John: Hi, this is John Dacey with my weekly podcast New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today I have a good friend of mine, Doctor Dotty Vacca. Dr. Vacca has had a wide variety of experiences. Dotty, will you tell us something about your training and your background.

Dotty: I started my career as an elementary school teacher and most of my career has been in the public school system so I bring that as a backdrop to a number of the experiences I have had and the way I have looking at different disorders. I went from being a classroom teacher of 15 years to a school counselor to a school psychologist then I went on to become a licensed psychologist and a certified school psychologist. Recently I have been working at Northeastern University and at William James College and I am supervising psychology interns.

John: That is a wide variety of experiences and certainly qualifies you to talk about anxiety disorders. Let me start off with my general first question: I see there being 8 kinds of anxiety, 4 of them have to do with the cerebral cortex, and those are separation anxiety, social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those are all experiences that we can be aware of and they do respond to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), typically. The other 4 are much more likely to originate in the amygdala and although the cortex is involved, the amygdala pretty much controls them so they have really little response to discussions. Those are simple phobias, agoraphobia, panic disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How does that fit with what you understand?

Dotty: I like the 8 categorizations because I think its a very useful way of looking at the many different kinds of anxiety. In addition to those areas of the brain that you mentioned, there are also other areas of the brain that are also affected with anxiety. For example, not too many people pay attention to the cerebellum, but at the brainstem for many of the anxiety disorders, if the brainstem happens to be overly sensitive, then there’s an abnormal brainstem regulation of things like the reduction of oxygen and it causes people to have quick panic responses so anxiety is a very complicated disorder. You use the biopsychosocial model which I think is a very important way of understanding how anxiety comes about because as a neuropsychologist and as a psychologist dealing with children and adults dealing with anxiety, almost every condition that I’ve worked with has an anxiety component to it. For example, with anxiety, usually in comorbid with depressive disorders, there is a belief that in conditions like bipolar disorder the anxiety of the manic phase of the disorder is a way to offset the depression that’s about to come so anxiety can be helpful in that way. But also some people have a genetic predisposition to anxiety and children can be born with the predisposition.

John: You use the word “sensitive” before. I kind of think what you’re talking about right now is sensitivity, which is good because it makes one very responsive to the needs and feelings of others but it’s also bad because it makes us super, what we call, catastrophizing: ready to see catastrophe in everything.

Dotty: Yes that isn’t quite what I was getting at in terms of the way the brain is organized when you have an abnormality in the brain stem in terms of regulation but there is the other component of anxiety where people are hypersensitive and are looking out to the environment for clues for what to do and so there’s a hyper-vigilance there and that can - as a result of that, they can misinterpret signals from the outside world.

John: There’s no question about that. You’re absolutely right.

Hi. This is Dr. John Dacey, with my weekly podcast, New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Although feeling fearful during the coronavirus pandemic is entirely normal, seriously disruptive anxious reactions are fast becoming common. ...

J:  I have a friend of mine, whose name is Ben, and he's going to talk about some of the anxiety situations he's gotten himself into, and what he did to get himself out of them. Hi Ben.

B: How are you doing, John?

J: Just fine, thanks. What I'd like to do, if you don't mind, is to go through seven of the eight kinds of anxiety and just ask you if you've experienced them, and maybe a little bit about what you've done about them. I'm going to skip the first one, which is simple anxieties, such as claustrophobia or agoraphobia, because they are very common. The first one I want to talk about is social phobia. That includes things like giving speeches or going to parties. Things like that. Do you think you have any social phobias?

B: I wouldn't say I have a social phobia. I'm a bit of a performer, and kind of an extrovert, but I also really don't like being around people all the time. I kind of describe myself as an extroverted introvert.

J; That's fine, Ben. But that's pretty clearly not anxiety. Let's move on to the third one, which is separation anxiety. Do you experience any separation from anybody as being particularly frightening.

B: Not particularly, no.

J: Ok fine. The fourth one is generalized anxiety. What about that?

B: Yeah. I'm pretty much always anxious about something, or just have a sense of anxiety, whether its towards any specific thing or not.

J: When you feel kind of anxious about something, What do you do about it? What helps you?

B: It's always something different. Thats something I’ve learned, that you can't always use one coping strategy for every situation, you have to try different things for different situations and figure it out, and even if its a similar situation to one you've had before, sometimes the same solution won't work.

J: Boy, are you absolutely right about that. You've got to have a number of arrows in your quiver in order to hit the target, that's for sure. Now I do want to mention this: some research that my colleagues and I did with large numbers of young adults, the results were that males, about seventy-five percent of males do much better with physical techniques of relaxing such as tightening all your muscles and letting them go, or deep breathing, and the women, about seventy-five percent of them, worked much better with mental things. That includes imagining yourself by a nice, quiet lake, or that you're listening to a chorus of monks singing. So are you more like the males here or the twenty five percent category?

B: I think I'm more towards the twenty five percent. Of course there's deep breathing that works occasionally, but mental stimulation tends to help me more, so I think more the twenty five percent.

J: Can you tell us what kind of imagery that you tend to seek when you're feeling anxious?

B; Yeah, I think of people who I love, or good times I've had. Sometimes I'll sing a little song in my head that I enjoy, or just try to make up a story to distract myself.

J: I seem to remember that one of your favorite songs is “oh la de da” is that correct?

Hello. I am Dr. John Dacey, coming to you with my weekly podcast, “New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. This time, I’m going to be talking again about the second step of my COPE strategy, originality. I remind you that this step of the model calls for you to be as creative as you can in organizing a series of tactics, designed just for your own personality. I promised that I would help you to become more original, and this is the second time I have tried to keep that word.

To begin with, it is wise to assess your own creative abilities. Regardless of whether you are one of the most original people you know, or are not very high at all in that trait, everyone can move up. Everyone can get better at being creative. It will be very much to your benefit if you design your own imaginative plan for becoming less anxious.

You will need to get some benchmark of your overall ability. This is hard to do, not only because creativity is somewhat ephemeral, but also because it is difficult for us to be objective about how gifted we are. Nevertheless, we have make a try.

To begin this venture, fill out what I call a “personal shield.” This is like a family crest, or coat of arms, except it doesn’t exist. You wil have to design it yourself. Imagine, if you will, a shield that has been divided into five sections. The crest has a line down the middle, and two horizontal lines dividing the shield into thirds. Furthermore, you need to know that the vertical line is not extended into the bottom section. Therefore, there are five sections. You can see a picture of the shield in the transcript (blog) that accompanies this podcast. Or you can just make a list of the five traits I am asking you to put in each box. The five traits are:

What you consider your greatest strength.

Your worst weakness.

Your greatest personal achievement.

Your worst screw-up.

Your most hoped-for lifetime achievement.

The most imaginative thing to do would be to draw symbols of your answers, as you would see on such an escutcheon. However, if you like, you could just answer the questions.

 

 

 

Your Personal Crest -- Creativity

(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/swHSbr_3ytjGY8LHMo031HQ/image?w=215&h=42&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/sWDj9rcZ5G8BeDp8Ady3Btg/image?w=296&h=37&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/swO1Z3yyaY-eTDvaoFoFcdg/image?w=499&h=424&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)(https://docs.google.com/drawings/u/0/d/sS68lXZ1n_cerpmpWvayrHg/image?w=4&h=250&rev=1&ac=1&parent=1sCmF_Y9bjKcmdwIFxYS_uhFbzR1IobGIdDwdSmvdQa0)

1 Best Strength 2 Worst Weakness

John: A good friend of mine, Nancy Alloway, has been a teacher for all her career, and she’s going to be talking about her own and her fellow teachers’ anxieties. Let me start off by asking Nancy to give you just a thumbnail sket...

I believe that most people who are afflicted by an anxiety disorder have at least one situation that they dread. Constant concern about the situation can lead to generalized anxiety. For me it was fainting. Several times prior to whe...

Transcript of Dr. John Dacey’ podcast

Dr. John Dacey: Today I have a guest who is my first psychiatrist that I’m going to be eagerly

listening to a lot of the things he has to say about anxiety disorders. His name is Jack Lloyd, Dr.

Jack Lloyd and I’m going to welcome him to the studio today.

Hi Jack.

Dr. Jack Lloyd: Hi John. So nice to be here.

Dr. John Dacey: Thank you. Jack, I want start off by asking you to describe your clientele to me

as much as , in as much detail as you can.

What kinds of people do you typically see?

Dr. Jack Lloyd: well John, I work by in large with the college undergraduate and graduate

student population. I’d say 80% of the clients I see are in that category.

Dr. John Dacey: Ok

Dr. Jack Lloyd: I also work with some...

Dr. John Dacey: Are they at a college some place?

Dr. Jack Lloyd: Yeah, primarily at a university.

Dr. John Dacey: You’re at MIT if I remember correctly.

Dr. Jack Lloyd: Right.

Dr. John Dacey: No shortage of anxiety problems.

Dr. Jack Lloyd: Yeah, it’s a good anxiety generator. I think that for all, it’s that age is rife with

reasons to be anxious. And I also work in my private practice with some older adults middle age

and even older adults so I really run the gamut but I don’t work with children.

Dr. John Dacey: OK. All right.  fine. That’s good because that’s not what we’re talking about too

much here anyway.

I have another colleague who does work almost entirely with college students. Her name is Dr.

Elizabeth Brocker. And, I, So I’m glad to be talking to you.

I want to talk to you of course about the psychological side of things but you’re also able to

speak about the physical side of things. Maybe we should start right off with that. I know that I

have a very good friend who is a psychiatrist. And when I see, quite a few clients  I’ve seen over

the years have needed some mild tranquilizer situation, some kind of medication, because they

found it very hard to pay attention when they’re in the middle of an episode. And they find it very

hard to remember what I told them to do.

And if they can remember what to do, they’re fine. They can work things out pretty well. But it’s

very hard to remember when you’re really having, when you’re really having a bad case of the

jitters.

So, what percentage would you say of the clients that come to you as opposed to a

psychotherapist, I imagine A fairer number, you get more serious cases. Am I right?

 

Dr. Jack Lloyd: Well, yes, I suppose I probably do. And I may, I may, some of my clients may be

individuals who have been working  in therapy for a while and making the best use they can, as

you say, of cognitive behavioral therapy, and of exposure and response prevention; Different

techniques, mindfulness meditation, Behavioral techniques, exercise. And I think When those

techniques haven’t quite gotten as far as the therapist and the client would like, they will often

refer them to me, and I, I actually think that for everybody those therapy and behavioral

techniques ought to be the real cornerstone of treatment. But as an adjunctive, as an adjunctive

measure and treatment, I certainly prescribe medications. And in my, I also do therapy, And so I

sometimes in a sense would refer to myself in an analogous way, and there are a number of

medicines that can be helpful. Would you like me to talk about some?

Dr. John Dacey: Yeah I really would like you to talk about them. I would like to About the various

categories and I think it would be wonderful chance to to to go to the horses mouth here so to

speak.

As I have said, the essence of dealing with anxiety is the ability to relax. One of the best ways I know of to calm your nerves is called the “yogic sponge.” In this podcast, I am going to read the text that is very good at inducing relaxation. If you prefer your own voice, or that of a relative or friend, have them read it into the recording device such as the one on your phone. Play it at least once a day, or as often as you feel the need. After a number of repetitions, you won’t even need the recording anymore, as you will hear this script in your head.

 

The Yogic Sponge

Begin by lying down on a firm but cushioned surface, such as a rug or towel. Read this script in a soft, soothing voice. You may want to record your reading, or have it taped by a friend with a great voice, so that you can play it whenever you wish.

It's best to lie down on a soft place. Put your hands beside you with your palms down, then let them turn up by themselves naturally. Let your feet spread apart a little bit. Get stretched out and try to get yourself in a nice relaxed position. The idea is to go on a mental trip. Instead of going on a trip away from home, you’re going into the deepest part of yourself, your own personal home. This is a time specifically just for you, nobody else. You’re going to be thinking only about getting yourself into position, so that you can do some really good relaxing. [Begin taping.]

Concentrate on your feet, especially your toes. Wiggle them around a little bit. Tense your feet up if you want to, pull them toward you and then just let them go. Let them just relax completely. That’s really good. [Pause.]

Now let this feeling of relaxation spread up into your ankles, shinbones, up to your knees. You may want to straighten your legs out and bend them just a little. Make sure the tightness is out of your knees, then let this mellow feeling move up your thighs. Your muscles are letting go and now your legs are starting to become very, very heavy. They are pressing down against the rug and maybe almost through the rug. It feels wonderful to just lie there and sink deeper into this state of serenity. [Pause.]

This feeling now is beginning to spread up into your hips and your lower abdomen, up into your stomach. It is beginning now to infiltrate into your chest. Notice that as you start to relax, breathing now becomes slower. In fact, you can take a deep breath, hold it for a while let it go, then hold it. First let all your breath out—all your breath. Now you’re going to inhale. Try it now—I’ll count so that you can tell how long to do each of these three tasks. Breathe in: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; breathe out: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; and hold it: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Notice that you did not after breathing in. The way you are instructed here is better.

As you practice this, you’re going to become just like a sponge, just lying there soaking things up. You want to get your breathing to become slower and slower and deeper and deeper.Not just in your chest, but down in your belly, too. [Pause.]

Now let the feeling spread into your shoulders. Scrunch your shoulders up, wiggle them around, and make sure that they really let go. Let them “fall” into the floor, so that your entire body now feels very, very heavy. [Pause]

This feeling of heaviness is starting to move through your shoulders into your upper arms, down through your elbows and now it’s flowing down into your forearms. Your arms are becoming very heavy. [Pause.]

This feeling is now going into your palms, the backs of your hands, slowly going out through your fingers and your thumbs,

As you probably already know, the most common mental illness in the world today is anxiety. Although feeling fearful during the coronavirus pandemic is entirely normal, seriously disruptive anxious reactions are fast becoming common. Although reading articles and listening to podcasts about this cataclysm is not recommended for those suffering from any of the eight varieties of anxiety syndromes, because the sources might serve to exacerbate your fearfulness, my brief summary of the best new ideas should prove helpful to you.

I also want you to know that my new book, Why Don’t You Just Relax? is available at amazon.com, as an electronic book for Kindle, and also as a paperback book. There is some overlap between my podcasts and this new book, but the latter is designed much more as a self-help instrument. I hope you will give it a look!

Hi. This is Dr. John Dacey, with my weekly podcast, New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. As you probably already know, the most common mental disorder in the world today is anxiety. Although feeling fearful during the coronavirus pandemic is entirely normal, seriously disruptive anxious reactions are fast becoming common. Reading articles and listening to podcasts about this cataclysm is not recommended for those suffering from any of the eight varieties of anxiety syndromes. These sources might serve to exacerbate your fearfulness. However, this very brief summary of the best new ideas that I offer you today should prove helpful to you.

First, let me remind you, my theory about the anxiety syndrome in general is that it is based on childhood claustrophobia. For example, there is the time when I crawled under a pillow in my baby carriage, and was blue-faced by the time my mother discovered me. That laid the basis for associating fear with being trapped, later in my life. Seems to have happened often, and generalized to many other circumstances. Does this ring any bells with you?

So what can we do if we feel trapped now? Trapped in our houses, without our normal social stimuli. Trapped in our bodies, with constant concerns that we are experiencing some coronavirus symptoms. Trapped in our minds, with constant fears that this is never going to end, or that it will end badly for us. What can we do?

Well, we need to prove to ourselves that we are NOT trapped! We can go for a walk or a drive by ourselves. A good friend of mine and I met yesterday on a park bench, and, sitting on either end of the bench, we had a stimulating conversation. At one point a lady walking by chided us, saying, “You two are only 5 feet apart!” I think she was kidding.

We can take advantage of our restrictions by completing jobs we’ve been promising ourselves we would do for ages.

My favorite writing team, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, demonstrate the ultimate example of freedom. Their major character, FBI agent-at-large Aloysius Pendergast, has been chained to a table in a wicked man’s cellar. He was promised that when the man comes back in three hours, Pendergast will die. Our hero decides not to waste the time, so he goes on a delightful trip through a gorgeous garden, in his mind. At the end of 3 hours, Pendergast is well rested, and of course is able to overcome his opponent. The point is,

How to Deal with Coronavirus as an Independent Thinker

I think it is high time that I offer you the best solutions for anxiety about the coronavirus. I have spent the last two weeks searching sources for advice on this universal problem. Here is the most useful advice I was able to find.