Adols

Today, I am very happy to have with me a former client of mine and he’s very brave to be willing to talk about fear of flying in a straightforward manner!   John: Hi. This is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast, New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today, I am very happy to have with me a former client of mine and he’s very brave to be willing to talk about everything straightforward. His name is Bob and I’m really happy to have him in the studio today. Hey Bob, how are you? Bob: Good, John. Glad to be here. John: Now the major thing when I typically deal with former clients, is I ask them the 8 kinds of anxiety and have them talk about what it felt like and what they did to be successful, but in your particular case, it was very clear what you needed to deal with was fear of flying. Could you talk a little bit, Bob, about how you came to be a fearful flyer? You were flying to France and a whole lot of places and then all of a sudden something happened, isn’t that right? Bob: Yeah, I never had trouble flying before. I few all over to Europe and had no trouble in planes whatsoever, but I got married, and this was quite a long time ago. John: Where did you get married then? Bob: I got married in Finland. John: Oh Finland. Ok. Bob: Finland. My wife was Finnish, we met in Paris, and then she went back to Finland and I went back to join her and we got married after knowing each other for about 2 months or so. We had a honeymoon, by cruise, in the Mediterranean, and then we flew back to the United States from Milan. It was on the flight back that I had a totally unexpected panic attack. I can explain what it was like but looking back I realize, I was very ambivalent about the marriage. I was really of the feeling that maybe it was a mistake, that we knew each other for too short a time. John: Now let me just ask you a question there, Bob. So, you’re married, you had your honeymoon, etcetera, etcetera, and everything seems to be okay and then all of the sudden, something happened on this trip on the way back. Is that right? Bob: Right. I mean I did have my doubts, even going into the flight back. It wasn’t as if everything was totally hunky-dory and then completely out of the blue this happened, but I certainly didn’t expect—I had never had anything like this before. John: On the other hand, this is the first time she’s going to be meeting your parents, your relatives, your friends, is this correct? Bob: Well actually my parents had flown over for the wedding. John: Oh I see. Ok. Bob: But you know, this is the first time that she’s coming to the states. She was a very successful journalist and artist in Finland and she gave all that up to come over here with me. John: Can I interrupt you once again? I’m sorry to do that. You’re rather accomplished yourself. Would you tell us a little bit about your own educational background? Bob: Yeah. Well, I’m a biochemist. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale. I graduated Columbia Undergraduate and I had post oped in a couple of places, one of them which was Paris. We were coming back here where I was going to take up a position at Boston University in the Chemistry department. John: So you have pretty high standards I can imagine. Bob: Well you might say. You know, I was very excited about everything and looking forward to an academic career and my wife had, again, given up everything to come here with me so I felt quite a sense of responsibility for her. I had to really introduce her to the United States, how to go shopping in markets, and just ordinary everyday things. And also, to help her get a job over here. But on the plane, suddenly I felt very strong claustrophobia. I felt trapped in the plane, that I couldn’t get out. These were feelings that I had never really had before. John: Why would you want to get out, Bob? Bob: Yeah, I mean I wouldn’t want to get out. There’s absolutely no reason. In that sense, it made no sense, but looking back on it, I was also feeling trapped in this marriage even right at the beginning and that maybe played into this feeling of being trapped in the airplane. And it was pretty awful. It was a kind of panic attack. My breathing got sort of short and I didn’t feel I was going to die. I just felt I was in an impossible situation where I was trapped and couldn’t get out. John: So, naturally, you assumed that being on the airplane was part of this whole thing. Bob: Yeah, right. John: And that’s why after being a fearless flyer for a long time—this is what amazes people—in one experience, it went from being perfectly comfortable to perfectly terrifying. Bob: Exactly right. Exactly right. That was part of the problem because it was so unexpected and I had never had anything like this before. I was not an anxious person, I didn’t have these kinds of anxieties before. I had the normal anxieties, you know, like before a final exam or something like that, that everybody has, but I never had these kinds of feelings before. So, we got back to the states and I had a number of phobias I guess you’d call them, that were connected, I suppose, to this that I had never had before: a phobia of heights, a fear of elevators, being trapped in a subway if it’s stopped between stations. A whole bunch of phobias that were kind of connected to being trapped in some way. John: So I can understand this. You sort of transferred being psychologically trapped in the marriage to being physically trapped in these various situations, which in fact you were. If you go up in an elevator, for a short time you are trapped. Bob: Right. That’s what they all had in common. John: And for a long time on an airplane, especially in an intercontinental flight like that, you’re trapped for quite a while. Bob: That’s right. The next summer, we went back to Finland, to visit her family, and it was pretty awful for me because I knew how awful the flight would be and it was. And it’s a long flight. The flight there and back was pretty bad. That was the beginning of all of these. As I mentioned, I never had these anxieties before and it all sort of came crashing down. Meanwhile, I had to continue my work which I wanted to do as a biochemist and had students working with me and was teaching classes and meanwhile dealing with all this so it was quite difficult. John: Now as I said to you, we have a limited amount of time and I wonder if we can jump right into what you and I did. You came to see me about this, which was a brilliant plan on your part. I’m just kidding. However, what we did—tell us a little about what we did to deal with the flying. Bob: Well, we sort of worked in stages. We first spoke about what brought all this on, which I kind of summarized, in the first place. Then, we tried to imagine what it would be like in the plane, and then I worked with John on a simulator, a flight simulator that tried to give me an even stronger feeling than just talking about it, an actual visual feeling for being in the plane. Going up then landing, flying and then landing. Then we went out to the small private plane field and we looked around and gradually worked up where we first went on an airplane and it was a small Cessna and sat in the plane for a while to give my self a feeling for sitting in the plane. The next step we were in the plane and we just taxied around the field, we didn’t take off. John: By the way, we have a pilot with us, I remember, because even though I was with you, I’m also a student pilot so I couldn’t really take you up if I wanted to, but we did have an instructor and the company that did this with us was very understanding and really wanted to see you be able to fly again so they were perfectly willing to do these things like traveling around the airport. They got permission and they traveled around the airport on the ground at first to get you back to being used to it. Bob: Yeah, they were very supportive. John: And by the way, I think it’s important to add that the big difference in being on a super liner and this little pane is that you get 270 degrees of view from where you’re sitting up in the front, I was sitting in the back. Also, we had a pilot who if you say to him, “I have to go down right now,” he will do it. If you say that to a 747 pilot, they probably won’t do it. Bob: You’re in big trouble right. John: That’s right. Bob: The next time we actually took off and we circled around the airport and came down, and each time it git a little hard, but a little easier in a way. John: By the way, I want to add that I think we went out and did a little celebrating afterward, and it’s very important that you do celebrate, that you do have some really nice reward for doing this because that’s what cements the success feeling. Bob: Yes. Absolutely. Then we moved up to taking shorter flights on a regular commercial plane. We took Cape Air once to Hyannis and once I think it was to Provincetown. That worked out quite well. They’re small planes, but they’re commercial flights. John: Well you did a great job. You were very nervous and I believe that if you don’t mind me saying this, that you took one small tranquilizer just to help a little bit and we didn’t do that every time, but we did it in the beginning. Bob: Yes, and it really did help. I took some Ativan and that did help. John: Ativan is a great drug for that. Bob: Yes. And then after those, we really graduated, I did to commercial jets, we took a flight to New York. I think we took two flights to New York and then I did one with my girlfriend without John and then I went to visit a friend in Washington, DC, which was for me a real triumph. John: By yourself. Bob: That was the longest one. Yeah, it was by myself. John: I was so proud of you because that was a really big jump and you did wonderfully well. Bob: I was a little trepidatious but it worked out fine and that was the last flight and you know it’s been a few years, but I wouldn’t have any trouble taking those flights again and I’m still hoping to reach for the stars in a way, and get back to my beloved Paris. John: We’re going to get you back to Paris, Bob. That’s the plan. Well, I want to thank you so much for giving your testimony here today. I’m sure there’s a lot of listeners, we have over 6 thousand listeners now, I don’t know if I told you. It’s just wonderful and of course, we’re talking about the Corona Virus sometimes, but mostly it’s about stories like yours. You’re proud of yourself and I have to say, I’m very proud of you also. Bob: And I’ve enjoyed working with you so much, John. You’ve made all the difference to me. All the difference. John: Well thank you so much. Thanks a million. And I’ll talk to you folks next week.

5 Aug 202010min

John: This is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today, I have an old friend of mine, by the name of Mark. He’s going o talk to us about his own experiences with Anxiety. Good morning, Mark. How are you? Mark: Good, John. How are you? John: Fine. First of all, I’d like you to tell us a little about yourself. What work have you done and where are you at today? Mark: I was born and brought up in Massachusetts. I was in the family business, I became a truck driver for 35 years and most recently my company filed for bankruptcy. A note to my listeners: When I interviewed Mark, I had no idea which of the 8 types of anxiety he would say he had a problem with. He alleged that he had no problems with the first 7, only a serious problem with the last one. So I’m going to skip that part of our interview and go right to the last type of anxiety: Post-traumatic stress disorder. John: Having been through an extremely stressful situation and sometimes getting flashbacks from it. Mark: Maybe. John: Can you tell us a little more about that? Mark: The death of a parent. John: Oh, of course. And which parent was that? Mark: Mother. 1973. John: Ok. You say this was ] traumatic for you. Why was this such a hard thing for you to deal with, if you’d be willing to share with us? Mark: Growing up without a mother I was just a young boy. John: How old were you? Mark: I was 13 years old. John: Oh that’s really terrible. Can you tell us how she died? Mark: She died in bed. She was a sick woman, but she died at the age of 49. John: Oh, that’s really sad. It was more than just very sad for you. You think it might have been traumatic. Mark: Yeah I think it was traumatic for me. John: Is it still traumatic? Like, do you miss her terribly every day? Or have you gotten more used to it? Mark: I’ve gotten used to it. John: How do you think you got to the place where you felt pretty used to it? Mark: Can I give you credit. John: Sure. Mark: When I met you, you were just a man at an AA meeting, and then when I was 10 years sober, then we talked. John: You don’t mind saying that you were my client for a while. Mark: Not if you don’t mind. John: No I don’t. I’d love to take the credit. So we talked about your mother, didn’t we? Mark: We did. John: Can you tell us a little bit about — was that successful? Do you feel like you were able to do better after that? Mark: I dealt with my pain with alcohol and booze and I was at a crossroads in my sobriety and you helped me through that without drinking. John: That’s terrific. I’m really proud of you and I think 34 years is an incredible achievement. Do you have any children? Mark: None. John: Ok. Who is the person you are the closest to, would you say? Mark: My oldest brother. John: So he went through the same trauma. How old was he when your mother died? Mark: He was probably 15. John: Do you think he had a really hard time with it also? Mark: No- Yes. I think he had a hard time but he picked a different avenue to deal with his pain. John: Okay. I’m not going to pry into that. What about your father? Was your father around at this time? Mark: My father passed away 3 years ago at the age of 97. John: Oh my God. 97 that’s . . . So how old was he roughly when your mother died? Mark: He was a few years older I believe. John: So around 50 years old. Mark: Yes. John: Was he helpful to you in dealing with such a young kid to lose his mother? Was he helpful to you? Mark: He would’ve been, but I didn’t know how to express myself. John: So he would’ve been there for you but you just weren’t able to tell him about it? Mark: Correct. John: This was pretty much something you kept to yourself. Mark: Correct. John: Did the therapy help the most because you were able to talk about her? Mark: Among other things, yes. I can handle death better. I don’t need to drink or drug. I can walk through the pain. John: And you give a lot of credit to Alcoholics Anonymous for that? Mark: Among other things. John: It’s often occurred to me that I feel sort of sorry for people that aren’t alcoholics because it’s such a wonderful club. It’s such a great deal of help. The 12 steps says that if somebody is hurting and they’re a fellow alcoholic, you have to help them. All over the world, I’ve traveled quite a lot and if I ever got into any trouble, I call up AA and they got an English-speaking person on the phone for me. Several times I’ve met with them, several times I just talk to them on the phone but it’s a wonderful club to be a member of. Don’t you agree? Mark: I agree. John: Well, Mark, thank you so much for talking with me today. I appreciate it and I wish you the very best.   From my own life, briefly, about post-traumatic stress disorder. Not my own. If you listen to podcast 3 you know the story of the fire that happened to my family that killed my mother and two brothers and two sisters. The next day, the local newspaper, The Binghampton Press, had published on the front page on the center at the top of the paper a photograph that was the most poignant I think I’ve ever seen. It is a picture of our driveway next to our burned down house with five body bags lined up on it and a very good friend of our family’s father, the Rev. Leo Crawley, standing with his hat in his hand. Next to him, kneeling on the ground, is my uncle, who is also a Catholic priest. He was delivering the last rights to the bodies and in the picture, one of the body bags has been opened somewhat and he’s reaching in, as all priests giving the last rights have to do, and he put a blessing on the chard bodies of one of my family. I don’t know of course which one. This is with his right hand and with his left hand, he’s got his hand up to his mouth, and he just looks the epitome of the grieving person. Six months later he was dead, and I would hear stories about him going into the hospital and coming back out again. I asked one of the nuns who took care of him at the local Catholic hospital. I asjed a nurse what was the matter with him and she said, “Oh he has some kind of stomach disorder.” I have never heard anybody say exactly what his problem was but I can only assume that it was alcoholism and that he had to go in the hospital from time to time to get straightened out. The nuns of course were very good to him. He was the head of Catholic Charities for upstate New York. It was a huge job. I remember that when I went into the seminary to become a priest myself after high school, I had to go and visit the bishop in Syracuse upstate New York. He never asked me any questions about myself, but only about my uncle and how he was doing. The bishop said, “He’s a wonderful director of Catholic Charities. He does a great job, but I’m very worried about him because he’s sick so much.” This is only by way of saying that not only is PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, the most serious of all the types of anxiety, but it actually can be a killer. It can be as much of a killer as the Corona Virus. And it got my poor uncle. I remember when I was going into the seminary, I went to see him and he said to me, “John, don’t do it. It’s a very hard life. Don’t do it.” I was amazed. I thought he was a very happy priest, but it was very clear to me that he was not. I think that this having to give Extreme Unction as it’s called, the final rights to my family, just pushed him over the edge. I’m sorry to tell you such a sad story but often times anxiety can be a very serious problem. I’ll talk to you next week.

14 Jul 202011min

John: Hi, this is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast, New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today, I have a friend of mine, James, who’s going to be talking to us about his own situation and his own familiarity with anxiety. James, how are you? James: I’m doing alright, how are you? John: Good, thank you. I wonder if you could tell us a little something about yourself before we get started. James: Well, I am currently a junior in high school. I’m 17. John: How are you finding taking courses online? James: Online? It’s presented its own set of challenges. I wouldn’t say it’s better or worse than regular school but, I think there’s less work but it’s a different kind of material. It feels a little bit less meaningful. John: Yeah, I can understand that. People say that there’s such a thing as Zoom exhaustion. After you’ve spent a certain amount of time on Zoom that it’s much more tiring than sitting there and talking to somebody. James: Yeah, I don’t do too many Zoom calls because of the way the school has set it up for us but I get that. John: Today, what I would like to do is go over 7 of the 8 types of anxiety that there are and have you tell me, do you think that you have a condition in that area, the anxiety syndrome, and we’ll talk a little bit about if you’ve discovered anything that’s helped with you. Is that ok? James: Sounds good. John: I’m going to skip the first one which is called simple phobias because everybody has them, agoraphobia, afraid of falling from heights, things like that. We’ll start with probably the most common one which is social anxiety. Social anxiety is things like fear of speaking in public, feeling of not wanting to go to parties, that sort of thing. Do you think you’re bothered by any of that? James: Not generally. Sometimes I’ll have a little bit in large groups but generally speaking, that’s not something that I tend to experience. John: I remember some years ago watching you sing by yourself in front of probably 300 people in the audience and you seemed to be very calm about the whole thing and very confident. Is that typically the case? James: Yeah that tends to be the case. John: And you’ve been in some theater things where if you were going to have social anxiety, that’s where you’d have it. James: Yeah, I’ve been doing theater from a very young age so it’s something that I’ve got pretty used to. John: That’s great. Separation anxiety usually bothers younger people but sometimes older people. Separation anxiety is when you feel like if you’re not around a person who is very powerful, that knows how to take care of you, that you’re in trouble. Did you have any trouble starting school, for example leaving your mother? James: No, I don’t think I did. John: I don’t think you did either. The next one is called generalized anxiety. Just a general nervous feeling at least half of the time. James: Yeah, that’s the one that I definitely have. John: That usually comes about from a bunch of experiences that didn’t go so well for you, or  that you feel like they didn’t go so well for you, and you become sort of nervous, on the lookout and what we call “hypervigilant.” Do you know what I mean when I say hypervigilant? James: Yeah, exactly. John: What about that does that seem like something that you’ve been dealing with? James: Yeah I think it’s something that I definitely have. It’s something I was diagnosed with and it’s something I’m on medication for. John: Oh ok. When you talk to your therapist who’s the one who did the diagnosis I suppose, what suggestions do they make about why you have this? Do you have any guess as to why you’re generally anxious? James: There’s a history of anxiety in my family. John: So, you think it might be genetic? James: I think genetics certainly has a large role in it. John: We say that everything is biopsychosocial in my field so the biological part would be genetics. Can you think of anything that psychologically might have oriented you toward that? From your experiences, for example. James: Yeah, I think some of it’s genetic and some of it’s from my experiences. Some of it from when I was younger, but it’s a combination of things that have added up to this. John: What is your position in the family? James: I’m the youngest. John: Do you think that might have anything to do with it? James: Being the youngest? I think there’s a certain level of insecurity about being young and having to prove yourself so I’m sure that played a role. John: Yeah, that’s absolutely true. Your siblings are pretty smart if I remember. They are smart people. James: They are. They’re quite intelligent. John: But as I think you know, I think you’re very smart and I’m inviting you to be in a group of mine called “Spirituality and Science.” It’s almost all adults, older adults for that matter but you’re probably the youngest person in the group but you seem to do very well supporting yourself. James: Well thank you. John: Do you feel nervous when you’re in that group? James: No, it’s a very relaxed environment. John. Oh, that’s great. Now that’s the first four and they tend to be less serious so let’s look at the next ones. Agoraphobia is fear of being away from home because of lack of control. Are you bothered by that at all? Do you feel nervous when you’re about to go on a trip or something like that? James: No. John: Ok so being out of the house or being away from the home is not a problem. James: No. John: The next one is called panic attacks. Those are feelings of fearfulness that seem to come from nowhere. They don’t seem to be related to anything. All of a sudden you start to feel really nervous. How about that one? James: Yeah that’s one that I experience. John: I’m going to guess that you probably think that’s genetic also. James: I don’t know if it’s genetic. It’s not something that I experienced when I was younger. It really didn’t come up until fairly recently, actually. John: How recently, James? James: About a year or two ago is when it first started and then it’s ramped up in the past year or so. John: When you say started, what was the first one like? James: The first one I think was actually in my chemistry class and it was just like I was doing my work. The whole room was silent and I was just doing my work and then all of a sudden, something changed and I’m not 100% sure what it was but something shifted and it was like I couldn’t breathe, my chest was compressing, shaking. It was a terrifying experience. John: That’s exactly how everybody describes it. We can be very sure you had a panic attack because that’s exactly what it sounds like. And it seems to come out of nowhere am I right? James: Yeah. John: Has anybody ever told you that it seems to be, but it actually isn’t? When I talked to my clients about panic attacks, I make an analogy to a bunch of cowboys out with a heard of cattle and if the heard of cattle starts to get nervous and one or two of them start to stand up, the cowboys have to start whistling and singing to calm them back down. Because if they all get up and going, then the next thing you know, you got a stampede on your hands and there’s nothing you can do except follow along. That’s sort of an analogy to what a panic attack is described as. I’ve had a couple myself, only about two, and it’s the weirdest thing, it seems to come out of nowhere but it really doesn’t. And what we tell people is, “you’ve got to try and be aware of your subconscious.” And that’s a really hard thing to do especially when the subconscious is saying, “something scary is about to happen” because you try to deny it. Nobody wants to be scared out of their minds. It’s a very unpleasant feeling and that’s what a panic attack is like. Instead of saying, “I think I’m beginning to feel the beginnings of a panic attack” you try and avoid it and it makes it worse. Does that sound right? James: Yeah. John: have you had any success with stopping them? James: Yeah I think I have. John: As I might say, “cutting them off at the pass.” Do you know what I mean? James: Yeah. It’s something that’s really hard to do. John: It is really hard to do. The biggest thing that’s hard about it is that you don’t want to be thinking about this. Am I right? James: Exactly. It’s something that I’ve had a lot of, so I’ve had to get pretty good at preventing them, cutting them off before they get to that point and recovering after them which is also something that’s I’ve struggled with because they’re pretty debilitating. They’re hard to come back from. John: One of the things that I’ve heard is that they’re especially hard for males because males are supposed to be strong and not give in to something like this. Am I right? James: Yeah, I think there’s some pressure. John: When you’re having a panic attack, do you tell all your friends around you that you’re having one? James: Generally, no. John: Do you feel a little bit ashamed of it? James: Yeah, I mean, it’s not something that I want to be experiencing. John: Yeah of course not. Of course, you don’t. And of course, with the stereotype that we have that men are so brave and tough, it’s not the image that we want to give to ourselves. “I can’t talk to you right now because I’m having a panic attack.” But, you know, that’s how it is. Okay, there’s only two more. OCD, which is obsessive-compulsive disorder. James: I think I have a little bit of that. John: What’s your evidence? James: I find myself having to do things a certain number of times. It’s pretty manageable and it’s not super severe, but there are certain things where like, I have to flip a coin in my hand a certain number of times or whatever so it’s even on both sides. John: James, my understanding of OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, is that it is not necessarily coming from a learned experience but from another part of your brain called the amygdala and that’s it’s definitely genetic. Do you have anybody else in your family, you don’t have to say who, but do you have anybody else in your family that has trouble with this? James: Yeah, definitely. John: Would that be your father or your mother? James: I believe it’s my mother’s side. John: And anybody else in your family? James: Yeah, some siblings. John: Ok, well dealing with that is a tough one and what you have to do is basically reprogram your amygdala, is what we say about it and it means when you got to go back in the house or you got to do somethings repeatedly because they make you feel safe, you know that old phrase, “don’t step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back,” do you remember that? James: Yeah John: That sort of OCD-ish because it means that if you don’t step on a crack, then your mother’s back won’t be broken. But if you do step on a crack, your mother’s back will probably not be broken. It just makes you feel a little bit better that you can do something about which you almost really have no control. Am I right? James: Right. John: Okay, James, one more. Post-traumatic stress disorder. You’re pretty young for this. It’s usually soldiers and people who have been in battle or firemen who have seen burnt up bodies. Do you think you have anything in PTSD? James: I don’t think so. John: Well, James, I appreciate very much you talking to me about this. You’re very brave and I think also one of the things it does is it shows other males that it’s OK to talk about some of this stuff and in fact, it’s really necessary to talk about it, even if you don’t feel like it. Would you agree with that? James: Yeah, 100%. John: Okay, James. Thanks a million for participating today, I appreciate it.

12 Jul 202015min

This week, I continue with my instruction in how to evaluate your anti-anxiety plan as you carry it out. As I said in an earlier podcast, such evaluation not only offers you an objective view of how well you’re doing, but also helps you to do better. What’s the best type of stress-reliever for you? Here's another way to discover what are the best type of strategies for you to use: Read the statements below, and circle those that make the most sense to you. In total, it would be best if you could choose FIVE of the 21. To start, simply circle the numbers of the FIVE strategies you like the best. If you can’t decide between six, or even seven, that’s fine. Write those five numbers down on a piece of paper. For now, pay no attention to the letter that appears at the end of each sentence. This leaves 15 unchosen options, and for now, you may disregard them. Finally, the best strategy may be to listen to this podcast once, then actually do it by reading it in transcript form, which I also provide. The benefits of yoga are readily apparent. P I am more likely to get help with my anxiety from psychology than from religion. M I would love going on a vision quest, during which people isolate themselves to meditate for several days at a time, with only water to drink. N I think a lot of my anxiety probably comes from unconscious guilt feelings. A If you want to be happy and serene, you have to believe in the idea that “Wherever you are, there you are!” M I believe in the motto, “Want what you have.” Most of us want too much, and it makes us unhappy. "Desire is the direct cause of most unhappiness." B The best tranquillizer is listening to monks chanting. R Stretching ligaments, as well as muscles, truly calms a person down when she gets agitated. P Life is an illusion. It is a mistake to take it too seriously! B Some people say that repeated motions such as bowing you head can relax you. R I find that saying the rosary beads (or worry beads}, with a set prayer for each bead, works best for me. R It makes sense to me to replace the term "God" with the “Great Spirit.” N When you have wronged another person sometime in the past, the best policy is, “admit it honestly and ask for forgiveness.” A One of my strengths is my awareness of who I really am. A An excellent way to avoid becoming anxious is to be “mindful of my mental landscape.” M I can easily imagine why staring at a candle might do you some good. R Most of us are tense and nervous because we are trying too hard to keep up with the Joneses. B The best way for me to relax is through is tensing and untensing my muscles. P I try to avoid perseverating on fear about the future or some regret about the past. M I agree that passing the smoke from a burning bundle of dried sage around your body (called smudging) is a spiritual way to calm your nerves. N Oxygen, when breathed the right way, is a terrific tranquillizer. P You should have a list of FIVE numbers of statements that you like best. One final step is called for:  to see which type of strategy you like best. This is where the letters that you see at the end of each statement come in. These letters represent six methodologies that are quite different from each other. Your choice of the FIVE statements above should indicate which of these systems appeals most to you. They are: A= Alcoholics Anonymous (even if you’re not an alcoholic); B = Buddhism; M = mindfulness, N = Native American; P = physiological exercises; and R = repeated rituals. Perhaps you picked only two types of strategies because you especially like the methods they are grouped under: e.g. Buddhism and repeated rituals. If so, you will probably want to learn more about those sources of counsel. Easy to do online. On the other hand, perhaps your choices included most of the methods. That would be a statement about your openness to many different ideas. At any rate, it will prove useful to you to have some idea about what works best for you. I will have more to say about this later Self-egulation And now, consider: Most artists are slovenly, and most scientists look like they have springs coming out of their heads. Both are wildly eccentric, and neither can focus on anything but themselves. They are so intent on their big ideas, the rest of their lives are a mess! Are these three statements true? As with all stereotypes, some exemplary people are like this. Not many, though. My research and that of others have found that most highly talented people are, in their personal habits, pretty much like the rest of us. This is because gifted individuals tend to have a higher than usual ability to control their emotions and behavior. And that is because, no matter how innovative their creations, people won’t want to hear from the innovator if she is socially inappropriate. In fact, a symbiotic relationship exists between creativity and self-regulation. To be creative, you must be able to visualize a desired outcome and also to conceive of a plan to achieve it. Both these elements are also essential to self-control. One needs self-control in order to use time wisely, to work diligently, and to have the perseverance to fully develop their wishes and goals. And all of this needs to be evaluated! People who are good at self-regulation learn better than their peers. For example, they: Seek out advice and information. Commonly seat themselves toward the front of a conference. Seek out additional resources. Voluntarily offer answers to questions. Manipulate their learning environments to meet their needs. Last but not least, perform better on tests of performance and achievement. That’s quite a list of advantages. Together, they make self-regulation one of the highest priorities of in our battle against anxiety. Now, suppose you are walking along a road on a warm summer day and your stomach is growling. You are SO HUNGRY! However, you realize that the nearest place you can get food is almost a mile in either direction. Even if you run, you know that it’s going to be some time before you can satisfy your hunger. You can be miserable until you get to the food, or you can use self-control. How can you manage your feelings so that they don’t drive you crazy? What are some techniques you might use to distract yourself from your hunger? Write down some of the methods that have worked for you in the past. You might also want to ask some of your friends, your work associates, your neighbors, or others what they do in these circumstances. When you get through this activity, perhaps you should make a list of the techniques you find useful, and memorize it. . Lest you think that self-control is only about social goals, listen to Steven Sosny: “Research also shows that self-regulation skill is necessary for emotional wellbeing. Behaviorally, self-regulation is the ability to act in your long-term best interest, consistent with your deepest values. Violation of one's deepest values causes guilt, shame, and anxiety, each of which undermines wellbeing. Emotionally, self-regulation is the ability to calm yourself down when you're upset and cheer yourself up when you're down. Whether subtle or intense, conscious or unconscious, overt or covert, all emotions have one of three motivations:   approach; avoidance; and attack.” Let’s explore this idea through a couple of activities. Imagine that your boss has just yelled at you because she thought you upset one of your workmates, but it wasn’t you. When you told her you didn’t do it, she wouldn’t believe you. How would you feel? What emotions would you have? Write down as many as you can: ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Please add some more. Now let’s look at these feelings. Which ones seem the socially appropriate ones to you? Which emotions do you wish you didn’t have? What can you do about each one? Finally, here is the last of my three types of anxiety self-analysis questionnaires: The Dacey Questionnaire - Social Think about how much each statement is true of you. Then mark the statement on the right with an X after the phrase that indicates how much you think that statement is true about you. Be as objective and forthcoming as you can. Symptom Scoring 1.Most of my friends would say that I am not a person with a confidant personality. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 2. I think the people who trust others are being very foolish. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 3. I would judge myself to be a fearful person. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 4. I am often worried about what trouble people can get into if they are not careful. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 5. Most of my friends would say I am not easily frightened. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 6. I believe I am seen as a person who is truly in charge of herself. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 7. I am usually very relaxed; that is, I seldom have a trouble in the world. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 8. I am unhappiest when I am at a dance or party. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 9. I enjoy myself more when I am home than when I am travelling. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 10. I am the kind of person who trusts everyone. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 12. I like to give everybody a couple of chances, before I am ready to reject them. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 13. I often worry that people are feeling critical of me. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 14. When I find myself with people I don’t know well, I try to get away from them as soon as possible. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 15. I really enjoy going to places that others think of a somewhat dangerous. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 16. At a party, I am definitely likely to be one of the “wallflowers.” Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___            Strongly disagree___ 17. Although I am a good pianist, I usually refuse to perform in front of other people. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 18. In crowded places, I almost always start sweating, even though the air is cool. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 19. I enjoy strolling around big cities, even if I sometimes get lost. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 20. I’m pretty flexible; for example, I don’t think I have any obsessions or compulsions. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ This survey measures a broad spectrum of feelings you may have about yourself. The best way to use it is to fill it out before you design your anxiety plan, and then when you have finished it. You can also use it when you are carrying out your plan, to see how you are progressing. See whether the posttest yields a significantly lower score on anxiety than the pretest. If so, your plan is successful. Scoring: For items 5, 6, 7, 12, 15, 19, and 24, the scoring is as follows: Strongly agree = 4, Agree = 3, Disagree = 2, Strongly disagree = 1.   For the rest of the items, this scoring is reversed, that is; Strongly agree =1, etc.  Add up the scores for each item to get one overall measurement of your social anxiety level. Soon I will help you look at summative evaluation, the measure for measuring the success of your entire plan. Until next week …

30 Jun 202018min

John: Hi this is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Last time, we were talking with Doctor Biz Bracher about college students and social anxieties. Today I’d like to ask her to continue this, and talk about the difference between seniors and freshmen. She teaches both groups and I think it’s going to be interesting to hear what she has to say about that. Good morning Biz. Biz: Hi. So the first-year students seemed to settle into distance learning and their new home situation over time. It certainly hasn’t been ideal. Any of us who have spent hours on Zoom and trying to teach a seminar on Zoom and have the same sort of energy and rapport in the classroom will know that this distance learning isn’t as easy as it might appear. But the first-year students have settled into it. John: By the way, how about for the teacher? Is there anxiety for the teacher also? Biz: Most absolutely. I think that for teaching a seminar course of 20 students when you’re looking at sort of what I call “the Brady Bunch” of squares across. I pride myself on my ability to draw students into the conversation. I notice their physical response to conversations and I can draw them in saying, “Suzzie, you look like you have something to say on this topic” or “John, what do you want to add to this conversation?” and it draws them in in a very comfortable way. It’s really hard to monitor that online. John: But you don’t do that at random? You’re saying you pick students on the basis of what they’re presenting as to whether or not they want to say something, right? Biz: Yeah absolutely. John: And that’s harder to do with the Zoom? Biz: It’s so much harder because first of all, my 50-year-old eyes can’t also see the detail on someone’s face but how do I know that their facial expressions are reacting to what I’m saying or are they watching something else online? Are they doing email? Are they really checked in or checked out of the conversation? There certainly have been many students who I don’t think were really giving me their full attention. And who can blame them? There are so many things happening around us that you don’t have them in a classroom so their attention is pulled away. Ultimately, I think the first-year students transitioned and the light at the end of the tunnel for this semester and going through exams and such, they still have three years of college left. While they’re sad about this semester ending, they’re hopeful that this is not the college of the future. Our seniors, they’re still not settled with it because — and this is my hypothesis of it — I often refer to our students or, as a parent, our children as the baby on board generation. They’re the playdate generation. College students these days and millennials, they were raised to have their days scheduled first by their parents. They came home from the hospital in cars that had a placard that said “baby on board” as if everyone else was going to drive around that car differently because there was a new life in that car, as if the other people driving around them didn’t matter. Why isn’t there a “70-year-old on board”? John: I never thought about that before but that’s a terrific insight. I like it very much. Biz: But why is there any more value? So there’s this idea of protecting them, right? And then push that out as they get older, having playdates. There’s lots of research and conversation about “free-range kids” and kids that are let out to go play and maneuver the streets of the suburbs by themselves. More than not, parents mitigate those situations so rather than just telling your kids to go outside and play and come back when the streetlights turn on, as you and I were told to do as kids, our kids are being scheduled. I was caught off guard when my oldest child turned to me once, he was three or four years old and he said, “Do you think Ben is available today?” as if Ben had a schedule and somebody organizing his time. John: Which was true, right? Biz: Absolutely. Which was true was that I had to call his mother and find some time and we arranged for a drop-off and then we played games with the kids. We didn’t just send them out into the yard, that was scary. Then they got into school age and in schools, everything is organized for them and they’re being taught to the test, very few schools allow for an open curriculum of bringing in new ideas and such. John: Excuse me for one second but what does “taught to the test” mean? Biz: To teach to the test meaning whether it’s the state regulations of exams to benchmark our students or if it’s in the high school AP exams or final exams, what students are going to be tested on in the end to show proficiency. Teachers are spending their time teaching to the test as opposed to just general learning and curiosity. Naturally, college graduates get out, and then, I’ve always noticed that while commencement day can be as much of a celebration, it’s sad for the student. My students start anticipating it months before saying, “don’t talk about commencement day. That’s going to be so sad.” I pushed them on that to think about the fact that by the time they graduate from college, sometime in May, they’ll be ready to leave. In most cases, they will feel like they did all they needed, all they wanted, and granted they will miss the proximity of their friends, but they don’t feel unprepared to go out into the world. They don’t need to take one more semester of classes or sit through one more set of exams they’re ready to move on. It’s not until September the next fall that their sadness really sets it because it will be the first time in their memory that they won’t be going back to school. For most people, some of them will be going to grad school but the vast majority of college students are going into jobs or volunteering situations and also in that, this will be the first time not all of their peers will be doing the same thing. Some will be going to grad school, but some will be in the world of work and some will be volunteering and some will be taking a year before they start grad school, and so there is no grand normal anymore. Everybody in their grade isn’t doing the same thing. And that to them is anxiety-provoking. There’s no clear road map. But what I noticed this year is that that process of not having a road map and not being together as a class happened, not only earlier but not on their own schedule, not in a predictable manner so this transition that was going to happen anyway in May has happened much earlier, almost like pulling the rug out from them. John: It was so abrupt, is that what you’re saying? Biz: It was so abrupt, unexpected, and uncontrolled. We were at a school where we just had spring break and so students left campus with all of their stuff. Many universities and colleges across the country told their students, go on spring break, take an extra week, and then come back and this will all be resolved. We know that that didn’t happen. Those students went on spring break, they then went home, their stuff was on campus. I know students who had to fly across the country to go get their stuff and come home or had to pay services to pack their dorm rooms up and send their stuff home. There was just this crazy amount of detail and orchestration and not knowing what it all meant. And then in the midst of it, the economy is bottoming out. Many students who have been promised jobs were told in the worst-case scenario the job no longer exists or in the best-case scenario we were gonna have you start in June but now you’re not gonna start until July or October which put a little more anxiety on students. And on top of it, many of them were going to urban or metropolitan areas they aren’t necessarily from so they’re supposed to be starting a job in July in New York City but they don’t have anywhere to live because they didn’t have time to get roommates and go to see apartments and find someplace to live so there’s still a lot hanging out there in the balance for the seniors. Whereas the freshmen, god willing and knock on wood, are going to be back on a campus next fall. And if they’re not on a campus, at least they’ll know that they’re going to be in online classes. Now I’m not saying there’s still not a lot of anxiety because parents have lost jobs and financial packages have changed and they need to decide whether or not they want to be in distance learning. Is that the kind of educational experience they want - no one wants it but are they willing to endure it and pay for it. So I’m not saying the freshmen are totally out of the woods but the stakes are a lot less extreme because seniors are now moving into the world of work and into the world of grad school. We have students who are applying to medical school who haven’t even sat for the MCAT yet, they have no idea what their scores are for their standardized testing. That’s provoking a lot of anxiety among premed students. There’s just a lot of unknown and this is a generation that has never had to deal with an incredible amount of unknown. Even within their unknowns, they had a cadence and a road map of sorts. John: By the way, it occurs to me that a lot of people who are premed students are beginning to think, “Boy if I become a doctor then I’m going to be really risking my life.” Do you find decrease in the number of people who want to be premed students? Biz: Well I don’t know nationally those numbers and I am a premed advisor at our university and in these last 8 weeks I’ve been meeting regularly online with seven med school candidates and actually I have found every single one of them have been more committed to their vocation of medicine and that has been really inspiring. Some of them were working in labs, they were already out of their undergrad studies and taking a year to work in labs and gain some experience and I have a couple students who have been redeployed to the front lines, two students who are working nights with COVID patients as nurses, aids and watching people die and they’re in the worst situation because there’s not much that medical doctors can do, it appears that there would be even less for a nurse’s assistant, someone who has no formal medical training yet and is just waiting to get into medical school but quite honestly in the midst of COVID and people dying without their families, they found that they have been incredibly important to their patients and their patients’ families as they assure and comfort families that they’re carrying for their loved ones as they’re dying. It’s been an incredible amount of anxiety on those students but I would say that every single last one of them whether they’ve been redeployed and working with COVID patients or they’re in labs or they’re still in undergrad waiting to finish undergraduate studies in order to apply to med school, every single one of them has been more committed than ever to be a part of the medical community. John: Biz, unfortunately, our time has run out again and I have to say I really would love to have you come back. I think a lot of my listeners, even if they don’t have college students right now, they can understand a lot more about anxiety by listening to what you have said so thank you very much and I will be inviting you back if you’re willing to do it. Biz: It’s always my pleasure to talk to you and your listeners. John: Thank you so much.

23 Jun 202015min

John: Hi this is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today, I am being revisited be one of my best colleagues and also respondents to this podcast. Her name is Doctor Elizabeth Bracher and she and I teach a course together. We’re hoping to teach it this fall. The last time we met, she talked about separation anxiety among college students. Today, she’s going to talk about some of the other anxieties  that college students experience. I just want to say, “good morning to you.” Biz: Good morning, John. Thanks for having me. John: I was very very happy you were willing to come back again. What do you have to say about social anxiety among students? By that, I mean nervousness about going to parties, nervousness about speaking in public, raising your hand in class, that sort of thing. Especially under the circumstances that we have now. I presume you’ve been teaching by zoom, is that correct? Biz: Yes, I’ve been teaching two classes of freshmen and one class of seniors, so I have students at both ends of the spectrum. John: What’s the difference between them? That would be quite interesting. Biz: Yeah, it is interesting. Well, no one is going to parties these days unless they’re virtual zoom parties, right? I think that there was a lot of anxiety that I didn’t quite anticipate in the first weeks of social distancing and when we were sending students back to campus. It was interesting that our university made the announcement on Wednesday after classes finished that day, so about 5 o’clock, they made the announcement that students had 4 days to get themselves home. Unlike many schools, we were already through spring break so students were asked to pack up their stuff and go home for the remainder of the semester. My immediate concern was for the freshmen, my first-year students because what I was starting to see in them was a trust in the process where things start to come together in the last few weeks of their first year. At this point, they were back from spring break, they were about to start the housing selection for their sophomore year, they were committing themselves to majors - either recommitting after taking some classes and feeling confident in their first decision of major, or they were confident in having some experience in the labs saying, “I thought this was going to work and I’m not so interested in this major as I thought“ and their willingness to explore a little and try some other things out. They’ve also been through a semester so they’ve received grades and learned how to study for exams so the exam period that was approaching wasn’t as concerning or anxiety-provoking as the first semester, and friendships were starting to solidify. Clubs and organizations were starting to plan for next year, they were applying for executive board positions in organizations and clubs, they are committing their time. Everything was starting to come together. It’s coincidentally that here in the northeast, the weather was also getting nicer and the days are getting longer and winter was subsiding. For a whole lot of reasons, the spring semester is very important to the transition to college. So many people think that it’s the fall semester, but really everything starts to even out and fall into place by spring semester to the point where the majority of first-year students go home after their first year and start to feel like their university is a home. I’m not trying to submit that they’re trying to trade one home for another but it’s a place where they finally feel confident and secure. John: Let me interrupt you there for a second. Can you make a distinction between reasonable fears that they have and anxieties which are unreasonable concerns about the future? Biz: Right, well some students certainly have some reasonable concern about how this is all going to play out because they’re not in their same orbits. They might be on the other end of the country or the other end of the world in different communities. Unless you’re going to a particularly small focused conservatory or such, most of the students in this country will go to a university or college that’s bigger than any place they’ve ever taken classes before. Whether it’s a big state university of 50,000 kids or a smaller liberal arts private school that’s 2,000-3,000 kids. In most cases, it’s still the biggest school they’ve ever gone to. Some of that concern is reasonable. It’s anxiety only in that it’s new. But then there’s the anxiety that comes with worrying and the true sense of anxiety is worrying about what might happen even though it’s not likely. For example, “I’m worried I might never make friends.” You and I know that’s an extreme anxiety about belonging, but over the course of their time, they will all develop a sense of friendship with some core people in their lives, so there absolutely is a distinction. What I noticed in the first weeks of the pandemic was that the real anxieties started to come out and they showed themselves very quickly. That Thursday that I went back to my office to start to wrap things up, I had a line of students outside of my office wanting to discuss - they didn’t even know what they wanted to discuss but they needed my attention and they needed to voice their worries and concerns. So much so that some were wringing their hands and were physically agitated and others, you couldn’t even tell what their response was. They were almost paralyzed with not knowing how to put one foot in front of the other because this was so unexpected and so out of the ordinary and there was no road map for it. What people all over the country were telling them was, “Yeah, it’s bad but oh you poor seniors and oh you poor freshmen. You never had to be pulled away from your university like this.” That provoked a lot of anxiety. The students that I saw that were the most immediately troubled were students that were struggling with eating disorders, both male and female, and students that I had no idea of their eating disorder or their eating struggle. And many of them also admitted to me struggles with OCD. John: OCD being obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biz: Exactly. What I surmised by that was this lack of control. That suddenly this structure that they have always known was being pulled out from under them and they didn’t have time to think about it, many of them needed plane tickets they couldn’t organize and put their stuff away and move out. I have a son who’s in college and we ended up taking most of his roommates, he had seven roommates, we took most of their bedding home, we cleaned their kitchen out and everything because they weren’t planning on leaving. There was no order or system to it. They were just being told you need to leave in a couple of days and get home and then we’ll start online in a week and we don’t know what that will look like but just hold on. First-year students were concerned about that because they were being pulled from their university and they were just starting to get a groove and seniors were equally distraught because they didn’t see anything tethering them to the future. They were leaving campus for good. John: Can you say anything about males and females being different? Who had the most trouble? Biz: I would have thought that there was going to be a difference between the sexes and I saw equally troubling in male and female. The only difference was that I had a few females come to me because their roommates or friends brought them to me and said, “You need to talk to her. You need to process this.” And the males suffered quietly because they don’t want to admit their weakness, whereas women will talk about their emotions a little more easily. If men were brought to me it was by a female student, a female friend, but the numbers were about equal. That was at first surprising to me but then I thought to my self, “Of course. Eating disorders and OCD are about trying to have control of your life in hopes of limiting the possibility of catastrophe of some sort. John: Exactly. Biz: When I look back on it, it seemed a lot more obvious than I had expected. The other interesting thing to me was comparing the first-year students to the seniors. Over time my first-year students transitioned back home easier and into distance learning easier than the seniors did. John: I have to stop you there because time has run out but I’m hoping you can come back next week and talk some more about this fascinating view that you have of college students.

16 Jun 202012min

This week, I continue with my instruction in how to evaluate your anti-anxiety plan. As I said in my last podcast, such evaluation not only offers you an objective view of how well you’re doing, but also helps you to do better. Bio-Counting One of the best things you can do is to design charts to track more objective data. Measurements such as pulse rate, blood pressure, oxygen-in-the-blood calculations, and galvanic skin response are also relevant, although the last three require equipment. For charting your relative pulse rate, press the largest two fingers of your left hand on your carotid artery at the side of your neck, and as the second hand hits 12, begin counting beats. As the second hand passes 4, stop counting and record the total number of beats you counted in 20 second, times 3. This will give you a good approximation of your actual heart rate. You can make these entries at various times of the day and/or before, during and after an anti-anxiety activity. One word of caution: as with anything else in life, it is possible to overdo chart making: The Obsessive Pulse-Taker I have advocated a number of evaluation methods that involve self-evaluation. I should warn you about a possible backlash, however. I once was asked to counsel a 21-year-old woman, Cassie, who was diligent in her efforts to monitor her anti-anxiety plan. She unfailingly took her carotid pulse before, during, and after each effort to confront her panic. She meticulously entered these readings on a chart that she had carefully designed. Unfortunately, instead of getting lower and lower readings, her rates gradually ascended. She was very frustrated by this, finally to the point of tears. When her parents called  me, she had been experiencing the problem for about three weeks. When she and I discussed the situation, her plan made sense to me, and even more important, Cassie really liked it. Further discussion uncovered the core of her difficulty. She wanted too desperately to succeed. Many anxious folks are perfectionistic. Whether that causes the anxiety, or the anxiety causes striving to be perfect, we do not know. At any rate, in Cassie’s case, she was so worried that her pulse readings would not drop, of course they rose. When anxiety is mixed with perfectionist leanings, it is probably best to de-emphasize evaluation and concentrate on keeping your nerves calm. Now for a quick look at the other three techniques. Blood pressure, which is associated with anxiety in both its upper number (systolic) and lower number (diastolic), can be checked by a blood pressure meter available at your local drugstore for around $30. As with heart rate, you must be careful that your drive to reduce your anxiety doesn’t drive your blood pressure up. Two other bio-indicators of anxiety levels are blood oxygenation, measured by an oximeter and galvanic skin response, measured by a GSR meter. These can be obtained from any number of medical supply sources such as Amazon. It probably won’t be necessary for you to use either of these, but if you think you’d like to come read more about them online. The next item on the agenda is a questionnaire about biological factors that affect your level of anxiety. When you have scored the test, I will give you data as to how you compare to the hundreds of others who have taken this test. The Dacey Biological Factors Questionnaire Think about how much each statement is true of you. Then  choose the statement after the phrase that indicates how much you think that statement is true or untrue of you. Be as objective and forthcoming as you can. Symptom Scoring 1. I am worried at least a quarter of every day. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 2. I wake up soaked in sweat at least once a month. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 3.I would say I am almost never fearful of catching other people's diseases. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 4.A number of things scare me, even though they are not really dangerous. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 5. I sometimes find myself sweating with panic, and yet I don’t know why. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 6. I expect that even friendly dogs are likely to bite me, although I must admit that none ever has. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 7. Nothing awful has ever happened to me. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 8. I almost never worry about whether dirt and germs will make me sick. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 9. I have never gone anywhere on a weekend. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 10. Most nights, I am awakened by a scary dream. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 11. I enjoy myself more when I am home than when I am away. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 12. When I leave home, I usually feel like going back to make sure things are okay. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 13. Few things give me a bigger kick than riding a roller coaster. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 14. It doesn’t bother me when my heart beats faster than usual. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 15. I must admit I am usually on the lookout for danger more than is necessary. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 16. I hate speeding of any kind, no matter what the vehicle. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 17. I really enjoy trying out new places, even if they are somewhat dangerous. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 18. I love to walk in the woods, because I feel that fresh air is good for my lungs. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 19. I am not aware of obsessing over my health, airborne sicknesses or disease. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ 20. I worry a lot that if my anxiety makes me so scared, I might have a heart attack. Strongly agree ___       Agree ___ Disagree ___             Strongly disagree___ This survey measures a broad spectrum of feelings you may have about yourself. The best way to use it is to fill it out before you design your anxiety plan, and then when you have finished it. You can also use it when you are carrying out your plan, to see how you are progressing. See whether the posttest yields a significantly lower score on anxiety than the pretest. If so, your plan is successful. Scoring: For items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 15, 16, and 20, the scoring is as follows: Strongly agree = 4; Agree = 3; Disagree = 2; Strongly disagree = 1.   For the rest of the items (numbers 3,  8, 13, 14, 17, 18, and 19), this scoring is reversed, that is; Strongly agree =1; etc.  Numbers 7 and 9 is not scored lying. as they measure, . Add up all scores to measure your biological anxiety. Save your data – later you will combine it with other results to get one overall level. This self-report measure is used to analyze the biological part of your anxiety. In accordance with the biopsychosocial model, the next two tests will involve psychological and social areas of your life. Remember, these tests are designed for formative evaluation (measuring progress as you plan is carried out). The final questionnaire I will ask you to take, one with 60 questions on it, will be for summative purposes. See you next week!

9 Jun 20200s