Therapist here! My practice is focused 90% on anxiety. While a tweet thread does not constitute therapy & is no substitute for seeking mental health care if you need it, I am sharing some tips to help people manage the anxiety they may be experiencing in this THREAD:
1)Your anxieties are valid. The fight or flight response keeps us safe; it is trying to protect you. In honouring that, the goal is not to eliminate our fears entirely, but to keep our anxiety at levels wherein we don’t overwhelm ourselves to the point of being ineffectual.
This is really important as undue, excessive cortisol (stress hormone) levels repress immune response. So, part of keeping ourselves and communities healthy is actively working to keep ourselves calm and mentally healthy so that our immunity is kept at peak performance.
3) If you are having a hard time containing the worry, schedule a time to worry about it. Plan a solid half hour to think about nothing except your worries, but also plan not to worry about them in the interim.
4) Write your fears and worries down. Often we feel like our fears are greater in # and intensity than they actually are. Like clothes in a dryer, it's the same couple articles that we are tumbling around that feel bigger then they are because of the mental turmoil
When we see our fears on paper, we are often surprised that they take up less space when we thought. Also, when we write them out in full sentences and paragraphs, it helps us to fully process our thoughts and fears rather than leave them in the fragmented versions in our minds.
5) Learn how to breathe with your diaphragm. Shallow, inhales w the upper chest invoke the sympathetic nervous system, which turns on fight or flight. Deep "belly breaths" with LOOONNG exhales turn on parasympathetic, which turns off the anxiety response
Count your breath to help ensure those long exhales. Count in to a count of 4. Pause for a count of 5. Exhale to a count of 7.
6) Looking for things to do during social distancing? How about learning to meditate? I can hear your eyes rolling already, so think of it like this. Your brain cells are biological tissues. Like your muscles are & need their own conditioning
Meditation is exercise for the brain, particularly the medial frontal cortex. Like gym routines, building up this strength gives your brain the ability to focus on whatever it wants for as long as it wants. A counterbalance to the rushing of thoughts we experience w anxiety
“But I tried meditation. It didn’t work for me” said most of my clients.
It's a skill that needs building up. You are literally strengthening neural connections. Like building muscle, this is achieved through repetition & routine
It's a skill that needs building up. You are literally strengthening neural connections. Like building muscle, this is achieved through repetition & routine
7) All humans brains have built in cognitive biases, particularly for negative or threatening thoughts. We only look for the evidence that supports the hypothesis we are holding onto, esp when we are assuming a worst-case scenario. Force yourself to look for the counter evidence
8) We give one negative thought the weight of 5 positive ones. When you are focused on the dark side, force yourself to think of 5 positive things about the situation. I promise they are there!
9) Start a gratitude journal. Write 5 things that you are grateful for everyday. This helps build our mental strength against the negative bias.
10) Learn about self-compassion. This is an EVIDENCE-BASED approach to helping us manage our emotions and build our emotional grit. Here is a good video starting point from @self_compassion. Her website has great research summaries and exercizes as well
11) Part of self-compassion is understanding that this thing we are going through unites us all. We have more in common in our fears and anxieties right now than we are different. Keep leaning into your community while respecting social distancing. We got this!
12) As social creatures, the fastest way for an activated fight or flight system to re-regulate is through connecting with the calm nervous system of someone we trust. Lean in to the folks you are sharing space with. Ground together.
13) Hug that person for 30 seconds. This releases oxytocin, which dampens cortisol (of course, this is in reference to those we are sharing our homes in during social isolation!)
14) Realize that different strategies work for different folks. Find one or two of these that speak to you and practice daily, feeling anxious or not. If you can't use a tool when you don't need it, don't expect it to work when you do!
15) If you need to talk, us in the mental health field are always here! Sessions via Skype and Phone are an option. Reach out to your local distress centre. Psychology Today also has great local directories of therapists who can help you build your own personal anxiety toolbox.
Hoping this helps out someone out there! Not much I can do from my little corner of social isolation, but I can share this knowledge with you all in hopes that is helps even a couple people weather this!
Please take good care of yourself & others, mentally as well as physically!
Please take good care of yourself & others, mentally as well as physically!
