Laura Morton has been in the entertainment industry for more than 25 years as a writer, producer, and entrepreneur. She has written over 40 books, 19 of which have become New York Times bestsellers, including The Truth Is…: My Life in Love and Music, an autobiography she co-authored with Melissa Etheridge. Today, Laura is on a mission to bring anxiety out of the darkness and help normalize it: a mission she carries through writing and producing Anxious Nation, a forthcoming feature documentary film on anxiety and its impact on families.

Today, Laura and I explore the anxiety crisis that many families, teenagers, and children experience. We consider the spike of anxiety among young people today and the role of parents in managing it. We discuss social isolation, how it impacts our mental health, and how human connection can be a rich source of happiness. We also discuss Laura's film, Anxious Nation and the ideas that inspired her to write and produce it as well as the need to destroy the stigma enveloping mental illness.

"Social media is a symptom of anxiety; the cause is a generation of parents who never learned how to deal with their own anxiety." - Laura Morton

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• The idea and inspiration behind Laura's documentary film, Anxious Nation
• Why Laura thinks social media is a symptom of anxiety
• The impact of a generation of anxious parents on today's young people
• The reason anxiety needs to be treated systematically
• The relationship between anxiety and worry
• Today's anxiety crisis and how the quarantine has affected people with anxiety
• The need for parents to model how to deal with anxiety
• The impact of social isolation on mental health and human connection as a source of happiness
• 'Keeping up with the Joneses' and the anxiety of choice
• The four kinds of addiction that impact the lives of people
• The power of attuning to yourself
• Conscious parenting and why parents need to trust in the path of their children
• Environmental, political, and social challenges that burden today's generation

Connect with Laura Morton:

• Laura Morton
• Anxious Nation on Facebook
• Laura Morton on Facebook
• Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

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Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk