Every Size®, self-compassion, becoming your own best expert on you and your body.
What you can do today to begin to heal and make peace with food and/or your body.
One way that anxiety shows up in kiddos is with food habits because it’s one of the few areas they have some autonomy/control. It can becomes a maladaptive coping habit, but it’s also normal for kids to exert control in this area.
Kelli shares her own experience with controlling food. It wasn’t about losing weight but control through “food matching.” Now when old habits creep in, it’s an indicator that she needs to tune in and see what she’s feeling and what she might need more or less of in her life. It’s an indication that more self-care, not self-control, is needed.