In this episode, introduction to Creating Your Anxiety Toolbox. Welcome to the Anxiety Road Podcast. This is the involuntary journey, finding treatment options and resources for people that have an anxiety, panic attack, and phobi. This podcast is treatment agnostic. My name is Gina Haskin. I was recently in a waiting room for a doctor's appointment. I did not wanna be there. Fortunately, the room was empty and the staff was behind a wall with a window type opening.
My symptoms started to flare up. I'm doing the breathing and the meditations, and it was not working. I could feel my anxiety was ramping up and short of leaving the office, I really didn't know what to do. That is until I dipped into my metaphorical anxiety toolbox. I searched and searched, and then I found my answer, music, specifically music, that I had a strong personal connection to, that I had a deep love for. That each and every note was a healing balm of joy.
The music gave me space to calm down and breathe. It gave me a safe place where I could deescalate for travelers on the anxiety road, our tools are both conceptual and real. It could be an app, a fidget spinner, breathing practices, affirmations. Much, much more if you are new here. This is the podcast that looks at the medical, behavioral health, meditation, relaxation, and X equals the unknown resources for those of us that have an anxiety disorder or a mental health condition.
More in a bit about toolboxes, but first in the news. There was a news story from KFF News that caught my attention. It seems that a licensed therapist allowed her spouse to impersonate her and provide therapy services to hundreds of patients. My understanding is that the licensed therapist was seeing patients in person during the day, and the unlicensed spouse was impersonating the therapist during the evening online sessions. Via a online mental health provider.
According to KFF News, the deceit was discovered after the wife died last year and a patient realized they'd been talking to the wrong person. I will have a link on the Anxiety Road podcast blog if you'd like to know the full story. So what does our toolbox look like? I'm using the metaphor of a toolbox, the old fashioned kind that's strong and has multiple levels and a bunch of stuff inside of them.
You could have an invisible mental toolbox, or you might have a smartphone with apps and notes or a handbag with your meds, cleaning wipes, candy, and a squeeze toy. Or you might decide to go for a combo deal. Whatever works for you. My main point is that an anxiety toolbox has levels. So do you, so starting at level three, the base level, this is your foundation level. You recognize that you've got a problem and you actively wanna deal with it.
Education and decisions about how you want to approach surgery treatment are at level three. So after your physical examination, to confirm that you do indeed have an anxiety, depression, or mental health condition, you need to learn about it. You need to understand what's going on in your brain and body. For some of you, you have physical symptoms that are being generated by your brain, and some of them can be embarrassing. Here's my dilemma.
In 2024, we really need to be careful about where we go to get our mental health information, especially with AI and data mining and data harvesting. There are a lot of, so-called health and medical sites that are just advertorials or data harvesters or basically gateways try to extract money from you in the quickest amount of time.
I'm still trying to figure those out because there's more of them every day, and even some of the old existing websites have converted into basically fee for services for providers who want to get paid. So here's what I'm going to be doing. I'm gonna be referring you for the most part, to governmental and known nonprofit websites.
For this episode and probably for the foreseeable future, I've mentioned them before, but the National Institute of Mental Health has downloadable brochures and fact sheets about different types of mental health conditions. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America also has information about anxiety conditions. It has a moderated community and puts out free webinars that are accessible on YouTube.
Health guide.org is also a nonprofit and it's a good viable resource for mental health information. So at this level, you're basically going over your resources, your information, resources, and keeping in mind that not all treatment options will pres be presented on every website, level two. Temporary and long-term symptom control. This is a big one. This is the issue that prompts most of us to seek help in the first place.
Techniques to consider include breathing practices, reduction of sugar and alcohol, brain and nutritional support, movement, and a bunch of other stuff. For those of us that have extreme symptoms, you might need medication for a short period of time. So that you can stabilize and then learn about some of the non-medication techniques. Some of us can't or won't take medication. You'll need to find what works for you. Some folks seek out teas, CBD oil, not hemp oil or gummies.
This can be a hard level to exist on because for some give day. The weekend, six pack that turns into the weekend, 24 pack that shot of courage before the meeting, or eating actual food instead of that every other day. Burger, I remind you that when you are in treatment recovery mode, you do have to adapt to your current situation. You can't continue with bad habits and activities and expect a different result. A donut is a moment of relief.
But if in an hour the donut ramps up your symptoms, was it worth it? Choices really can affect your treatment path and level one, your maintenance level. For some people doing talk therapy and working with an app is great for them. Their symptoms stop or diminish. Other folks have stabilized their symptoms and their sleep is better. They have good or bad days, but the bad days don't wreck or destroy you as much as they used to.
A lot of people still wind up at level two and they never learn about their condition. Their entire focus is on dealing with their symptoms and getting rid of them so they could go back to the way the things were. They're doing the best they can. There's no right or wrong answer here. You might cycle through the levels, depending upon your needs and what you're ready to accept in terms of treatment, in terms of symptom control, or how much time you think you need to pay attention to this.
For some folks, they have very little time to give toward treatment, but a lot of time to symptom control. In this episode that you could start to think about what you want need in terms of your treatment and what should be inside your anxie, your anxiety toolbox. So let's make with the resources. From CCI in Western Australia, there is a vicious cycle of anxiety fact sheet that explains the cycles of anxiety. It is a one pager with illustrations.
It really makes it clear what's happening when you have an attack and how some folks get trapped in symptom cycles. Mental Health America has a coping toolbox fact sheet as they put it on the sheet. A coping toolbox is a collection of skills, techniques, items, and other suggestions that you can turn to as soon as you start to feel anxious or distressed. Then there's the anxiety journal. It's seven weeks of prompts and exercises to overcome anxiety.
It is a paperback by Richard S. Gallagher, LMFT. The book states that in seven weeks you can learn not only to construct your anxiety toolbox, but journey to understanding and managing anxiety. This book seems like it's a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness. I'm not endorsing the book, I'm just providing it as a possible option.
You can find it at many online book vendors, some retail stores, and if you are so blessed, uh, please consider patronizing your independent bookstore. They would be happy to order the book for you and, uh, support your independence. Yay. Your call to action this week is take a moment. Breathe and focus on what could help you in a stressful or highly symptom situation. It might be a game, a breathing exercise or something you can dance to that's got a beat.
I'll catch you next time on the Anxiety Road. You can visit anxiety road podcast.com for links and other information resources. You can listen, download, or subscribe to the podcast via any of the free podcasting apps, and of course on Apple, Amazon, Ghana, Pandora, or on the web@listennotes.com. Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements.
Always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder. This podcast is intended for information and education purposes only, and nothing in the program is intended to be substitute for professional, psychological, psychiatric, or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.