Brief Summary
This video provides a comprehensive overview of 20 anxiety relief strategies used to address generalized anxiety. It covers the intake assessment, diagnostic criteria, physical and mental health issues, and typical interventions, including psycho-educational topics. The goal is to equip viewers with tools and techniques to manage anxiety effectively.
- Assessment and Diagnosis: Understanding triggers, vulnerabilities, and coping strategies.
- Physical and Mental Health: Ruling out underlying issues that exacerbate anxiety.
- Treatment and Strategies: Implementing practical techniques and psycho-education.
Introduction and diagnosis criteria
The video introduces 20 anxiety relief strategies, emphasizing that anxiety is a feeling and that early intervention is more effective. The initial diagnostic criterion for generalized anxiety disorder is excessive, uncontrollable anxiety occurring on most days for at least six months, covering various issues. The speaker asks about triggers, grouping them into themes like loss, abandonment, rejection, failure, or loss of control, to understand the anxiety's origins.
Vulnerabilities, which increase the likelihood of being triggered, are also examined across physical (e.g., caffeine, low blood sugar, poor sleep, pain), affective (e.g., stress, burnout), cognitive (e.g., pessimistic outlook), environmental (e.g., unfamiliar places, busy settings), and relationship factors (e.g., people causing unease). Effective coping strategies are identified to build on existing strengths.
Additional diagnostic criteria include restlessness, muscle tension, sleep disturbances, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and irritability. Restlessness may overlap with ADHD or PTSD, requiring specific attention. Muscle tension can stem from poor ergonomics or pain, exacerbating anxiety. Sleep disturbances are explored, emphasizing sleep hygiene. Fatigue is linked to poor nutrition, tension, and deconditioning. Difficulty concentrating and irritability are addressed by identifying triggers, vulnerabilities, and coping strategies like noise-canceling headphones and list-making.
Create a list of triggers and vulnerabilities and current effective strategies for reference - Refer to primary care to rule out physical causes or contributors, a nutritionist if their eating habits are poor and a sleep specialist if sleep hygiene interventions do not work or they have a known sleep disorder Have them start keeping daily anxiety
The speaker underscores the importance of addressing underlying physical and mental health issues to effectively treat anxiety. Physical pain, thyroid imbalances, estrogen fluctuations, Lyme disease, nutritional deficiencies, food sensitivities, and excessive caffeine or stimulants can all exacerbate anxiety. Medication side effects, alcohol, and benzodiazepine withdrawal are also significant contributors.
The speaker recommends a general treatment flow that involves creating a spreadsheet of triggers, vulnerabilities, and effective strategies to identify themes. Referrals to primary care physicians, nutritionists, and sleep specialists are made to rule out or address physical contributors. Patients are instructed to keep a daily anxiety log, noting the date, time, triggers, intensity, duration, and interventions used.
Each week, the anxiety logs are reviewed to identify repeating triggers and themes. The FCP (Facts, Control, Probability) method is used to process triggers, helping individuals move from emotional to factual reasoning. Mitigation strategies, including setting boundaries, assertiveness, and trigger management, are developed. The goal is to help individuals move from being paralyzed by anxiety to managing it effectively.
12. Setting and maintaining boundaries 13. Secure attachment, positive self talk and the inner child 14. Silencing the inner critic 15. Listening without defensiveness 16. Assertiveness
The video transitions to interpersonal behaviors, emphasizing the importance of setting and maintaining boundaries to feel empowered and safe. Secure attachment, positive self-talk, and inner child work are addressed to foster a sense of safety and love, enhancing the individual's ability to respond to their own needs. The inner critic, which contributes significantly to anxiety by bringing up past failures or anticipating future ones, is a key focus.
The speaker discusses the importance of listening without defensiveness, as defensiveness is a threat reaction that can exacerbate anxiety and anger. Learning to hear others' opinions while maintaining personal boundaries is crucial. Finally, assertiveness is addressed as a means to communicate thoughts, wants, and needs effectively while respecting others' boundaries, fostering a sense of safety and empowerment.
