Panic Attacks Archives - Amazing Health Advances

How Hard Is It to Stop Antidepressants?

AHA Publisher — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 08:00:18 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #435) and blog, I talk to clinical researcher and fellow at University College London Dr. Mark Horowitz on his own experience on psychiatric medication, the many myths surrounding antidepressants, safely withdrawing from psychiatric drugs, and so much more! Mark works in London as a Clinical Research Fellow in the NHS and an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at UCL while training as a psychiatry. As well as his work in this field, he has also completed a PhD in the neurobiology of depression and the pharmacology of antidepressants at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London. But Mark does more than study psychiatric medications. As he notes, “At the same time as researching the way in which antidepressants worked I have also been taking this medication since I was a medical student. It was not until 15 years later that I tried to come off this medication as I wondered whether it was responsible for the fatigue which had led to me being diagnosed with the sleep disorder, narcolepsy. When I tried to come off this antidepressant over 4 months I received a very abrupt education into antidepressant withdrawal symptoms. I experienced insomnia, panic attacks, dizziness, anxiety and low mood. This was nothing like the Woody Allen-level neurosis that had led me to start them in the first place – and I had experienced nothing like it before. It was also something that I had not been taught about at medical school or in psychiatry training. I soon learnt by reading the academic literature available that the psychiatrists and academics at the institution I had studied at and others like them around the world had little helpful to say about withdrawal effects from antidepressants – they recommended stopping the drugs over 2 to 4 weeks, and reported that the symptoms were mild and brief. Many prominent academics with close ties to pharmaceutical companies attacked academics and patients who complained of trouble coming off their antidepressants, accusing them of malingering, or seeking legal payments. Instead, the place where I found the most useful advice was online peer-support websites (especially Surviving Antidepressants) filled with people trying to come off their antidepressants. There I found people describing the exact same symptoms I had experienced: like me, their symptoms were neither mild, nor brief. And this was not a handful of people – instead I found tens of thousands of people with near identical complaints. None seemed to be malingerers, in it for a buck or ignorant – they all had been told by doctors that there would be no major issue in coming off their medication and all had been given unhelpful advice by their doctors to come off in just a few weeks. Even more helpfully for me, these online groups described a better way to come off antidepressants: going down by small amounts, that become smaller and smaller as the total dose got lower, and going down to very tiny amounts before completely stopping. I am using this method to come off the antidepressant I have been on for so many years, as well as the other psychiatric drugs I ended up being prescribed, in what I now see as a prescribing cascade, where adverse effects led to more medications. Reducing my medication has greatly improved the tiredness, problems with memory and concentration that have plagued me for years (and for which I was given psychiatric and neurological explanations).” Indeed, based on his research and experience, Mark has written an excellent paper about how to come off antidepressants that was published in The Lancet Psychiatry and widely reported. He also works with other doctors and the public how to teach people how to safely taper off antidepressants and other psychiatric medications based on his own personal and professional experiences, and the realization that he has been “misled on how difficult it is to stop psychiatric medications”. Mark has dedicated his career to “re-evaluating the other information he has taken for granted about psychiatric medications, how they work, what they are treating and what their long-term effects might be” and helping people who are suffering find ways to heal and be at peace within their own minds. Mark is also one of the authors of the groundbreaking study on the serotonin depression myth that recently made headlines around the world. As mentioned in my interview with journalist and mental health advocate Robert Whitakerand my interview with psychiatrist, researcher and professor Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, the chemical imbalance theory has been around for a long time. From the 1970s, drug companies and many mental health professionals have largely marketed psychiatric drugs as anti-psychotic, anti-depressive, or anxiolytic (anti-anxiety)—cures combating a particular disease, notwithstanding the lack of evidence for chemical imbalances or other pathologies related to mental illness. This was recently highlighted in the groundbreaking systematic review study led by Dr. Mike Horowitz, Dr. Joanna Moncrieff and their team. As they note in their study on the serotonin theory of depression (alongside many other mental health professionals and advocates), the chemical imbalance approach is shaped by the assumption that symptoms of depression and other mental health issues are caused by a brain chemical abnormality, and that psychotropics like anti-depressants help rectify this abnormality and improve mental health. Even though this hypothesis dominates the way we think about mental health, we have no evidence that it is the best way to understand mental issues, as Mark and his team point out. First, there is no strong evidence that mental struggles like depression, for example, is associated with any particular biochemical abnormality. Moreover, we do not know if the drugs we use work in this way, i.e. correcting biochemical imbalances. This is due to the fact that the mental health drugs we use are psychoactive. They cross the blood-brain barrier and change the normal state of the brain, which means they can change our feelings, thoughts, perceptions and even behaviors, just in the same way a substance like alcohol can (as Dr. Moncrieff discussed in our interview). As Mark, Joanna and the other authors of the study note in their article in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, “the main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations”. If we do not have good evidence that psychiatric medications like antidepressants do not work by correcting or reversing a chemical imbalance in the brain that causes depression, it is important that we review the way we use their drugs, many of which may even cause chemical imbalances in the brain, and can have many negative side effects (like the ones Mark himself experienced) that, unfortunately, are often just assumed to be the result of the mental condition returning. This is why he is passionate about helping people safely withdraw from these medications. As Mark notes, there is actually very little official guidance on how to stop psychiatric medication safely. There has been very little research on this subject, although, thankfully, this is changing, not least through the work done by Mark and other professionals like him. The key thing to understand about withdrawal is that“no one should stop their antidepressant medication abruptly—this can be dangerous and is known to cause withdrawal effects, which can be severe and long-lasting in some people, especially those using the medications long-term. If anyone is considering this choice…discuss it with your doctor and, if you go ahead, to undertake a gradual and supported reduction as advised by recent Royal College of Psychiatry guidance.” There are ways to withdraw from psychiatric drugs safely, which Mark has written extensively about including in a recent paper about how to come off antidepressants, although this should always be done under the guidance of an appropriate medical professional. When withdrawing, there are several key points to consider: Come off psychiatric medication SLOWLY. Go down in SMALL AMOUNTS. It is very important to understand that very small amounts of any kind of psychiatric medication can have large effects on the brain. It is important to note that with psychiatric drugs you can reduce higher doses a lot quicker than lower doses. For lower levels, people often use tapering strips or liquids to reduce the drug by very small amounts over time. This is why it is important to make smaller and smaller reductions over time as you get down to lower doses (by proportion), based on the effect these doses have on the brain. It is necessary to take a flexible approach as everyone’s situation and past history is different, and avoid switching between certain drugs as much as possible. There are different ways to decrease doses, which should be done under the guidance of a medical professional. These include dividing tablets, using a liquid version of the drug and a syringe, and using compounding pharmacies to order smaller doses or tapering strips. There are also great sources of information like Mad in America, Rxisk, ISEPP and other patient-run websites (like the kind Mark mentions) that seek to provide people with helpful information and address all parts of the human experience, not just our biology. To read the original article click here.

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Unwiring Perfectionism + How Flexible Thinking Can Help Reduce Anxiety & Stress (With Poppy Jamie)

AHA Publisher — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 07:00:50 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #287) and blog, I speak with Poppy Jamie, founder of Happy Not Perfect, a popular podcast and meditation app for anxiety. We discuss everything from understanding anxiety and the importance of self-compassion to the link between the mind, brain and body and how to own and manage panic attacks and anxiety. In her new book, Happy Not Perfect, Poppy talks about her own experiences with mental health and why we need to manage our perceptions of our own mental health. As she points out, there is an important difference between “flexible” and “stiff” thinking when it comes to mental health. If we feel that “this” is just the way we are and that we will never learn how to manage or heal our mental health, then we will be more likely to stay “stuck”. If, however, we have what Poppy calls “flexible thinking” (which may take time to learn), then we will be more open to finding ways to manage and heal our mind and we will see that it is possible to move on from where we are in life. This kind of thinking gives us the ability to choose how we want to respond to any given situation—we don’t just have to be pushed this way and that by life’s challenges. Indeed, we don’t have to wait till our problems are “bad enough” to seek mental health help. All of us deserve to live happy, fulfilled lives, and all of us battle at times to achieve this. There is no shame in seeking out help when we need it.We should never invalidate our own reality or compare our own mental health experiences to other people’s traumas. Pain has no hierarchy. Being human means struggling with your mental health. We all deserve to have our story heard and get the help we need. And, as soon as we acknowledge how we feel and start finding ways to manage our emotions, our emotions actually become more manageable, mentally and biologically! Research has shown that talking or writing about how we feel really can help us move through our emotions. If we just try to suppress how we feel, our emotions will eventually explode, possibly affecting other areas of our life. We all need to give ourselves permission to embrace our feelings AND to have “recovery time” after small and big stressors, even if this is something as commonplace as moving homes. As Poppy points out, we need to identify with our emotions, not become them. We may be experiencing depression, but we are not just a depressed person—this is not the sum total of who we are. This is especially true for people who seek perfection (like myself!). Perfectionists, overall, completely overestimate what they can do in a given time period, and this is often tied to people pleasing. By constantly saying yes to someone else, we are often saying no to ourselves and what we need, which can impact our mental wellbeing. We also need to seek out ways of managing our mental health that works for us. Meditation is not necessarily the cure for everything, for example. Sometimes, it can even be really unhelpful! A better way to approach mental health struggles is to understand how our mind works and the specific, toxic core beliefs that shape the way we understand and perceive the world, which is the basis of our psyche. We all need to get curious about our core beliefs. What shapes the way we perceive and interact with the world? How do these beliefs impact us? Do we need to challenge any of the core beliefs we have developed over the years? And, as Poppy notes, when it comes to mental health, we shouldn’t just focus on everything that can go wrong with our brain. We also need to recognize how incredible our mind and brain are, how they can grow, change and heal, and how they want to protect us and work for us. Often, we spend so much time creating our worlds that we forget that we need to spend time adapting to what we have created. We can start doing this by developing flexible thinking, which is based on what Poppy calls in her book “the four c’s”: Connection: taking the time to connect with how you feel and with your body. Curiosity: questioning yourself (especially your inner critic!) and your world. How does a thought you have make you feel? How do you speak to yourself? How much suffering is created in your mind? What lies are you believing about yourself? Choice: recognizing that change only happens when you really want it to. True change comes from within. Commitment: committing to your highest self and knowing where you are going. What do you want your best future to look like? To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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Surprising Reasons You May Be Anxious + How to Use the Neurocycle to Manage & Reduce Anxiety

AHA Publisher — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 07:00:33 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #286) and blog, I am going to talk about anxiety. I get asked so many questions about anxiety, what it is, and how to manage it that I decided to dedicate a whole podcast to this topic. Here are some examples of the questions I have received: Why do I feel anxious in certain situations and not others? Why does my whole body react (to the point where I feel sick) when I am anxious? Why do some situations result in more anxiety than others? What do I do when I feel constantly anxious around a loved one or work colleague? What do you tell your mind to ward off PTSD-related anxiety when emotionally triggered? Can you give insight into how to control anxiety or being panicked when left alone and how to keep your mind at peace? Is anxiety genetic? Can it be wired in relation to a specific fear? What is hypervigilance? Everyone experiences a level of anxiety from time to time; this is completely normal. Often, there are times in our life where “stuff” really accumulates, and it is okay to be anxious occasionally. However, if left unmanaged, this “stuff” can progress to a point where we feel so overwhelmed with anxiety that our ability to go about daily life is obstructed, especially if it results in debilitating anxiety or a panic attacks. The key word here is “managed”. How we manage anxiety will be based on how we view anxiety. If we just see anxiety as a “disease” or “biochemical medical illness”, it can be pretty scary! This label can lock us in, potentially shaping the way we see ourselves and our capacity, or stigmatizing our biology—some people may view us as inherently lacking control and potentially unstable or even dangerous to ourselves and others. But there is another way to look at anxiety, one that I believe is more hopeful, kinder and less stigmatizing. Anxiety can be seen as a warning signal—a helpful messenger. It is telling us there is something going on in our lives that needs attention because it’s threatening our peace and survival. It’s pointing to the narrative that is related to our anxiety, that is what has happened to make us feel this way, rather than just focusing on a biological root as the cause of the anxiety. Indeed, what we think and experience affects our biology, so of course we will experience anxiety as physical symptoms. The cause isn’t necessarily in the brain, although, of course, physical brain damage or ill-health can affect how we feel and make us anxious. However, if we think the anxiety we are feeling and experiencing is just because we have a damaged brain or body, we can lose hope and a sense of agency, which may make our anxiety worse. We need to remember that the brain is not a preprogrammed body of grey matter. We do not just “dance to our DNA”, as the popular saying goes. Anxiety isn’t just a broken brain or illness waiting to manifest. Anxiety means that we, as thinking beings, are responding intelligently to threats to our existence. When there is a foreboding change in our environment, we experience this change through our mind. The mind is the power mechanism by which we experience life, but it is experimental because it’s always hypothesizing and working things out. This means things can get messy, but that’s okay—the point is to look at the messiness of life and learn how to manage, repair and grow through it. This is mind-management in action, which I discuss in detail in my latest book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess. The experiences we have are then wired into the brain by the mind. Subsequently, the brain sends signals to all the cells of the body that there is a change in the mind and brain, and, in the case of a negative experience, that change is a threat to our survival. This generates an immune system response, and the entire body responds, including the release of cortisol, homocysteine, prolactin, as well as a biological impact on our telomeres and a change in brainwaves. These responses are communicated back to us through our emotions (anxiety), body (heart palpitations, stomach aches and so on), behaviors (such as panic attacks, withdrawal, or hasty decisions), and perspective, which is a warning signal of this imbalance as a threat to or survival and the desire to restore balance in the brain and body. This is why it is so important to embrace, not suppress, anxiety. We need to acknowledge the abovementioned signals, process what they mean and reconceptualize them – make them work for us instead of against us. When we learn how to do this, we can start to manage, although not necessarily solve, our anxiety. Indeed, sometimes it’s the pure acceptance of the uncertainty of life and the reality of anxiety as a normal part of being human that becomes our reconceptualized understanding—our way of moving forward! Anxiety is a feeling that needs to be understood, not just eradicated. Why? We cannot ignore the connection between our perceptions and our understanding of our experiences to our biology. This link, otherwise known as the mind-brain-body connection, helps us to predict what we need as individual organisms to cope, or to modulate our biochemistry, physiology and our behavior to make sure our body has just enough resources to deal with both acute and chronic life challenges. For example, when we find ourselves in an anxiety-inducing situation, the brain signals the kidneys, telling them that we are going to need a healthy blood supply for the acute situation we find ourselves in. Consequently, the kidneys start pumping in salt water, which constricts the blood vessels and raises our blood pressure. However, if we are on alert every second of the day, especially during a chronic situation, this experience will be wired into the brain repeatedly, which can become a habit if this occurs over 9 weeks (for more on this my book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess). Essentially, during this time the mind is continually sending a response to the brain and body that something scary is going to happen, which can result in hypervigilance if left unmanaged, putting the brain and body into an emergency state. To cope with these feelings, our level of alertness and various bodily activities must respond to this state of being. Using the same example above, this means the brain is continually telling our kidneys that we need more blood supply, so the kidneys are continually pumping in salt water to constrict the blood vessels, which can have negative repercussions, such as high blood pressure, if we do not learn how to manage this response. If we’re constantly living in a high-alert state, the natural mechanisms of the brain and body stay in high alert, which can have all sorts of mental, emotional and physical consequences. Of course, many people suffer from anxiety, and there are manifold reasons why someone may experience anxiety, such as divorce, poverty, racial inequality, bullying, and war. Getting to the root of these reasons is essential when learning how to manage anxiety. There are also a few surprising reasons why we may be experiencing anxiety, such as: 1. Bad digestion: The gut microbiome, which is the world of bacteria living in our digestive system, doesn’t just exist to help us break down food. There is a constant conversation going on between the brain and gut, which also has its own amazing neurons, just like the spinal cord! This relationship is incredibly important when it comes to our mental health, which is both directly and indirectly affected by what we eat. In fact, a growing body of research shows that certain gut bacteria not only influence thought processes and the physical structure of the brain, but also that our thought processes and physical structure of the brain affect our gut bacteria. As I told all my patients in my clinical practice (and anyone who asks me today), what we eat affects how we think, and how we think affects what we eat and how we digest food! So, watch what you eat—try to avoid too much processed food, eating too fast, eating on the go and eating too much, all of which can contribute to increased anxiety levels! 2. Multitasking: When we multitask, we end up with what I call “milkshake thinking”, which is the opposite of mindfulness. Every rapid, incomplete, and poor quality shift of thought makes a “milkshake” with our brain cells and neurochemicals, which is the opposite of how the brain is designed to function. When we consciously try to jump rapidly from one task to another, we essentially cloud our ability to concentrate and think deeply, which impacts our ability to do a task well, leading to unnecessary levels of anxiety in our life. This is why I always recommend choosing to focus on one thing. Where you direct your mind is a choice, one that can affect you in either a positive or negative direction. This is especially the case with multitasking. You can reduce the anxiety that comes from decision fatigue—the feeling of being overwhelmed by the plethora of “would” or “could” choices we all face daily—by choosing, in the moment, to stay focused on a task and disregard less urgent demands. When you do this, you actually build up your mental strength and resilience, which will help you better deal with disappointment, failure and the daily anxieties of life! 3. The search and reward circuit: There is a special circuit in the brain that helps us search for food, comfort, love, relationships, friendships, peace, and so on, called the search and reward circuit. (Much of the research in this area of neuroscience has been done by Peter Sterling.) When we experience these positive experiences, dopamine is released and we can relax until we start the next search. Essentially, we are built to seek out a way of life that rewards us with a dopamine rush—the little searches and little dopamine rushes drive us to seek these rewards, which has a cumulative effect. Often, we are driven by these frequent, small surprises, and if we don’t find them, we can get agitated or anxious. This is especially true if we are in a chronic, unmanaged stress state—we don’t experience this rush as much as we need to, which can make us anxious. 4. Not daydreaming enough: When we don’t give our minds a break and let them just wander and daydream, we can end up feeling really anxious and stressed out. This kind of thinking is not just “nonsense” or “distracted” thinking. When we daydream, we essentially reboot our mind, as talked about in Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess. These moments give your brain a rest and allow it to heal, which increases your clarity of thought and organizes the networks of your brain by balancing alpha activity, helping create an optimal state of relaxation and alertness and bridging the divide between the conscious and nonconscious mind. This, in turn, puts you in a state of peacefulness, readiness, meditation, and beta activity, which is important for processing information, being alert, working through something challenging, focusing, and developing sustained attention. This balanced energy, in turn, increases blood flow to the brain, which helps it function better and helps you deal with mental challenges and manage anxiety. The opposite happens if you don’t take regular thinker moments. Not giving the mind a rest and letting it daydream can reduce blood flow by up to 80 percent in the front of the brain, which can dramatically affect cognitive fluency and the efficient, associative thinking required at home, school or in the workplace. Cumulatively, this can lead to unprocessed thoughts and nightmares, affecting your overall quality of sleep, performance and mental health. To do a thinker moment, simply close your eyes and let your mind wander. Daydream, listen to some music, take a walk outside,...

The post Surprising Reasons You May Be Anxious + How to Use the Neurocycle to Manage & Reduce Anxiety appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

A New Handheld Device Aims to Calm Panic Attacks Fast

AHA Publisher — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 08:00:50 +0000

Brian Blum via Israel21c – Adi Wallach started experiencing panic attacks while pursuing her undergraduate degree at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. “I was at the movies with friends the first time it happened,” Wallach tells ISRAEL21c. “I felt my heart starting to race. Then I didn’t feel my legs.” Wallach headed home and climbed into bed, hoping she’d feel better in the morning. But she woke with the same symptoms. At this point, she says, “I was afraid I was going to lose my sanity.” She actually drove to her mother’s house “to say goodbye.” Her mother, Dr. Orna Levin, a physician, however, recognized what was going on and explained to Wallach that she was having a panic attack. The episodes didn’t go away with this new knowledge, unfortunately. “Sometimes I had six to seven panic attacks a day,” Wallach says. Wallach tried every solution short of medication – therapy, yoga, biofeedback. “I changed my diet, started taking supplements, tried acupuncture. They were somewhat effective, but I was not able to use them fast enough to stop the attacks. I started avoiding places that might trigger an attack. I didn’t go to the movies for years. I stopped swimming. I was afraid of flying.” Wallach’s degree from the Technion is in biomedical engineering. Could she engineer her way out of her panic attacks, she wondered, and build a medical device that could provide calming relief? Together with her mother, Wallach founded Dendro Technologies. Today, for $179, you can purchase their solution to panic attacks: CalmiGo, a handheld device that looks like an asthma inhaler and that engages vision, touch and smell to reduce stress. Especially these days with Covid-19 showing no signs of slowing down, CalmiGo comes at a particularly apt moment of collective anxiety. Launched in 2019, CalmiGo has sold 20,000 units on Amazon.com, on the CalmiGo website and via third parties such as the FSA Store. The US Veteran’s Administration is buying CalmiGo devices to distribute for free to veterans, and the IRS has approved CalmiGo as a health-related expense, making it tax deductible in the United States. How it Works CalmiGo first and foremost helps regulate breathing, although not in a way that requires cognitive effort. That’s important because popular breathing techniques require concentration while counting. The problem is that counting “activates the sympathetic nervous system at a time when you want to quiet it,” Wallach tells ISRAEL21c. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the body’s flight-or-fight response. In contrast, “we activate the parasympathetic nervous system in the brain, which is responsible for the relaxation response in the body,” Wallach explains. A series of three blinking lights on the CalmiGo device guides your exhalations. When the third light comes on, you breathe in again. You don’t have to think or count –just breathe. The device has a learning mechanism, Wallach says, that tracks your breathing patterns and adjusts itself to gradually slow your exhalations over the three-minute recommended period of use. (Three minutes three times a day works best, Wallach adds.) CalmiGo has an optional function that vibrates the device when you’ve finished exhaling. That addresses another sense – touch – in much the same way that the flashing lights engage vision. (The vibration, it should be noted, may not be quiet enough to use before bed with a partner.) The third sense is smell. Every CalmiGo unit is shipped with lavender, peppermint or bergamot “scent panels” which snap onto the front of the device. “We embed aromatherapy oil onto a solid element, so there are no liquids to worry about,” Wallach says. Each panel lasts three to six weeks. Portable Wallach insisted that CalmiGo be small enough to fit into a purse or pocket and super easy to use. “Even a high-tech person can’t use a sophisticated tool during a panic attack,” Wallach says. “We needed it to be simple and effective in just a few minutes.” Activating the parasympathetic system for relaxation is not unique to CalmiGo, of course – yoga and meditation do much the same. “But CalmiGo provides immediate relief, which is harder to do,” Wallach says. “Yoga is great for the long term. But most people are not able to integrate something like that into their daily routine. CalmiGo takes just a few minutes and you don’t need a specific environment or a quiet room. You can use it on a subway or on an airplane.” Speaking of airplanes, can CalmiGo help with mental stress beyond panic attacks – for example insomnia or fear of flying? Wallach stresses that CalmiGo is “not a medical device. But, yes, it can help people who have a hard time sleeping.” And Wallach has used CalmiGo to help with her own flying fears. The device’s components are sourced from China and assembled in the United States, where most of the company’s sales have been so far. Dendro Technologies has raised $3 million from angels and several smaller VCs, including Israeli Alon Matas, whose Silicon Valley-based online therapy startup Better Help has also seen a boost in interest as a result of Covid-19-fueled anxiety. Exam Anxiety, PTSD CalmiGo has been extensively tested. One study was done at Israel’s private university IDC with students who suffer from exam anxiety. A control group used standard breathing techniques while the other received CalmiGo; the latter showed significantly more improvement. The results are due to be published in the Journal of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. Another study looked at veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “We found a significant decrease in both PTSD and anxiety after just two weeks of use,” Wallach notes. A third study being conducted in the oncology department at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel is following health professionals who suffer from burnout, and cancer patients with a high degree of stress. And a US clinical study is ongoing in the emergency department at Northwell Health in New York. Results are expected by the end of 2021. Some 40% of American adults are showing signs of anxiety and depression since the Covid-19 crisis broke out last year. Wallach sees this as a positive in some ways. “Everything related to mental health is more out in the open. Even the business magazines are now talking about mental health,” she notes. One of Wallach’s most poignant success stories comes from the mother of a child with Tourette’s Syndrome. “Covid really triggered him, but his mother didn’t want to put him on any more medication. They bought CalmiGo and it helped a lot. The mother wrote to me, ‘I got my boy back.’ This meant everything to me.” Wallach relocated to New York last year to focus on the company’s sales and marketing. R&D, headed by her mother, is in Israel. Wallach is the company’s CEO; Levin, who focuses on herbal medicine, acupuncture and nutrition in her medical practice, is Dendro’s president. If Wallach hadn’t been forced to confront her own panic attacks, she might be just another high-tech highflyer. She has been working in the industry for 19 years, including 10 in the defense industry. Before that, she managed R&D for a 3D printer company. She never expected to be in the medical devices business, but CalmiGo has become not only her passion but a business she hopes will be transformative for people navigating a stressful modern age – Covid-19 or not. The best news for Wallach: “My last panic attack was over three years ago and I was able to stop it in less than two minutes by using CalmiGo,” she says. To try out CalmiGo, visit the website. Click here for more on the science behind CalmiGo. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

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How EMDR Therapy Can Help with PTSD, Trauma, Panic Attacks, and Anxiety

AHA Publisher — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 08:00:53 +0000

Dr. Mark Mayfield via Dr. Caroline Leaf – For many of us, asking for help is a difficult task. We don’t want to seem needy or weak. Add trauma to that “ask for help,” and the process of reaching out can almost be crippling. Why? • First, it can be scary to admit you need help • Second, it puts you in a vulnerable place, and—if if you’ve experienced any form of trauma—vulnerability is not a place you would willingly choose to be in. • Third, finding a mental health professional to help can feel overwhelming. Questions such as…How do I find one? How do I know if they are the right one? What should I look for? What type of therapy do they do?…swirl around in your head and can be crippling. Today I hope to take some of the guess work out of these questions by explaining the process of an amazing trauma therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing or EMDR. Before I dive into the nuances of EMDR, I want to make sure we are all on the same page with the definition of trauma. 1. What is Trauma? Trauma is a real or perceived event whereby harm (mental, emotional, or physical) happens. This real or perceived event overwhelms the central nervous system and changes the way an individual processes and recalls memory. For those who have experienced a traumatic event, it is not a story of something that happened once in the past and is over; but a current daily reliving of the emotional, mental, and physical pain, fear, and anxiety. Trauma can be broken down into two types: Big “T” traumas are events such as a sexual assault, a major car accident, a catastrophic loss (e.g. losing a child to suicide), combat trauma, etc. Small “t” traumas are events such as being bullied, neglect, gaslighting, etc. Though there are two categories of trauma, the key is that the body does not discriminate how it responds to any trauma. Every individual’s traumatic experience becomes fragmented at the sensory site of reception in an effort to protect the body from current or future harm. What this means is that the sensory experiences of the event are not fully processed; thus, causing a similar reactive recurring response. For instance, if you’ve ever been in a car accident, you know the airbag intimately. Yes, the airbag saved your life, but the experience of the airbag going off was imprinted in your body visually (seeing it go off), auditorily (hearing it go off) and olfactorily (smelling the sulfuric chemicals). If/when you consciously or unconsciously experience something similar (smelling something sulfuric, hearing a loud pop, or seeing something explode), your body will automatically go into protective fight/flight/freeze mode and do what it needs to do to protect itself. In essence, it is as if you were actively reliving the experience all over again. If never processed, the unresolved trauma can cause lasting mental, emotional, and physical effects. 2. What is EMDR? EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing. It was first developed by the late Dr. Francine Shapiro in the 1980’s. 3. How does EMDR work? EMDR is a process whereby the memory and the current emotional, mental, and physical experiencing of the trauma are processed through bi-lateral stimulation or the engagement of both sides of the brain. Essentially, bi-lateral stimulation (e.g., eye movement from left to right/right to left following a light bar; or the use of pulsars in the left and right hands; or the counselor tapping the client’s left knee or hand, then the right knee or hand, and alternating back and forth for a period of time) is coupled with simultaneously recalling the traumatic memory. This allows the brain an opportunity to collect the fragmented sensory experiences and bring them back to the place where they can be properly processed. The emotional reactivity is removed from the memory; allowing the memory to be properly stored as a story, not a current reliving. 4. How do I know I’m ready for EMDR? EMDR cannot be done without a highly trained professional. However, asking the question “Am I ready?” shows an awareness and a willingness to change and heal. This means you could be ready, but it is still a good idea to consult with a properly trained mental health professional and complete the appropriate assessments to gain clarity on whether EMDR will be right for you. 5. How do I find a good EMDR therapist? Choosing a therapist is like choosing a new pillow. You want to make sure it fits perfectly. When choosing a therapist, make sure you find one that fits well with your personality. It is okay to come to the initial session with interview questions of your own. To find an trained EMDR therapist, use the EMDRIA (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing International Association) website www.emdria.org as a starting point. Using this website will help you know you will be starting with a highly trained individual. REMEMBER: Working through trauma is not an easy task. However, it is a good and necessary one. Don’t do it alone. Make sure you have a healthy and safe community around you to support you through the process. It is okay to be vulnerable, and it is okay to ask for help. These are signs of strength, not weakness. For more on EMDR and mental health, listen to this week’s podcast. Dr. Mayfield is founder and CEO of Mayfield Counseling Centers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which serves over 15,000 appointments a year. He conducts therapy with families, couples, individuals, and groups and has a passion to provide exceptional care for military service members and their families. He is a contributing author to Focus on the Family’s Marriage and Parenting divisions and has recently completed a book for parents on self-injury and suicide. It will be published within the next year. Dr. Mayfield is also an Assistant Professor of Counseling at Colorado Christian University and hosts a weekly podcast called Candid Conversations with Dr. Mayfield. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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Dealing with Panic Attacks in the Moment + Tips to Prevent Future Attacks

The AHA! Team — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – Panic attacks do not always occur in relation to a particular trigger or stressor. They can be unprovoked and unpredictable, which is in part why they can be so terrifying. Furthermore, while a single panic attack may only last a few minutes, the effects of the experience can have a lasting imprint, which is why we are going to look at what to do during a panic attack and how you can prevent and/or manage them in the future. We have all experienced moments where we feel so overwhelmed that we begin to shut down. Sometimes it feels like our brain and body just forget how to work. These kinds of situations can be very frightening, especially when they develop into fully-fledged panic attacks. This is why, as I discuss in this week’s podcast and blog, it is so important we learn how to prevent and control these kinds of incidents before they do untold damage to our mental and physical health. But what exactly is a panic attack, and why is it so scary? It is a sudden episode of intense and often overwhelming fear that immobilizes someone’s thinking and, in many cases, movement. They may trigger severe physical reactions, even when there is no real danger or apparent cause present, and can be very alarming. When panic attacks occur, someone might think they are losing control of their body, having a heart attack or even dying.The signs and symptoms of a panic attack occur sharply and abruptly, and usually reach their peak within 10 minutes. They rarely last more than an hour, with most ending within 20 to 30 minutes. Panic attacks can happen anywhere and at any time; you may have one while shopping, walking down the street, driving in your car, or even sitting on the couch at home watching TV. Many people have around one to two panic attacks in their lifetime, and the problem can go away when the stressful situation ends. However, if you had or are experiencing recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, and are in constant fear of another attack, then it’s important to find the root causes of your panic attacks (and see a medical professional if symptoms persist), as they can seriously damage your mental and physical health if they are swept under the rug. It is important to note that an anxiety attack is different to a panic attack. An anxiety attack can make you may feel fearful and apprehensive, and, during the attack, you may feel like your heart is racing or are short of breath. This, however, is usually short-lived, and when the stressor goes away, the anxiety attack frequently subsides. Panic attacks, on the other hand, do not always occur in relation to a particular trigger or stressor. They can be unprovoked and unpredictable, which is in part why they can be so terrifying. Furthermore, while a single panic attack may only last a few minutes, the effects of the experience can have a lasting imprint, which is why we are going to look at what to do during a panic attack and how you can prevent and/or manage them in the future. Learning how to control these attacks can help assuage the constant feeling of fear and anxiety as you anticipate the next attack, which can be extremely disabling. In fact, if you battle from anxiety or panic attacks, I would recommend memorizing the steps I am going to talk about in this blog, which may help prevent the development of certain phobias as a result of your panic attacks. Say, for example, you avoid certain situations or environments because of you had a panic attack there. This avoidance may be based on the belief that the situation you’re avoiding caused a previous panic attack, or you may just avoid places where escape would be difficult or help would be unavailable if you had a panic attack. Taken to the extreme, this avoidance may develop into agoraphobia, which can have a serious impact on your quality of life. It is also important to note thatpanic attacks can also be caused by medical conditions and other physical causes. According to the Mayo Clinic, if you’re suffering from symptoms of panic, it’s important to see a doctor to rule out the following possibilities: 1. Mitral valve prolapse, which is a minor cardiac problem that occurs when one of the heart’s valves doesn’t close correctly 2. Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid gland) 3. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) 4. Stimulant use (amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine) 5. Medication withdrawal So, what exactly are the general symptoms of a panic attack? • Sense of impending doom or danger • Fear of loss of control or death • Rapid, pounding heart rate • Sweating • Trembling or shaking • Shortness of breath or tightness in your throat • Chills • Hot flashes • Nausea • Abdominal cramping • Chest pain • Headache • Dizziness, lightheadedness or faintness • Numbness or tingling sensation • Feeling of unreality or detachment Generally, these occur when: • You are faced with something you cannot avoid. • You have unresolved issues. • You are experiencing specific physical issues. So, how can you deal with a panic attack in the moment? 1. Controlling your breathing helps reduces cortisol levels in the brain and body that are blocking your cognition, and helps you decompress. Hyperventilating can make a panic attack worse, while deep slow breathing calms you down, reducing your adrenaline and cortisol and my your HPA axis (which controls the stress reaction) work for you and not against you, preparing you for positive action. One technique to control your breathing I highly recommend (and use often!) is to breathe in deeply for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and breathe out for 4 seconds. You can also breathe in one side of nose and out the other side, which also helps you decompress. 2. Now, recognize that you are having a panic attack, not a heart attack. Tell yourself this is temporary and will pass. Tell yourself you will be okay. Try find a loved one and just ask them to be there beside you if possible and encourage you. Take away the fear that you are dying, tell yourself your body is resilient enough to handle this. As you do this, you are using your mind to control your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and relax your brain and body. You are activating genetic switches in the brain that actually increase your resilience! 3. Close your eyes. Some panic attacks come from triggers that just overwhelm you. If you’re in a fast-paced environment with a lot of stimuli, this can feed into your panic attack.To reduce or eliminate these stimuli, close your eyes during your panic attack. This can block out any extra provocations and make it easier to focus on your breathing and your mindset. Just focus on your breath; you can even imagine a place in your head where you were happiest or most at peace. Focus on how you felt then and what this place was looked like. 4. Now, focus on an object: find a single object to focus all your attention on during a panic attack. Pick one object in clear sight, and consciously and deliberately note everything about it that you possibly can: describe the patterns, color, shape, and size of the object to yourself. Focus all of your energy on this object; this will help you control the symptoms of the panic attack. 5. Take action: go for a walk, listen to music… do something mechanical as soon as you are able to move about. These kinds of neutral actions can help reduce your stress levels, calming down the high-alert/tense mode you have been in since the panic attack. Indeed, you will need a bit of time to allow your neurochemistry and the signals of your body and brain to get back into balance, and movement can help do this, while also clearing your mind as your oxygen levels increase. How to prevent panic attacks in the future: Once you are calm, I recommend taking the following preventative measures when you are in a safe space with no external pressures. You will essentially be doing a “post-mortem” on your panic attack, finding out more information and putting in place measures to prevent it from occurring again in the future. 1. Now that you are calmer, try objectify the situation: Once you are in a safe space, talk to yourself in the third person (as though you are helping someone else); put your problem/issue into a mental “box”, LOCK this box in your mind and DESCRIBE the situation, separating your emotions from the information. Visualize what is in the box in an objective, “bystander” wayâ€”this actually changes the structure of your brain! For example, say something like “this person just started panicking because she was triggered by a text message…”. Now imagine putting that in a box. Now, continue to describe the facts: “the text was from … They said … What does this mean? It means … “. This process helps balance the seesaw effect of the panic attack and brings clarity and wisdom to the situation, which, in turn, helps you discover the root cause(s) of your panic attack. Indeed, you can’t fix anything if you are immersed in it, but, once you are in a safe and calm space, you can begin to discover why this incident occurred through this objective visualization technique. You can, using your mind, bring order out of chaos! 2. Write down your experience. Identify your triggers by creating a story board in your journal or on paper (this allows you to recall information when needed), which brings cognitive fluency and brings more order and insight into your thinking. Start asking, answering and discussing your attack in a logical and objective way (as though you are talking about a friend or colleague), and seek out the causes and triggers of your panic attack in a very analytical, distant way (as though you are a doctor completing an autopsy), which helps prevent it happening again. For instance, write something like “this happened because…” or “I smelt this… then I…”. 3. Practice doing all these steps in advance on a regular basis over the next three weeks (it takes around 63 days to build and reinforce a new mental habit), so that you do them automatically next time you feel a panic attack coming on. You are essentially wiring these responses into your brain through repeated effort, so that when you are faced with a stressful situation, your first reaction will be to do these steps rather than allow yourself to panicâ€”you will remember what to do in your time of need. This will be your plan of action, so that next time you feel a panic attack coming on, you will be ready to face it head on. My new app Switch is a great tool for helping you go through this process. It is based on my 5-step program, which is designed to help you identify and eliminate the root of your panic attacks, and help you build a healthy new thinking habits through the mental process of reconceptualization. 4. When you are ready, talk to someone you trust. As you talk through your experience, you will gain more insight into your panic attack, enriching your knowledge, changing the structure of your brain and brining more order to chaos. Moreover, talking to a loved one can create a community support system that can help you deal with and overcome panic attacks, reduce your fear levels (which help mitigate some of the negative effects of a panic and can reinforce your plan of action, helping you avoid similar panic attacks in the future. 5. Avoid claiming panic attacks as your identity. Never say “my panic attacks”, as claiming them as your identity can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, since whatever you think about and believe in...

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