Episode 3 - Talking Anxiety and PTSD

Globally an estimated 284 million people worldwide have experienced anxiety at some point. If you are one of the 284 million how can you deal with it and if you are not how can you avoid it? Today Vanessa and UNLV Psychology graduate student Shadie Burke discuss what anxiety and PTSD are, how to treat them, and what are some common myths.

Ok, But Seriously airs Tuesday evenings 6-7 pm on 91.5 KUNV The Rebel HD-2.

Show Notes

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What is Ok, But Seriously?

Ok, But Seriously airs Tuesday evenings from 6-7pm and gives you the information you need in the way you want. Vanessa Lauren, UNLV broadcast major and Vegas native, talks about her passion for people, history and storytelling. Join her as she breaks down all of the serious topics in a non-serious way. If you are looking to learn and laugh this is the show for you… seriously.

0:00:00
Hello, hello, and welcome back to Okay, But Seriously, the show where we talk about serious topics, but in a non serious way. I am your host, Vanessa Loren, and you're listening to 91.5, the Rebel HD 2, KUNV, the broadcast service here at UNLV. We are listener supported. So we want to thank you for tuning in first and foremost. Tonight, we are tackling the topic of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, which ironically as I was putting this together, I was like, oh my gosh, I definitely have anxiety about this. So I'm glad we're going to talk about it. I do have an in-studio guest here who's going to help me break down these terms and give us some advice and resources and then we're getting into like a game and a couple other um, some ways to deal with anxiety and things like that. So stick around. So tonight joining me is Shady. Is that how you say it? Okay, I want to make sure I say it properly. Shady Burke. She's a graduate student here, studying clinical psychology, originally from New York. Welcome. So Shady, let's start with like, just talking about yourself. So let's see. This question is always so much fun. Okay, what exactly do I touch on? So my name is Shadi Burke. I'm a fourth year in UNLV's clinical psychology PhD program and a lot of my research primarily focuses on child maltreatment and PTSD. So what do I do here? Essentially, I look at the different ways that PTSD can present, particularly in kids, in terms of externalizing behaviors with substance use, self-harm, high-risk sexual behavior, and things like that. Now those are pretty heavy things. So we just met, we don't know each other, but I feel like to go into that, was there a reason that drew your attention? Because those are heavy topics. So why are you interested in this?

0:01:55
So it kind of stems a little bit from just where I grew up. So I grew up in more of a low-income neighborhood, so a lot of the kids around me were dealing with a lot of traumatic issues. And kind of what we know, because they were racial and ethnic marginalized youth, they didn't get the support that they needed. So seeing that kind of them dealing with their trauma be treated, you know, in a different way, with not necessarily getting access to a therapist, being more likely to get suspended because of how their trauma presented, I wanted to figure out how can I best support them? How can I give them a voice and the attention that they need? And then that's kind of how I got here. And here you are with us. Okay, so let's just start with defining anxiety because I know for myself that it's a term that gets tossed around a lot. So can you give us kind of like the clinical definition of what anxiety is? The clinical definition. Okay, so anxiety is essentially intense fear and worry about just a perceived threat or a threat that you think is going to happen. Usually we'll see a lot of worries attributed to the past. So think about when you're laying in bed and you're like, oh my God, I can't believe I said that or why did I wear that today? Or a lot of people get stuck in the future where they're like, okay, do I have enough time to study for this exam? Or, oh my God, how do I interact with this person tomorrow? So anxiety is just really that kind of anticipation, that fear that comes from just what is going to happen or what did happen.

0:03:24
Okay. So I feel like that's something everybody faces to some degree, but I don't know. I mean, I know I deal with that. So is it very common? Like is it something that everybody deals with at some point.

0:03:38
Yeah.

0:03:39
So, anxiety is very, very common. It's one of the most common. About 19% of the population in the US will have some type of anxiety disorder. And I love that you touched on, like, I feel like I have anxiety. I feel like a lot of people do, because at some levels, anxiety is common. Doing this radio show is very anxiety provoking, and that's common. Sliding into someone's DMs, what are they going to say? That anxiety is common. But when it starts to interfere with, oh my God, I don't think I can do this presentation, or I don't think I can go to this social situation, or I'm only getting three to four hours of sleep tonight because I'm so worried about what's going to happen, that's when we start to get a little bit concerned about how the anxiety is impacting you.

0:04:21
Okay, and then flipping the coin over to PTSD, my knowledge is very basic. When I think PTSD, I think like men and women who've been to war. So what's that clinical definition?

0:04:33
Yeah. So that is something that's kind of common. When a lot of people think about trauma, they think kind of only in the military sense. And that can be really helpful for like when we're looking at how does that look in the long term. But trauma is essentially any kind of unexpected event that occurs where you felt like your life was threatened. So it can be things like being in a car accident, a really serious medical condition. It can also be things like going through a sexual assault or any type of physical abuse or domestic relationship.

0:05:04
Okay.

0:05:05
So that seems like you would kind of know. And I know you're still like studying these things, but is it common for people to not even know that they have PTSD?

0:05:16
Yeah.

0:05:17
So, like, in those cases, like, what are some of the things I guess you can look for in yourself to be like, oh gosh, I might have this?

0:05:23
So there are a few kind of things that go with PTSD. And you might have all of the symptoms and you might not have all of the symptoms. And you might have the symptoms directly after the trauma. And the interesting thing about PTSD is some people don't get symptoms until maybe six months or more later. Wow. So, some of the things you want to look out for is some of that anxiety, some thoughts about your self-worth. So, are you holding any guilt or self-blame about the event that occurred? Are you super hypervigilant? Are you always looking over your shoulder for something to happen? Are you really, really irritable and you used to not be able to, like, are you quick to anger when someone kind of brings something up? Are you quick to kind of snap at them?

0:06:05
I think it's something we all reference as like triggered, right? So what I hear you saying is I could be, I could go through something traumatic and be okay like that day, that week, that month and feel like I'm a rock star. I'm good. I don't feel affected. But then months from now, or even is it safe to say even years from now, I could go back to it in my head and that could be PTSD and I just don't know it. Because I would think for myself and people who aren't educated on this, we would think like, why do I still care about this thing? What's wrong with me? But it's very common for it to surface later. Oh, 100%. And it's also very common to have those thoughts of why am I still worried about this? This happened years ago. I'm in a happy, healthy relationship.

0:06:51
Why am I so triggered when my partner stands over me or something like that?"

0:06:57
Interesting. Okay. So if I or someone was in a... We'll just say, not abusive, even like... I think a lot of the times when it comes to relationships, we hear about domestic violence, but we don't hear often about mental and emotional abuse, right? So if someone was in an emotionally abusive relationship and they got out of it and they might think, okay, well I'm okay now because I'm with someone else. But then what you're saying is there can still be triggers. So okay, this sounds very like, I feel like if I'm listening to this, it's like, oh my gosh, there's no hope for me. But there is hope. We're going to get into some solutions here in a little bit. I want to quickly talk about people throwing around the term anxiety. Like I know amongst myself and even some friends of mine will say like, oh my gosh, I have so much anxiety about the smallest of things. Is that offensive to say for someone who's like actually been diagnosed with clinical anxiety?

0:07:48
That's, yeah, I've been thinking about this question a little bit. I think it has to do with the intention with the word. So I think for a lot of people, what we know about mental health care is not everyone has equal access to it. So some people can very well be having anxiety, but they don't have a clinical diagnosis. However, when we're using it to cover up saying something offensive, like, oh my God, what you said was so triggering, or what that person wear was so triggering for me, or you just talking is giving me anxiety, that can be really harmful because it a little bit devalues the impact that anxiety can have on someone. Because again, anxiety can be incredibly distressing. It can be incredibly impairing for someone to experience.

0:08:34
Which the irony is, I'm sure if someone actually has anxiety and they hear those things, it's going to make it worse for them, right? So we're not helping. What would you say someone can do as a loved one of someone who is struggling with anxiety? Because I think sometimes it boils down to like – and I say this in the most loving way, but you can have friends and family who are so anxious that you kind of almost don't want to be around them. You're like, gosh, like you're making me anxious. So is there anything that those who are maybe not as anxious can do to help?

0:09:05
Yeah, I think it's just being there, just being like validate the anxiety. Like, it is okay and it is normal for you to feel anxious about meeting a new group of people. That is so normal. And we want to validate that emotion. That doesn't mean we're like 100% condoning the actions that come from that. But we want to validate the emotion. And we also just want to sometimes just sit with people, sit with them and listen. Like, I am here for when you need me. And, you know, we want to just let them have the space for them to work through it. We can be like, do you want to take a walk? Maybe let's remove ourselves from this situation that's causing you anxiety to give you a second to kind of calm your brain down, to calm your breathing down, to calm your heart down.

0:09:48
Now, is it possible for someone who is anxious to be able to help someone else who is anxious or is that blind leading the blind? Because I feel like you have to set boundaries too, right? At some point you can't control and you can't be there for everybody. I feel like I'm talking to myself. How do you navigate that? If you're naturally an anxious person and someone else is also, let's just say you're in a partnership or even a friendship, how do you draw that boundary and say, hey, I want to be here for you, but I can't be your doctor.

0:10:25
I love that you talked about boundaries because I think that's something that we don't talk a lot about. We are so willing to kind of put ourselves on the ground, let people kind of take this place that we don't focus on ourself and we can't help other people if we're not doing good. So I think when things are going well and it's a calmer moment, having a conversation about these boundaries. Like, I want to be here for you, but I need to make sure that I'm well." So if you're feeling anxious, let me know and maybe we can play a song that we both like and we both kind of jive to, or we can watch a movie. But it's of course like setting that boundary ahead of time. You don't want to, when someone's kind of having a panic attack, being like, okay, so I need you to figure this out now because this isn't working for me. You don't want to have those conversations, but you want to wait until someone is more in a calmer state to kind of set those boundaries.

0:11:17
That makes sense. So don't wait until the last second.

0:11:20
Yes.

0:11:21
That's like when you're driving in the car and you're like, oh, that was our turn. And then the person's like, ah, okay, well, that's a little too late. So have the conversation ahead of time. That helps. Let's get into some of the common misconceptions about anxiety and PTSD. You can separate them or clump them together, whatever's easier for you. But what's some of the things maybe you hear even just studying it that maybe drives you a little anxious? You're like, stop saying those things.

0:11:46
I think part of it is that anxiety can only be treated with medication. That's the only way you can treat anxiety is through medication, and that's just not true. There is incredible therapies. The one that's most common is cognitive behavioral therapy, and that has been shown to be incredibly effective for kind of the long-term anxiety of diminishing symptoms and having less impairment on the individual overall.

0:12:09
Can you break that down, what that is? Cognitive behavioral-

0:12:13
Cognitive behavioral therapy, yes. Okay, so then I'm gonna have you actually do this exercise together. Oh, yay! So this kind of gets at it. So what I want you to do is I want you to cross your arms.

0:12:22
Oh, anyway?

0:12:23
Anyway, cross your arms.

0:12:24
Okay, I'm crossing my arms, okay.

0:12:25
Looks comfortable.

0:12:26
Which arm is on top?

0:12:27
My left.

0:12:28
Okay, and how does that feel for you?

0:12:29
Comfortable.

0:12:30
Comfortable?

0:12:31
Yes.

0:12:32
With a jive, this is normal.

0:12:33
Yeah, I feel like I'm ready to stomp my foot and be like, where were you?

0:12:36
Oh, rubbish. Okay, uncross, shake it out.

0:12:38
Okay.

0:12:39
Shake it out.

0:12:40
Shaking? Now, cross your arms again,

0:12:42
but put your right arm on top.

0:12:43
Oh.

0:12:43
How does that feel? Not comfortable.

0:12:45
Yes, uncomfortable.

0:12:46
Yeah.

0:12:47
So, essentially, with these types of things, your brain is so used to this one way. It's saying left over right is the right way to go, and it can be. There are some ways when that functions well. What we want to do with CBT is train your brain to see a different way as also functional. You weren't hurting yourself when you had that right over left. That didn't hurt you, it just felt weird. That's because your brain was just like, hey, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Why are you trying to switch things up on me right now?

0:13:17
Interesting. Okay. So it's kind of like embracing discomfort, trying new things.

0:13:22
Yeah.

0:13:22
Would you say that's like, let's say I get anxiety going to work, would it help to take a different path to work, like a drive a different way? Or is that like, not necessarily the, what you're talking about?

0:13:34
So with that, we want to kind of go into what is the purpose. So like, is that avoidant behavior? Because we don't necessarily want to avoid the anxiety. But some things you can do is just reframe some of the thoughts that you're having. So if you're having like, I don't want to drive this way because it's not safe, or these thoughts, reframing that thinking. What is fueling that worry for you? Or some other things you can do is deep breathing. I think a lot of what we forget about anxiety, we tend to think of it as this cognitive piece. We forget that there's a whole physiological piece, like that breathing, that heart rate. So just doing deep breathing, slowing down your breath, slowing down your heart,

0:14:14
can also kind of help on those ways. Okay, are there any other misconceptions, oh my gosh, misconceptions that you've seen or heard since you started studying this? I do, the medication one is a biggie. This is, let me think.

0:14:30
None that are coming to mind, and that's honestly probably because I'm just so used to always doing psychoeducation.

0:14:37
No, that's all right, but you hit one, and I think that's good enough for us to all be aware of and know that there's – everyone should educate themselves a little bit more on these things. Are there long lasting effects of, let's just start with, let's start with PTSD because when I again hear PTSD, I think of, yes, those military people have been through traumatic events and you almost feel like, okay, but you can't forget a traumatic event, right? So what are the long lasting effects for someone who's maybe thinking, I'm just tough, I'll just deal with it?

0:15:11
So the long lasting effects for PTSD without treatment, we start to see a lot of impairment in your kind of relationships with others, either your friendships, your family, a little bit because you're doing some of that distancing or maybe one of your friends or family are still interacting with a trigger for you, a traumatic person or things like that. So it might be triggering. We also see difficulties in memory, attention. It also increases your stress. So we'll also see a lot of cardiovascular problems, digestive problems, and stuff like that.

0:15:45
So it can definitely affect your physical health.

0:15:47
Oh, long-term without treatment, we're gonna see a lot of impact.

0:15:51
Okay, let's talk about resources. We've talked a lot about like, here are the things, and we actually are gonna get more into like, symptoms and things to look for, but let's give people a little hope here. What are some good resources and things you have for us? So again, both of these are incredibly well studied and we have the treatment available for the different things, depending on if you're looking for how to help support kids or if you're helping support adults. Things like finding a therapist in your area. The National Institute of Mental Health has a lot of information about anxiety and PTSD. If you go to the UNLV Psychology Instagram page, we have different tips for how to do some meditation if you're having trouble falling asleep or how to find a different therapist if you're part of a marginalized group. There's also books out there for kiddos to help them understand what is anxiety and how to help support them as well. Right, because you mentioned earlier, like, are you studying specifically younger individuals? This is something that I can start.

0:16:54
How young? Part of the work I do with my lab is with some kiddos that can be as young as around three to four, dealing with some issues with anxiety.

0:17:05
You would think, what could you be anxious about? You're so small, but you see it in them. At that point, they're able to communicate. Do you feel like they can verbally communicate what they're feeling at that point?

0:17:16
Sometimes. A lot of the times what we'll see with kids is they'll be talking more of the physical symptoms. So you'll have a kid that talks about having a stomach ache, and we have some kids that get so anxious that they might throw up. So it's kind of just always just checking in with your kid. If you know you're getting ready to do a play date and kid suddenly says, I have a stomach ache, you know, I don't feel good, you know, let's check into that a little bit more, kind of what's going on.

0:17:39
That makes sense. I'm not a parent, so I don't have the experience there, but I feel like if I was babysitting like my nephews or nieces and they were like, I have a stomachache, I would think, oh, you ate something bad. I wouldn't think like anything cognitive. So that's very interesting. Okay. So I want to talk about awareness before we go into our break here. Is there anything that the general public can be doing to help? And I feel like this is a heavy question. You're probably like, let me count the ways. But if someone's hearing this and they're like, okay, well, I don't have anxiety, but I want to help those who do, what can they do?

0:18:11
Um, just really kind of learn more about it, either reading it or kind of exploring different websites or books on your own. And also just being kind to the individuals around you, because again, you don't know kind of what they're struggling with. So being that validating space for them, being open to listen and kind of just sit with someone with what they're feeling, it's okay that you don't know the answer to everything. That's perfectly okay. Again, you're not their therapist. Right. You know, we want to make sure we're still having those boundaries. But I think just learning about like, okay, let me learn how to deep breathe. So if I see that, you know, my kid is really struggling, we can practice that deep breathing together. So just kind of being open to learning more about psychological disorders and how they

0:18:58
present.

0:18:59
Okay, awesome.

0:19:00
Okay, we are going to go into a quick break, and then when we get back, we're going to play a little true and false game, and then we'll get into some tips on what to look for. Again, you're listening to Okay, But Seriously. I'm Vanessa Lauren. I have here Shady talking to me about anxiety and PTSD, so if you're sitting on the freeway and you're feeling anxious in that traffic, stay with us. We're going to help you work through it. Deep breaths.

0:19:24
Okay, we'll be right back.

0:19:34
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0:20:05
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0:20:40
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0:21:29
All right, welcome back. I told you it was a quick break. I didn't lie. Welcome back to OK, but seriously, I am Vanessa Lauren you're listening to 91.5 the rebel HD 2 we are KUNV listener supported the broadcast center out of UNLV and tonight we were talking about anxiety and PTSD and here with me is Shady she is a studying to get her PhD for psychology so we are going through what anxiety actually is and ways you can treat it so now I'm going to play a little true and false game with you. So I've got a couple, like five little questions here and you tell me if they're true or false.

0:22:09
Okay.

0:22:10
Okay. So true or false, anxiety is the most common illness.

0:22:13
True.

0:22:14
Yes, that is true, which is wild when you think about it. It's like there's so many illnesses out there, which sounds also terrifying, but I was like, wow, the most common. Okay, true or false, approximately 40 million adults are diagnosed in the US every year.

0:22:30
I just taught this to my Psych 101 class.

0:22:33
True?

0:22:34
False.

0:22:35
No. Because it's 40 billion. Oh my goodness. I know. Isn't that way too much? Yes. I know. These are all coming from the National Institute of Mental Health, so I'm hoping that these are accurate. Okay, true or false, you can't have PTSD without having anger or temper issues?

0:22:51
False.

0:22:52
False. You said it so quick. You're like, that is so false. False. So let's talk about that for a second because I think that's a common misconception is, oh, if you have PTSD, you're waking up in the middle of the night, you're strangling your spouse, but that's not necessarily true.

0:23:04
No, no. There are a bunch of different ways for how PTSD can present and it's very person dependent. There are some of those common factors that we'll see, some of the irritability, like nightmares, flashbacks, but that doesn't have to be for everyone. We also see some people that essentially just go numb. They'll be emotionally numb. They will avoid all triggers. They won't want to interact with thoughts or emotions that are attributed to the trauma. We also might see some types of dissociation where they're completely separating themselves, where they might even lose memory of the traumatic event.

0:23:37
So, if someone's in a home with someone who's going through PTSD, and let's just say they're very distant, quiet to themselves, it's not to say that, oh, they have it, but they could. So it's not just someone who gets temperamental and throws things and is angry and acting out. It can come, which kind of makes it, it's like that Where's Waldo game. Like it's hard to find, but I would think, and I'm not an expert, but if you feel like you have it, or if you feel like someone in your family has it, maybe get checked first, right?

0:24:03
Yeah. There's no harm. And I think with, I think a misconception about a lot of psychological disorders is you feel like you need a diagnosis in order to see a therapist. And that's not true. If you are having any type of symptoms and they're causing you distress or they're causing some type of impairment, you can see a therapist. We can work with you through those symptoms and you don't need to meet full criteria for PTSD or anxiety for that. You can just be like, I'm really just struggling with test anxiety, and we can help you with

0:24:32
that. I think that's also something that people, especially younger people, feel like therapy is like, okay, that I'm... It's taboo, right? I don't need a therapist. Let's normalize therapy. I tell people, I go to therapy, and my partner and I go to couples therapy, and it's like taking your car to the shop. It's better to go and get it checked up than to go when it's completely broken down. Right? So I'm like, yeah, therapy is a good thing. It doesn't have to be this taboo thing. Right? Of course. Yeah.

0:25:03
You're like, what if you ever like, no, it's terrible.

0:25:04
That's a silly question. You're in this major. Okay. True or false. Everyone who's experienced a traumatic event experiences PTSD at some level?

0:25:14
Oh, I'm going to go with false for that one. Okay. I'm going to go with false, mainly because not everyone that has experienced something that's traumatic will go on to develop PTSD. They might have acute stress disorder, which is similar, but there are factors of resiliency that can help protect someone from developing PTSD. Am I right?

0:25:43
You are right.

0:25:44
Yay! Okay. See, I should just be able to give you your doctorate.

0:25:47
Boom, she nailed it.

0:25:48
Yes, thank you. No, it is false. And I was shocked by that. So it makes sense what you're saying, but I would think if you go through a traumatic event, naturally your mind and your body would go to this very negative place. But like you're saying, there's external factors. Maybe someone who goes to therapy, goes through a trauma and is able to...

0:26:07
Get those skills.

0:26:08
That's right.

0:26:09
Okay, the last one I have is, many PTSD symptoms are similar to the body's response of stress.

0:26:15
True.

0:26:16
Yes, this is true. Can you kind of walk us through what some of those symptoms are? Yeah, of course. So I think a lot of what we see even in anxiety disorders is that heart racing, is that sweating. When we're stressed out, we might be a little bit more irritable. Our mind might just kind of race where we're kind of unable to focus, but you'll see a lot of those kind of heart racing, breathing, sweating, things kind of going on. Okay. All right. The only time I sweat is when I go to the gym, so we're in trouble. I wanted to bring up this example. So for me, if you're like, okay, I picture stress and anxiety. Like you've ever seen Inside Out, the Disney movie?

0:26:58
No, it looked like it was going to make me cry. So I had to avoid it.

0:27:01
No! Okay, your homework is to go home and watch Inside Out. I love Inside Out. That's how I like deal with my anxiety because I picture in Inside Out, there's all these little characters sitting at a control board, right? And they don't necessarily have anxiety, but they do have disgust and then they also have fear. I feel like anxiety is a mix of those two. When they take the controls, when fear takes control, he can't handle anything. That's what I picture when I picture anxiety. I'm like, oh my gosh, fear, get off the controls, please. I don't know if anyone can relate to that, but that's what I think of when I think of anxiety. Let's get into some of the top causes. So I pulled these from Psych2Go. I'm sure you're familiar. Maybe not, but I'm not in your major. This is where, as a journalist, I went here for, they are a company that raises awareness about mental health, and they kind of break it down from the heavy jargon. They do quizzes and YouTube videos and articles, so easy to digest. So here are the top six causes for anxiety that they had. And I'm going to go through them with you. And if you have any examples, that'd be cool. So the number one thing is overthinking, which I was like, that's a symptom. I think I feel like that's anxiety. So they broke it down as like, overthinking is making a big deal about everything. So when you're reading too much into anything, can you think of an example of someone overthinking something? So I think of just like the basic of when you're going to take a test and you're sitting

0:28:26
there and you're overthinking every question, right? Yeah. So you get to this question, you know you know it, you know you do, but you're like, but what if it can be this one? But what if it's this one? But what, you know, there was that one time when I saw this one documentary where there was this overthinking that you kind of psych yourself out a little bit. Is there ways to prevent or stop that? Like if I'm in an overthinking state, what do I do? So it's a little bit of that reframing of that thought and also engaging in that positive self-talk, reminding yourself that you know this, you got this, you have studied for this.

0:29:00
Okay, that makes sense. I think when I think of overthinking, I think like two girlfriends sitting at lunch and you're breaking down the text messages of the person you like.

0:29:09
We do that.

0:29:10
I might like slightly support that. So yes, but that can also be another one.

0:29:16
Yes, that's very much what I think, like when we look at every period, comma, this and that. Okay, the second one is overachieving. Okay. Okay, so it says, overachieving is overworking and stressing about unrealistic goals and staying busy. Yeah. And anyone out there who's listening who knows me personally is like, you need to listen to your dang self. This is something I struggle with. So I love that it was on the list because I think sometimes overachieving is equated to you're just working really hard. And now the society we live in, everyone has to work two jobs, right? You're probably working a job in school doing all the things. I don't think we really need an example of overachieving other than all of us probably do it. Is there anything we can do in that to like, like alleviate that pressure of overachieving?

0:30:03
I think it's understanding where these goals that you're setting for yourself are coming from. Are you trying to achieve someone else's expectations of what you can do, or is it what you want? And kind of resetting those goals, setting boundaries if you need to. If someone's asking too much of your time, how can you set a stricter boundary with them so you're not overachieving, so you're not burning yourself out.

0:30:25
See, and like, I don't know if it's my age or my industry, and I hope my boss isn't listening, but when I hear what you're saying, the only thing that comes to mind is work. When you're, like, kind of, not at the bottom, but when you're in the position of beginning a job and someone higher up is asking you to do something, that's very intimidating. Oh, 100%. Right? So then you, like, it's not even the overachieving part is just, I always tell the older generation, so I'm 32, I'm a millennial technically, and I tell those that are in their 40s and 50s that get anxious, or anxious, they get annoyed that we're always on our phones. I'm like, look, we are emailing, we are working, because it's a constant thing, our jobs, right? So that can also be categorized, I feel like, into overachieving. But we set those boundaries. If you're, go back to your job description, be like, it's not in my job description. I don't have to do it. Okay, the third one is low self-esteem. So this one's pretty straightforward as well. It's talking to more about like the internet and the pressure of not just social media, but just societal pressure, right? I've heard a lot about this, like self-doubt and that, like, oh, stay off the, stay offline. Not very realistic for the time we live in, but let's just say I'm scrolling through Instagram and I start seeing a couple posts that are like making me feel like gosh, I'm not doing anything What's something in that moment that I can do other than put my phone down? Is there something that like again your talk you've talked a lot about like changing the thought right? Is there anything else in those moments? Um, I think just

0:31:57
reminders and again that positive self-talk of you are doing things and Start thinking about like what are you doing in your life that you are proud of one you got up this morning That is absolutely fantastic. You might have taken a shower which also ten out of ten Yes, you are in school. You're thriving So again, like who are you trying whose expect expectations? Are you trying to live up to? And also when you're having that thought of, I'm never going to be that, reframe that. Who are you and how can you reframe that thought to help validate yourself? Don't forget to validate yourself.

0:32:37
Now in your studies, I'm going to be super transparent here, I just realized my phone has a mental health check in it. I don't have an iPhone, I have a Google phone. realized that I spent an average, it said like four hours on TikTok a day.

0:32:54
That's me.

0:32:54
Yes.

0:32:55
And a part of me is like, okay, but it's really good. So like, it's not my fault. But the other part of me is like, that is way too much time. So I put locks on my apps now. So I only have 30 minutes a day on each app and then it kicks me out. Yes, I could go back in and change it, but I don't, I keep myself accountable. Um, are there things in like parameters and things we can put in place, especially like the younger generations to prevent having this like low self-esteem, self-doubt, the stuff that you've maybe read about and learned about? First of all, I guess the first question I have for you is, is it common? Is it common to feel low self-esteem? 100%. Okay. So I think everyone out there, if you're listening and you have self-doubt, you're not alone. Things you can set up to prevent those things, other than capacity on your social media. Is there anything else you can do?

0:33:46
You are, to a certain extent, in charge of your environment, so you're in charge of what do you interact with. So setting limits on that, following more body positivity posts or more positive thinking posts. Start every day with positive affirmations. You know, I don't know if you saw that TikTok video of the little kid that's saying like, I am like wonderful. So doing things like that, it sounds silly and it sounds weird when you first start it, but it'd be so encouraging for yourself to just be like, you know what, I am fantastic. I am wonderful. And just going,

0:34:19
starting every day with that mood. Pumping yourself up. I like that. I can do that. I can be my own cheerleader. Okay. We're talking about top causes for anxiety. If you're just tuning in or joining us, welcome back. Welcome. This is Okay, But Seriously, I'm Vanessa Lauren, and I'm sitting down with Shady. She is a psychology major here at UNLV going for her doctorate, and we are breaking down the top causes of anxiety. Number four is pessimistic thinking. It hurts, right? Worrying about the worst things that can happen. So if you look, I have two, my first tattoos on my hands here. One side of my hand says, pray more. The other side says, worry less. Because I am a Christian based person, but I have so much worry that I had to literally put it on my hands. And it's funny, because I went in for the tattoo and the lady's like, I was like, I wanted it facing me. And right now it doesn't. So if I put my hands together and like a praying, like you can read it, right? But it's upside down to me. And so she's like, no, you want it this way. And I was like, no, cause I can't read it. She's like, no, it won't make sense. But every time I drive, it's right in front of me. So it's like a reminder of like, you got to stop worrying about things that aren't gonna happen. Easier said than done. Do you see this often in your studies? Yeah, it's very easy to kind of go to that place. Some suggestions for that is kind of breaking it down to what is the best that could happen, what is the worst that can happen, and what will actually happen. So it's always going to be somewhere in that middle part and just kind of, again, reframing. No, reframing seems to be the key here. And that's good because we don't know, like someone could just be jumping in right now. They might have heard us say it earlier or the more they hear it, it might help them to know like, hey, yes, this is what it is. Okay, the next one I have here is a traumatic event. So avoiding anything that causes stress. And what I found interesting is in this article was saying that this is where phobias come from. So like when you have a traumatic event, like, I don't know, but I feel like I was exposed to a spider when I was little, because if I am near a spider, I will freak out. Is that, is there any truth to that about phobias?

0:36:40
Yeah, so that's essentially kind of how they're formed. We have this thing that for us was neutral, it didn't cause any type of reaction for us, it just kind of existed, and somehow during when we were interacting with that, something scary happened. So the best example is like swimming. So for most people, you see a pool, it's a pool, it's fine, it's whatever, but if you're a little kid, you don't know how to swim, and your family's just like, I'm going to teach you by throwing you into this pool. So you're the little kid, can't swim, now you're struggling to swim, you might have to get saved. So for that kid, this originally neutral thing, that pool, has now become something that is very traumatizing for them because they had this very traumatizing event happen with that

0:37:27
pool. Okay. So as adults, and for those of you who may not know or are just joining us, you are studying children. I would think, I see, even just online, you see videos of like really young people like getting on skateboards and doing these really, and our brain goes like, don't do that, you're going to fall, right? But they don't have that. Is that something that gets built into them by the adults that surrounds them? The anxiety of like not doing it?

0:37:56
Correct.

0:37:57
Like we all started that way, right? And now as adults, we're a little more cautious about certain things. Does that come from a place of what you're describing of being exposed to a negative event?

0:38:07
Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it can go a little bit of either way. We could have something that was really painful or traumatic associated with this kind of neutral event. It also could be kind of family pressures. So if our family is kind of instilling, if they're dealing with their own anxiety and they're kind of pushing it onto their kids, the kid might end up developing anxiety for that same because they're learning from their parents to make that same association. Got it. So yeah, we kind of always just want to be a little bit aware.

0:38:37
Okay. This is one more reason for me not to have children. The pressure. Okay. And the last one I have on this list for the top causes for anxiety, according to Psych2Go, is new experiences. And this one's kind of a good anxiety, like what you were describing at the beginning, going out of your comfort zone. You mentioned being here and talking on the radio and then maybe going and doing a presentation. So is there such a thing as good anxiety?

0:39:03
Oh, yes, yes. Anxiety in a sense, anxiety and stress, can help motivate us. Like, think of, you get your syllabus for your class, and you see on that syllabus that you have a writing assignment you have to do. You know, at the start of the semester, you're not worried about it, you're not working on it, you're like, I don't care, I don't have any stress about it, but now that assignment's due in four weeks. So you're stressed, now you're a little bit worried, so now you might start looking up a topic. It's going to start to motivate you a little bit. But of course, there's always too much anxiety, too much stress, kind of just completely like dulls us out, or we can't interact, but yeah, stress and anxiety can be good at a certain level.

0:39:40
Okay, so not to make it confusing, but if you feel anxiety about things that are motivating you, that's good. It's when it gets into the way of you doing day-to-day things is what we need to be concerned, right? Okay, now we're going to talk about the 10 ways to reduce anxiety, because we want to end on a high note. We want to give people solutions. We are not here to make you feel fearful. So again, I pulled these from a couple different articles. I got these all from Healthline. So Shady's going to keep me on point. If one of these is not the best, then she will correct me. So the first one I have is staying active. Does that help lessen anxiety?

0:40:18
Yeah, you're keeping you active, your mind active, so you're not just kind of sitting and thinking about all of your worries. You're being active.

0:40:26
Okay. I feel like that's a good one. No one's gonna oppose being active. The second one is not to drink. So what I said, we're not talking about water, okay? Ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about the good old alcohol. What I was reading is that it does calm you at first, but then your anxiety can come back like tenfold. Is that accurate? Yeah, and we wanna be careful that we're not taking any anti-anxiety medication and drinking at

0:40:53
the same time because that can be very, very harmful.

0:40:56
Yeah, that sounds like a bad choice but a good time. Like no.

0:41:00
It sounds like way too much.

0:41:03
Don't do that.

0:41:04
No one do that.

0:41:05
Okay. And then the third one was to stop smoking. Again, similar to drinking where they're saying it's a quick fix. But I found a study that talked about how when if you start smoking, the earlier you start smoking, the more likely you are to get anxiety later on in life. Have you heard anything about this? No, but it makes sense on what you said about the quick fix. It's reducing the anxiety in that moment, but now you're worried about, you know, do I have enough time to take a break to have my next smoke or things like that? So it could. I picture it like, have you ever tried to do your laundry and then it's done and it's on the bed and you're like, I don't have time. So you just move it to the floor and then you move it to the closet and then you move it and you're just moving the problem around, but you're not fixing the problem. That's what I feel like it is.

0:41:53
I like that.

0:41:54
I'm going to take that from you.

0:41:56
Yeah.

0:41:57
Yeah.

0:41:58
That's what it feels like. Or it's like, if I just put it over there, it's not here. No, it's still here. Okay, the next one we're talking about the top 10 ways to naturally reduce anxiety This is via health line number four is ditching caffeine. Oh, yes Oh, it's a caffeine causes nervousness and jitters which can make it worse. Yeah, tell me that's false

0:42:19
Because we want to remember

0:42:21
Anxiety has a lot to do with increasing our heart rate increasing our breathing and so does caffeine. So it's not that caffeine in itself is terrible, but maybe if we're feeling anxious, let's say I'm going in for a presentation and I'm really anxious, I'm like, I'm going to get myself some coffee. Don't do it. No, no. I don't know. Okay, got it. So let's not drink, let's not smoke, let's not drink caffeine. I feel like I'm just my mother at this point and make sure I go to the gym. That's what I've learned so far. Okay, this one is really interesting to me. You mentioned it earlier, so I know it's true. Okay, getting sleep. But they break down like the things you should and shouldn't do when you're going to sleep. So can I run through these with you? Yes, you can. All right. It says sleep at night only. So naps, no naps. What? No, no. Now I'm not a napper. But I know many college students who naps. What's the psychology behind that? Why not a nap?

0:43:14
Because it's a lot harder for you to fall asleep at night if you take long naps. So if you do need to take a nap, they recommend typically between 20 to 30 minutes, nothing longer. Because again, it'll make it harder for you to fall asleep later on.

0:43:28
Now in children, obviously different.

0:43:30
Oh yeah, children, children, yes.

0:43:32
Because is it true that when you sleep you grow?

0:43:34
Yeah, so it helps brain development and all of that jazz.

0:43:39
Okay.

0:43:40
But when you're older, sorry, if you're 27, you are grown, sir. You do not need a nap. Okay, so getting sleep, sleeping at night, don't read or watch TV in bed. I've heard that one before. So don't do those things in your bed. Don't eat in your bed either. Right? No phones. It sounds boring, but it's like your bed's for sleeping. That's okay. This one, it says don't toss or turn. So if you can't fall asleep, it says go into another room and then come back when you're tired. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. I mean, tossing and turning your, your activating like your heart, your active, you're now getting a little bit busy. Okay, so the bed is for sleeping. Avoid caffeine and meals before bed. I feel like that's pretty basic. Room dark and cold. I like that. Not everybody does, but I do. This I think is really helpful, I need to start doing this. Write your worries out before bed.

0:44:32
Yes.

0:44:33
What's the psychology there?

0:44:34
Yes, it's getting them out of your head and on paper. And then one of the things for that is like, you can look at that the next day and being like, did this actually happen? Did this not happen? So if you're having a worry that you are going to do this presentation and everyone's going to laugh at you, write that worry down before you go to bed. And then when you get home, say, did they laugh at me? No. So write that down that this worry didn't actually come to you. So yeah, you're starting to challenge those worries.

0:45:03
Okay. So it's a little bit of an extra step, but it's like by you putting it down and then going back and be like, oh, this didn't happen. Does that help change your brain?

0:45:12
Like the way you use things?

0:45:13
I mean, like practice makes perfect. A lot of these things, you know, you can start doing that reframing today. It might not work 100%. A lot of these things are going to take that practice for you. You know, you think of when you switch your arms, it felt comfortable, but if you do it enough it'll feel normal. But yeah, like get those worries out of your head and start kind of challenging them of like this is here, this actually didn't happen.

0:45:34
That's awesome. I'm going to try that. Okay. We're still talking about sleep.

0:45:39
There's a lot of things about sleep.

0:45:40
Sleep is important.

0:45:41
Sleep at the same time at night.

0:45:42
Try to keep it consistent. Try to keep it... Now, I heard a story, and I tried to find it, but I couldn't find it. I heard a story about, like, or maybe it was a study, about your brain not knowing the difference between, like, survival mode. So, for example, let's say I was out on a hike and I and I got Lost and so now I'm in survival mode. So I'm like going to sleep and like waking up, right? And I'm only getting like four or five hours of sleep. My brain doesn't understand my brain just thinks okay We're in survivor mode, right? If I'm at home and I'm going to sleep different times every night My brain doesn't understand that you're at home, right? And I thought that was so interesting because when I read I was like, oh my gosh, it's so true. If I'm going to bed at one in the morning, my brain's like, oh my gosh, we're in survival mode. Why are we going to bed at one in the morning, right?

0:46:31
Yeah.

0:46:32
Yeah. Oh, the brain's so smart. The brain's so smart. Anything else you want to add to sleeping?

0:46:36
That was a lot.

0:46:37
I mean, those were pretty good.

0:46:38
Thank you. Yeah, you did an absolutely fantastic job. I did too, I think.

0:46:41
Yeah.

0:46:42
Okay.

0:46:43
If you're just tuning in, it's okay, but seriously, I'm Vanessa Lauren. I'm here with Chadi. We're

0:46:44
talking about anxiety and PTSD. We've already broken down what can cause it, what it is. Now we're going through the ways to resolve it. So welcome to the conversation. We're five ways in. We're about to go through the last five. So number six is meditate. Chadi Redeem Yes. This is very, very hard for me. It's also very, very hard, but it's essentially kind of remaining in the present and focusing your thoughts. So there are apps that are absolutely fantastic for help like guided meditation. One of my favorite ones is when you're laying in bed and your mind is racing, you envision yourself sitting by a stream of water and on that stream of water there are these giant leaves just going down the stream and what you want to do is you want to imagine every single one of your thoughts on each of those leaves and you watch it just pass away. You don't have judgment about that. You don't think, oh, that's so stupid. That was a stupid thought. Why am I thinking that? No judgment. You just watch it pass. You notice it, let it go.

0:47:53
Okay.

0:47:54
It's like counting sheep, but it's counting worries.

0:47:57
Yes.

0:47:58
Counting worries. There goes one sheep, two sheep. Okay, meditation, I've heard this before. It is difficult. It is, yes. And this I pulled from the John Hopkins study that said 30 minutes a day is what helps. Now I've heard to truly be meditating, you have to really clear your mind because I can sit quiet for 30 minutes. Believe it or not, mom and dad wouldn't believe me, but I can do it. I can sit quiet for 30 minutes, but my mind won't be quiet. So to get your mind to be quiet is like it takes practice.

0:48:27
Oh, yeah.

0:48:28
I've heard like focus on one word or like what you're saying, focus on something specific so that that helps clear your mind.

0:48:34
Yeah.

0:48:34
So if you're someone who's trying to meditate and it's hard, keep going. Yes. Practice makes perfect. It's hard even for this therapist. But don't meditate in the middle of the day because then you're going to end up with a nap and then you're going to be back to square one. And don't drink before you meditate. Oh, Lord. Okay. Number seven is just getting healthy in general. So this is talking about like low blood sugar, dehydration, and the chemicals that are in food that can actually heighten anxiety. Is there any studies that you've seen on that?

0:49:04
That's a little too science-y for me.

0:49:06
No, that's okay.

0:49:07
I will stick with the hydration, especially in Vegas. That like not being hydrated, that can really impact your health.

0:49:13
Okay, all good. Okay, and then deep breathing, we talked about that.

0:49:18
Yes.

0:49:19
Is there a specific way to deep breathe?

0:49:21
There are a few ways. One of the easiest way to remember is the 4-4-4 method, which is essentially you're gonna breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds. And you're gonna do that about four times to either your brain starts to slow down, your breathing starts to slow down. If you need a little more, do another four cycles. But yeah, four, four, four.

0:49:44
Okay. Now, why four?

0:49:46
Is there reasons behind that? It has a lot to do with because having a set number is helpful because a lot of people you tell them to like debrief, they're like, you're like, okay, slow, slow, slow down. But like if you go longer, some people just don't really have the lung capacity to hold it for six.

0:50:01
So four tends to be a really good kind of middle ground. We're not all David Blaine. We can't hold it for 90 seconds. He's like, I see your four. I raise you 120 seconds. Okay. So then now the, where were we? Deep breathing aromatherapy is on here. I have a friend who does aromatherapy. If you're not familiar with what this is, it's when you use the fragrant oils, right? And they were talking about different oils that can help and stuff like that. But basically, we're hearing the same thing here. Relax, sleep, meditate, calm your mind, reduce your heart rate, your blood pressure. And then the last one I have on this list is to drink chamomile tea.

0:50:38
It's soothing.

0:50:39
Is that why that's on there?

0:50:41
I'm not a big tea drinker, but I heard it's very, very soothing.

0:50:43
Well, this I found, there was a study in Germany where they gave, they had 200 people and they gave half of them a placebo and they gave half of them not the tea, but chamomile capsules. And they found that their levels went down in the ones that took the capsules. So that's why they added it to the list here. But overall, we'll run through them real fast. Stay active. Don't drink alcohol. Stop smoking. Ditch the caffeine. Call your mom. I'm just kidding. Ditch the caffeine. Get some sleep properly, no naps. Meditate. Eat healthy. Practice deep breathing, try aromatherapy, and drink chamomile tea. I do none of these, and this is why I have anxiety.

0:51:20
That's okay. It's a work in progress.

0:51:22
I don't, well, I don't drink and I don't smoke, but, you know, I drink the caffeine, so I feel like it's the same. Thank you so much for being here. Is there anything else you want to add or touch on or maybe some advice you want to give to either those, you've said a lot about those who experience anxiety and PTSD. But for individuals like yourself who are going into this work, maybe there's someone out there who's thinking about switching majors. What would be your encouragement? Because I know for myself, people said like, oh, you should go into being a therapist. I'm like, oh no, I can't do that.

0:51:52
Any advice for someone who's thinking concerning your field? I think just get some experience with it if you don't already have it. So I particularly work in PTSD and that can be really, really difficult. And it sounds nice, kind of in theory, that you're going to help people work through their trauma, but a lot of people struggle with managing their own emotions while helping someone else manage theirs. So UNLV has a lot of research psych labs that you can intern at or be a research assistant. So get experience and then remind yourself that you got this. If you even have a mental health disorder and you're like, well, I'm not going to be a good therapist. I can't even manage myself. That's not true. A lot of therapists have anxiety, have PTSD, have depression. So there is room for you. There's space for you. You are valid. Your feelings are valid.

0:52:40
Yeah.

0:52:41
That's awesome. I love that. And I'm glad that you came in. I'm glad that we were able to talk and you were able to keep me honest. And thank you so much for listening out there. This is OK, but seriously, we're here, I'm here. Every Tuesday evening from 6 to 7, where we talk about serious topics in a non-serious way, you can reach out to The Rebel HD2 on Instagram. I'm also on there at V from the LV. If you want to send me some ideas, thoughts, feedback, please do so, and I will talk to you all next Tuesday. please do so, and I will talk to you all next Tuesday. Now back to your music, bye!

Transcribed with Cockatoo