The Fear Factor

It sweeps in quietly & softly at first, or jolts like an electric arc. Its grip tightens and very soon, it’s almost all you can think about. How to loosen its hold, how to escape…Patients describing their fears are intensely descriptive about fear’s overwhelming grip. Families come in describing not only their own familial struggles, but how its being compounded by having to find ways to soothe their children of all ages while they are working to maintain a grip on their own active imagination fueled by frequent news reports. 

In the past months, patients’ own dreads are compounded by our societal fears of the slew of bad news seemingly permeating every media available to us. Some patients describe feeling assaulted by the constant deluge of news, and finding very few refuges.   Even individuals who consider themselves able to maintain an “even keel” for the most part are finding themselves feeling a bit more cautious, more vulnerable.

For individuals who already work to quiet their racing thoughts  or their galloping hearts, these time are especially trying. Their “baseline” anxiety level is already elevated and now their coping skills are especially challenged.

Over my years of working with wonderful clients, they have created their own coping strategies , which they graciously allow me to share with others. Interesting too how many of their effective skills coincide with the research on resilience. For me however, it is learning from their hard earned efforts that offer me valuable lessons to share.

Consider Identifying a Safe Place. Set aside a space in your home, your mind and “furnish” it in a comforting fashion. Recall, a warm day’s beach walk, a canoe ride, a mountain top, a quiet street….the list of possibilities is endless.

Discover an Object that offers you comfort. One physician found himself fiddling with an odd shaped rock he’d picked up hiking, a physician’s assistant had a Brazilian soft nut sculpture that felt soothing on her fingers as she would occasionally finger it through the day.  

Remember, we give meaning to objects, places and allow those meanings fuel our thinking. We can use that most human ability to both fuel our worry and to promote comfort. 

Sharing your Thoughts with Friends. Research tells us that when individuals who have undergone a trauma share their stories with others, and find positive support, they have a lesser chance of developing PTSD. From those studies we have learned that the sharing of pain with individuals who understand, care, and are calm in their reception of the information, goes a long way to quiet the other’s anxiety. Our mirror neurons at work!

Turn off Social Media. In a more naive time, after 9-11, a number of therapists petitioned the media to stop inoculating the population with fear. Those “simple” days are long past. Now we have to learn to limit our news intake, from whatever sources are out there. We need to titrate our diet of news according to what we ourselves are able to handle. Each day might be different. Consider how the repetition of similar news affects you, and be willing to take care of yourself accordingly. 

Taking Care of Yourself. What is your favorite outlet? Exercise, yoga, reading, self-grooming, time with friends spent frivolously….whatever lowers your increased “tension baseline” is a worthy reflection.

We know well that brain structures are changed by persistent stress. By the same token, however, we also know that brain structures are modified as well when effective calming and coping skills are invoked.

I would look forward to sharing additional strategies, and some books that might be useful. I invite you to share your helpful books and coping strategies as well.  

For personal reading:

1)  Mindfulness: An Eight – Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Mark Williams, Danny Penman

Folks who have allowed themselves the 20 minutes daily it takes to make this practice become part of their routine and begin to learn more about the shape of their amorphous anxiety have thrived and have continued their practice long after their original commitment.

The first 3/4 of the book offers case studies and in direct language underlines the issues that become obstacles for folks, and how they can work to over come them. The last part of the book, that she calls “spiritual” become a bit obtuse for some. That does not seem to obviate the wealth of help available in that first part

2)  Feel the Fear ….and Do It anyway…
Marcia Jeffers