Anxious, Anxious, Anxious

Americans are anxious, not because of the economy or work stress, but for the following three reasons, or so says Taylor Clark in a article at Slate, and I'd have to agree given the trends I've seen in my practice:

1. Loss of community:

We spend less time in face-to-face interaction and more time in front of plasma displays, creating a second rate substitute for real relationship. People feel more isolated than ever. Here I am, on my computer, telling you that we're all more anxious and should be chatting over coffee, decaf of course, because the high test stuff would get on our nerves.

2. Information Overload:

For instance, I've spent hours today combing the Internet for something newsworthy to share but the choices are staggering. Facebook feeds, Google Reader, The Times, Network News, professional journals, Slate, Salon, etc... I get stressed out deciding what to pass along and wonder if it's even worth it. If I'm bombarded, then so are you, and why should I ask you to read something more? Well, because I think you might be anxious and I'd like to ease your mind, which is to say that I'm anxious and write this down to ease my own. Misery loves company, eh?

Which leads us to the real culprit.

3. Our Intolerant Attitude Toward Negative Feelings:

This is what I address every day with the anxious folks I see in my clinical practice who feel so uncomfortable when their just right feeling goes away that they'll do just about anything to get it back, no matter how irrational. I focus on the mindfulness concept of radical acceptance. Anxious feelings are often reinforced by our efforts to avoid them, so much of what I teach involves learning how to tolerate distress.

Of all the articles I read today -- how to improve memory, America's real interest in Bahrain, Rush Limbaugh's tirade against the Wisconsin protesters, villains cast as good guys, low SAT scores for states without collective bargaining, former football players dying plea for brain research, the deficit debate -- I found this to be the most stress relieving. I particularly liked this quote:

Psychologist Steven Hayes, creator of a highly effective anxiety treatment formula called acceptance and commitment therapy, told me that we've fallen victim to "feel-goodism," the false idea that "bad" feelings ought to be annihilated, controlled, or erased by a pill.

I'm interested in Hayes anxiety treatment formula so might blog on that next. Until then, breathe, relax, and talk to a friend, in person.

READ THE ARTICLE

Or you could watch Mel Brook's High Anxiety.

Zebrafish on the Anxious Brain

Scientists recently discovered that disrupting a specific set of neurons in the habenula prevents normal response to stressful situations. The habenular nuclei have been shown to be involved in many functions, including pain processing, reproductive behavior, nutrition, sleep-wake cycles, stress responses, and learning.
Scientists trained larval zebrafish to swim away from a light in order to avoid a mild electric shock. Fish with a specific set of neurons in the habenula that are damaged displayed signs of "helplessness," and showed indications that they were more anxious than normal fish, being startled easily by non-harmful stimuli. The zebrafish brain is similar to the mammalian brain, suggesting  that malfunction of the habenula is a possible cause of certain anxiety disorders in humans.

It may be possible to use direct stimulation of the habenula as a way of treating some types of anxiety disorders in humans.

So I guess looking at fish really does relieve stress.

(Source: SiFy News, based on a study was published in the journal Current Biology.)

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Why chimes with anxiety, or let's put the fun back in dysfunctional

We want explanations for the inherent chaos of life, to be certain, for reassurance. Don't we? I need you to agree with me here, being the fragile person that I am in such a hard world.

So why do we act, think, or feel a certain way? Why do certain things happen? Why are we here, for that matter? We all want to know.  Why does this yen for certainty makes us anxious? Well, because...

... see, I look for a story to fit the facts (as I perceive them), and it makes sense, to me. There's a logic, and that's what I want, sense in a senseless world, or so it seems. I need a reason.

Read any newspaper and you'll get them, reasons, but are they reasonable? Maybe they're the essential fictions that keep us going, that get us out of bed each day. But maybe we're just kidding ourselves. Call me Cleopatra, the Queen of De Nile.

None of this seems particularly alarming, unless of course your reasons clash with mine. Then it's time for battle, because (there I go again), if you're right, then maybe I'm wrong. That makes me anxious. So I'll argue, attack, erect a defense, react, withdraw, and judge.  

That's good. 
                        No, that's bad. 

That's right. 

                       No. Wrong.

Again, I'm telling you my story, maybe it's yours as well, a story that makes the world work, or better yet, play, whichever you prefer (the former if you're part WASP* like me). Maybe this story upsets you, conflicts with your view of the world. Maybe you think I'm wrong.

But listen. Please, listen. Why can't you listen? Why can't you understand?

Now there's a visceral word: under-stand. Support me. Hold me up. Carry me. Hold this. (I can't tell you all the times I've asked my wife to do this. Honey, hold this. Picture her eyes rolling.)

What is required for you to understand me, and me you?

Listen.

Rather than give a more detailed answer for you (more story), let's have a discussion. Wow, that word sounds serious. Dis and cuss. Maybe converse is better. Wait, con and verse, as in versus. All that sounds so contentious (con and tense). How about dialogue? Oops. Die and log. Let's just talk.

Your turn. Go.






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*White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Think Protestant Work Ethic.