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Tip Talk Thursdays: Managing Anxiety

April 25, 2019
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As we mentioned yesterday, anxiety is something that has impacted all of us, directly or indirectly. With how stressful life can be, it's hard not to become overwhelmed and easy to see how people dip between that fine line of manageable stress and emotions to dysfunctional.

So how do you manage it?

For starters, we are by no means saying that any of the suggestions are a CURE or are the best option. You ultimately know yourself the best and all options provided are offered as an educational component to bring awareness. All final decisions should be fully researched and consulted with a health care professional who understands your extensive health background. We believe in making informed and educated decisions but also recognize that these are such complex disorders often intermingled with other disorders or physical health issues and as such should be treated as complex. Unfortunately there is no one size fits all type of cure out there.

Common Treatments:
Therapy:
  • Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT) is the most common form of therapy used. The aim is to help recognize and alter the harmful thought patterns that can trigger an anxiety disorder, limit your distorted thinking, and change the scale for the intensity of reactions to stressors. Usually takes about 12-16 weeks to see changes but the skills are useful throughout your entire life. 
  • Psychotherapy or talk therapy can also be used to help address the root cause of the anxiety. 
  • Exposure therapy is a process for reducing fear by gradually exposing the feared situation or object and learning to become less sensitive over time. 
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) uses strategies of mindfullness and acceptance, along with commitment and behaviour change as a way to cope with unwanted thoughts, feelings, and sensations. 
  • Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is integrating cogitive-behavioural techniques with concepts from Eastern mediation. Learn about mindfullness as well as skills for interpersonal effectiveness, tolerating distress, and regulating emotions. 
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): under certain conditions, eye movement appear to reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts. This treatment has been show to have a direct effect on the way the brain processes information. Typically used for PTSD.
Medications:
Commonly prescribed drugs may include
  • Tricyclics such as imipramine or clomipramine has been shown to be affective for most disorders except OCD. 
  • Benzodiazepines such as Valium or Diazepam can also be used but are highly addictive and rarely a first-line medications
  • Anti-depressants such as SSRI's, SNRI's, beta-blockers, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), or buspirone. Typically used as they have fewer side effects compared to tricyclics and will generally be the first line of medication used.

Self-Help & Prevention:
  • Stress management: stress is usually a huge trigger so finding ways to organize and limit this is a good step in the right direction. This can include to-do lists, taking time off, prioritizing, and enforcing healthy boundaries (learning to say no). 
  • Relaxation techniques: such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, long baths, mediation, yoga, mindfullness, resting in the dark. 
  • Changing your self talk: learning to replace your negative self-talk with more positive self-talk. This may be having to write out a list of your negative self-talks and finding more positive thoughts to replace them. This is also known as affirmations. 
  • Support network: talking to someone who is supportive is essential for anyone going through a hard time. This can include a professional or just a friend. 
  • Exercise: physical exertion can improve self-image and releases endorphins that help the brain stimulate positive emotions. 
  • Examining current diet: can be a simple yet effective way to help our body better cope with anxiety. Limiting our caffeine consumption is one example! 
  • Regular sleep patterns: researchers have found that sleep disorders and anxiety have a bidirectional relationship, meaning a lack of sleep can cause anxiety or anxiety can cause a lack of sleep. 
  • Acupuncture: research suggests that there is benefits with acupuncture for general anxiety, but are still trying to determine the effectiveness for specific types such as panic attacks, PTSD, and OCD. While the benefits are still being studied, thus far it has not been found to worsen symptoms- so it never hurts to try. 
  • Aromatherapy: studies done have found that aromatherapy has been shown to help reduce heart rate in the short term and help ease sleep issues in the long term.
  • CBD oil: preliminary research suggests it has significant potential to reduce anxiety and panic attacks. 
  • Herbal teas/supplements: some people find the process of drinking tea to be soothing, but some research suggests that herbal teas can have a more direct effect on the brain, resulting in reduced anxiety. One study found that chamomile can alter levels of cortisol- our stress hormone. This is why is it especially important to coordinate with your healthcare professional to ensure there are no interactions with other medications. 
Apps:
  • MindShift CBT: uses scientifically proven strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you learn to relax and be mindful, develop more effective ways of thinking, and use active steps to take charge of your anxiety.
  • Anxiety Reliever: enables users to track anxiety symptoms and provides relaxation exercises 
  • Anxiety Coach: addresses fears and worries using CBT strategies. Includes tools such as a severity self-test, making a plan, anxiety tracking, and viewing progress
  • Breathe2Relax: created by the National Canter for Telehealth & Technology, teaches breathing techniques to manage stress. Can personalize your pace, includes reading materials and charts to map progress. 
  • CPT Coach: targeted for individuals with PTSD. Offers education around PTSD symptoms, and is meant to work alongside a trained cognitive processing therapist as there is a session-by-session approach following the assessments that correspond with each week of the CPT treatment.
  • Happify: self guided app that helps increase positive emotions through exercise and games supported by positive psychology and mindfullness. 
  • Headspace: anyone who wants to learn mediation and improve their attention an awareness. Includes skills such as mindfullness, cognitive diffusion, breathing exercises, mediation practice, tips for increasing relaxation and concentration. 
  • iCBT App: a platform to identify, appraise, and reappraise negative thoughts. Prompted to identify negative thoughts, rate their negative feelings, and identify cognitive distortions. 
  • MoodKit: helps with any mood disorder. Skills taught include self-monitoring, identifying and changing unhealthy thought patterns, and engaging in mood-enhancing activities. 
  • Pacifica: teaches deep breathing, behavioural exercises, exercises to identify cognitive distortions, and learning how to replace them with positive thoughts. 
  • SAM (Self-Help for Anxiety Management): is designed to help you learn about your anxiety, build your own anxiety toolkit, and tailor your self-help to your own life.
Worksheets and PDF Booklet
There are so many resources out there and so many things that will work for some, and not for others. We hope this gives you a little bit of a head start or at least gives you a chance to explore some new options you may have not considered before! We would also love to know if there was anything you have tried that we didn't mention!

YWC

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