When to Worry about your Worrying

It's human to engage in worrying from time-to-time.  However, Dr. Tami provides a discussion about the warning signs for disordered worrying that often interferes with one's quality of life known as Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  

This episode if brought to you by the ND Dept of Human Services Community Engagement Unit. Miigwech for your support.

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Transcript

00;00;00;03 - 00;00;06;07

Dr. Tami

Boozhoo, Dr. Tami here and joined by Rob, always with Rob. How are you doing, Rob?

00;00;06;26 - 00;00;08;11

Rob

Doing all right, Doctor. How are you doing?

00;00;08;15 - 00;00;35;22

Dr. Tami

Great. I wish people you know, we really got to, we really need to move, PsychologistSay…, from audio to audio and visual, because I really wish the listeners could see the raise. You just raise your brow like a triple raise of the brow. Yeah. There you go. I really am feeling that. So I feel like the listeners are missing that piece of the back and forth.

00;00;36;11 - 00;01;06;11

Dr. Tami

Anyways, I'm glad you're here today. And today we we’re going to be talking about generalized anxiety disorder, that it's a big topic. Even the word ‘generalized’ already. I hope that it lets people have an insight into how big this anxiety is, typical of a certain type of anxiety disorder can be. Yet, it is so common and it is definitely treatable.

00;01;07;03 - 00;01;55;25

Dr. Tami

And I'll just disclose some personal information. I am a long time sufferer of GAD, so I know this topic like the better than I probably know topics on any other area in mental health maybe. So, let's talk about it. Generalized anxiety is an obsessive and persistent daily worry. It's a struggle with uncontrollable worry, not just about social situations, not just about a certain type of person or situation or event, but several various life events that could happen.

00;01;57;03 - 00;02;29;29

Dr. Tami

And there's my there's a word there ‘could happen’. So these types of worries, if you're struggling with GAD, you, these worries are not based on fact. They're, they’re not logical. There is no good reason to sit and worry to the extent that you're worrying about this uncontrollable event or occurrence. So if it's a person who can ruminate, get the wheels stuck in their mind.

00;02;30;21 - 00;02;55;22

Dr. Tami

And when I'm talking to my patients, I use the example of having your tire stuck in the mud or the snow, and you have your foot on the accelerator. And when you just keep spinning it, what happens? Usually you just, it starts to get deeper and then eventually everything stops and just spins and spins and the car does not move out because it needs some traction.

00;02;56;29 - 00;03;20;28

Dr. Tami

And that's, that's the best way for me to describe getting stuck in a GAD rumination. It's an obsessive form of worry. I mean, we can go, we can go down at the buzzer, somebody can call me out and I will beat them on worrying. I will. I will worry about the things they didn't even think about worrying about.

00;03;21;14 - 00;03;44;04

Dr. Tami

I will bring worrying to a new level. I would be the champion of that and I would drain your energy and all of a sudden I might even get you worrying about things you never even thought you could worry about. I have a lot of compassion for people because I am one. I suffer with it. And I am.

00;03;44;19 - 00;04;10;19

Dr. Tami

I am. I do think I'm on the other side of it. It's been a long journey and it's part of the way I've learned to kind of cope and distract from maybe some real life stuff. So GAD sufferers, they have a lot. And remember, this is chronic, and you just heard me describe this, is that everybody worries. Everybody has some worry, right?

00;04;11;01 - 00;04;18;11

Dr. Tami

We worry about bills. What are some of the common worries when you just hear me say that, Rob, that are popping up for you? Everyday worries.

00;04;19;10 - 00;04;21;10

Rob

Will I have enough time to do everything?

00;04;22;01 - 00;04;48;20

Dr. Tami

Time. This impending, this feeling of I'm never going to have enough time to get done in life that I need to get done, right? Okay, so let's just add on to that. Am I going to be well enough? Oh, my goodness. Am I going to be able to control my weight? Wait, hold on. I'm on a steady stream of gaining ten, 10 pounds every 2 to 3 years.

00;04;49;04 - 00;05;11;26

Dr. Tami

So by the time I am 60, I'm going to wait. Wow. Hold up. That's a GAD brain. I just took a level. You said one thing, right? Do I have enough time? In my brain, lead to: Oh, nobody. Not only do you have enough time, but within this limited time, you also have to manage your weight, manage your blood pressure, and any other medical condition.

00;05;12;03 - 00;05;34;23

Dr. Tami

You have to work out five, five to 3 to 5 times a week, preferably every day, 30 minutes. 60 would be best. And you have to have your heart beat and race at this amount. -inaudible- That's where my GAD mind goes. They have excessive amounts of information. They store a lot of material in their brain that they want to worry about.

00;05;35;23 - 00;06;12;14

Dr. Tami

They remember. You can really scare a person with GAD. because you can. They don't know. They don't have the tools on how to shut it down. So it's almost like then you don't want to hear about it. So if there's anything distressing going on, a person with GAD will start to take that fear to the worst place. When non-sufferers may get a little anxious and tell themselves, ‘Well, you know, there's a mix of pros and cons. There is this potential for this outcome, but it's not likely.

00;06;12;26 - 00;06;36;09

Dr. Tami

So why don't we deal with it if it comes?’ and then the GAD person in the room is there. They don't even hear that because they're stuck in that. Their wheel, Their, their tires spinning and they just start to bring one worry into several. And they do this daily and it's there. It's in all these different aspects of life.

00;06;37;04 - 00;07;00;19

Dr. Tami

So a person with GAD can suffer a lot of attention. And this is a physical one of the most physical types of anxieties that you can try to write off as day to day stress. you As a GAD person, some of us can wake up in the morning and feel literally like we've been in a motor vehicle accident.

00;07;00;22 - 00;07;29;17

Dr. Tami

That's how tight our neck, our shoulders, our back may be. And we have no idea unless we're being treated or somebody has explained GAD to this level and that it's a tense of being uptight. All day physically, like tightening your muscles, feeling tense, holding on to tension in your body. And so you can have a lot of jaw muscle pain.

00;07;30;05 - 00;07;49;21

Dr. Tami

Like I said, this feeling, this overall fatigue at the end of the day that you may wake up with the next morning. So it's an ongoing cycle of feeling this physical exhaustion. And on the flip side, instead of feeling like, ‘Well, I'm exhausted, I put in a long day, now I'm going to go home and rest.’

00;07;50;19 - 00;08;21;15

Dr. Tami

Instead, you have what's called ‘autonomic hyperactivity’. And this may have been with you all day long, or when you're really triggered by something big, like maybe you're waiting on the outcome of a medical test. Okay, palpitations, shortness of breath, dry mouth, trouble swallowing, nausea, even diarrhea. Your whole nervous system is in upheaval and they're your because of a worry, not because you're living through something.

00;08;21;15 - 00;08;53;13

Dr. Tami

It's the anticipated worry of what's to come. This is your ‘What If’ person. And if you tell a ‘What If’ person: ‘Just stop it. Don't worry about it. Just relax.’ That is one. Then If you're a GAD person and or you're starting to hear like listen to this and go, ‘Wow, she's talking about me,’ then hear if that makes your skin crawl and somebody tells you, ‘Just let it go.

00;08;53;28 - 00;09;26;04

Dr. Tami

Don't worry about it. Think about something else. Just think of the positive of this.’ Whatever other thing that somebody tells you that's really insensitive, they they're not a sufferer of this because they don't get it. Because if people with GAD could turn off their worries, they could press stop it, they could stop the rumination wheel, if they could get out of their car and insert like something with traction, get back in press, you know, pressed accelerate and woohoo, they're out of that that stuck in the mud or stuck in the snow.

00;09;27;07 - 00;09;57;08

Dr. Tami

They have to learn that tool from somebody because they first have to know that they need a tool to just learn to let things go. It takes practice. It takes rearranging the structure that they've been pretty dependent on, and the dependency is on trying to control a worst case scenario from happening. You're so fearful that you're going to experience a worse catastrophe in your mind.

00;09;57;26 - 00;10;12;15

Dr. Tami

So then you try to minimize risk. You try to worry and problem solve every single thing on multiple levels. Are you guys just exhausted even hearing about this? Because, right? Take a deep breath.

00;10;12;15 - 00;10;15;03

Rob

I'm more worried. Told me not to worry.

00;10;15;17 - 00;10;33;22

Dr. Tami

So I never said don't worry about it. I'm. Yeah, right? So. But take a deep breath right now. Stick with me, because not everybody has this. We have a lot of listeners right now going, ‘Oh, interesting. Wow. That's not. I know I have a friend like that or my wife's like that’ or there's not. Everybody's like this.

00;10;35;05 - 00;10;52;24

Dr. Tami

That's something I think I assumed when I had it. I've been like this since I've been little, you know, I've. I've worried about everything that has nothing to do with even my day to day. Now I can worry about what's going on way in other countries and be young and not know what I'm worrying about, but it's scaring me.

00;10;53;23 - 00;11;24;06

Dr. Tami

And so it's a it's called a preoccupation. Your mind is preoccupied and you start to feel distant from people. If you're with somebody who's GAD, a lot of times they're a high achiever. If they can look for them they can start to have a perfectionist because they've worried and they're trying to make things as perfect as they can to avoid a tragic outcome.

00;11;25;01 - 00;11;55;03

Dr. Tami

It's like they're always fighting a feeling of almost impending doom. And it's not a comfortable feeling just the way that I'm describing it. Right? And so, and there's definitely levels of both, of course, in anything. There's moderate, there's a mild moderate. Everything that we talk about, there's always different levels. It can always be individualized. And I'm talking about a very severe GAD, where you're constantly on edge.

00;11;55;16 - 00;12;20;01

Dr. Tami

You're experiencing all of a sudden concentration difficulties. You cannot finish your tasks. You feel like you're having trouble sleeping because your worries are literally- This isn't like sleep procrastination on purpose. This isn't full on ADHD. What if this happens? Or what if I don't get this? What if I can't afford to send my kids to college?

00;12;20;09 - 00;12;43;20

Dr. Tami

What if I don't? What if I'm sick and I don't know about it? and I'm feeling, You know, just this, ‘What if what if?’ And that leads to a bigger what ifs. If that starts to interrupt your sleep or you're feeling too aroused. So that's another word is, you start to feel this hyper vigilant, hyper awareness. You're on alert.

00;12;44;15 - 00;13;21;13

Dr. Tami

And remember, I talk about this. If you have if you're just a new listener, definitely check into our are our other episodes because I talk about a feeling where you're activated your your central nervous system system is set to danger zone. And so if a GAD person can be set to that all day long so when there's no danger, they don't have a they don't know where to go, press the button to set, boom, shut down, alerts, you know, everything calm so that I can now relax and enjoy this movie with my friend. A person

00;13;21;13 - 00;13;53;02

Dr. Tami

with GAD may just have the most difficult time relaxing. So even when they're actively trying, their body is physiologically aroused, but their minds say ‘it's okay, relax.’ They're almost trying to force it, but the body's going ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, there's something going on. What if there’s this? What if there’s that? -inaudible-’ And it's a physiological arousal that makes it really tough for a person with GAD to unwind physically.

00;13;54;10 - 00;14;46;08

Dr. Tami

And so, this can cause a feeling of irritability. at Make it difficult to function just day to day. It can interrupt your concentration. And the What you want to do is then go, ‘Okay, well, if this is me and it's been chronic,’ if anything that is is persistent and it's in multiple areas, it's this kind of anxiety, it's it's abnormal to be unable to physically unwind, to be so restless and uptight that your fears that you're physically suffering from it, you're in you're in physical pain, tension, headaches can come a lot of muscle, like clenching your jaw, which can end up in a lot of pain in your neck and back teeth.

00;14;46;08 - 00;15;11;00

Dr. Tami

And just all of these things that maybe we just feel are, ‘Oh, I'm just stressed.’ Well, this is a much higher level now that I'm talking about. And now that the way that I put it out there. And so some of the things that we want to do is to really identify and help individuals understand that worry is a it's a behavior.

00;15;12;15 - 00;15;34;07

Dr. Tami

It's it's something that we've learned to do as human beings. We've learned to worry. And it's it's a behavior that we we think is productive. Is that is that all kind of? We’re doing a lot of head shaking.

00;15;34;07 - 00;16;09;01

Rob

Yeah, yes, just listening. And, you know, I think the general anxiety, it's it's very common. And you know, I think I'm guilty of this, too, where you kind of dismiss it as something that is common and normal even. But this is the really serious stuff, you know, in having a diagnosed. Would you think that would help kind of relieve a little bit of the anxiety in general to begin with?

00;16;09;03 - 00;16;09;20

Dr. Tami

To begin with.

00;16;10;06 - 00;16;16;17

Rob

To identify it? As opposed to just kind of accepting it like this is just how I am.

00;16;16;22 - 00;16;44;15

Dr. Tami

Yes. ‘I'm just so worry-wart.’ Right? You know, this is where it when I'm dealing when I'm working with people, we all have worry, you know, and there's a healthy level of of being proactive when you have worry and there is a level of what's called if it feels excessive and uncontrollable, that's, those are the keys. So when you're going through a real stressor, that is, you're staring it in the face.

00;16;45;09 - 00;17;25;02

Dr. Tami

All of these symptoms, I for some people will happen. But they should be short lived. They’re and they're a heightened adjustment reaction, an emotional, physical response to a very real hurt going on. This could be happening if you're losing maybe your job and you are looking at the financial strain and you would you would definitely a lot of people would struggle with some of that increased tension, have more of this muscle tension and inability to relax because they're actively like walking through like, sludge. You know, whatever, however you want to put it.

00;17;25;02 - 00;17;50;25

Dr. Tami

But it's it's tough for the time being and they're, but they know what the problem is. They can pinpoint the worry. So that's that's where it's like that's called the adjustment reaction. With anxiety, you're adjusting to something and you're finding that you're having a lot of these anxiety symptoms due to this transition that just happened within the past few months.

00;17;52;06 - 00;18;23;29

Dr. Tami

So that's, that's why you go, okay, versus a person who comes in, you can you can just almost sense they're this hyper arousal that I talked about, this autonomic overactivity. And if you spend 2 hours or an hour with a GAD person, you're going to feel energy drained. So don't feel bad about that. I mean, I, I can definitely I can relate.

00;18;23;29 - 00;18;51;17

Dr. Tami

I'm there. It's where sometimes, we over talk. We, we have all these excessive thoughts and we feel like we have to blurt them out because in a way, we almost want people to share our anxiety. And the thing is, some people say, well, be careful, anxiety can be contagious. And it's because when you're face to face with a GAD person, you start to engage.

00;18;52;11 - 00;19;16;29

Dr. Tami

Trust me, they're going to talk about things on a level of worry that may start to get the most relaxed, not easygoing, you know, healthiest mind, where they're able to rationalize, see irrational fear, you know, just really balance thinking and able to cope. They're going to get in. They're going to go like, ‘Oh, I never thought about that.

00;19;17;24 - 00;19;51;11

Dr. Tami

That's yeah. Now I wonder I wonder if if that's something I need to be worrying about.’ So I just want people to start to realize that this is a very common disorder. And now you can see how how it's, it presents a lot as this physical manifestation. and your Your body does not feel safe to let go of the tension because if it relaxed, you would feel unprepared in your mind to handle a devastation.

00;19;51;27 - 00;20;15;16

Dr. Tami

Does that all kind of, I'm trying to explain it in a way that that our listeners can really like try to relate to our maybe even think about this in a way. Maybe they're learning this for the first time or hearing about it for the first time. And so when we think about it, they can also start to feel a little panicky if they're really caught up in the worry.

00;20;15;20 - 00;20;38;11

Dr. Tami

If they haven't been sleeping well, if they haven't been productive at work because they're too anxious, if they're unable to alleviate their worry, you know, if there is if there's things that they feel like they can't just go in and press pause on it or find out and go, ‘Oh, good, that didn't happen. Now I can shut off that worry and focus on these other three.’

00;20;39;18 - 00;21;13;27

Dr. Tami

So if, if, if there's no relief coming their way, they can start to feel panicky. You know, their heart can start to have a palpitation or it's kind of racing. They can start to feel really dizzy, and just like have a little bit of brain fog or a lot of brain fog and they can start to almost present as hyperactive or attention, poor concentration, difficulty getting tasks done, monitoring, self-monitoring themselves.

00;21;14;11 - 00;21;57;27

Dr. Tami

And so it can and it can start to look a lot like this in general, a person who's hyperactive and having a lot of racing thoughts. And so the key difference is and this is all based on worry, uncontrollable, chronic, persistent, usually irrational worries about several areas. And it has to go on for a period of time and persist and then start interfering with your relationships, with your productivity, with your performance at school, and with your how you're handling your day to day.

00;21;58;12 - 00;22;11;22

Dr. Tami

And it can also start to impact your health. Of course, after being wound up and on overdrive that long, it can really start to feel like there's physically something wrong with you.

00;22;11;22 - 00;22;22;15

Rob

There's that's a thing where you had mentioned that it was chronic and that if you don't treat it, it won't go away and it'll last as long as you hold on to it.

00;22;22;26 - 00;22;59;25

Dr. Tami

This is this is something where without knowing that you have it there, you wouldn't it's it's you wouldn't be able to just say, ‘Oh, I need to stop doing this.’ When something is a disorder, it's real. And that's where knowing about it. And there needs there has to be work done to retrain the brain. Cognitive rigidity is a is a is is an inflexibility of of a person who is it's just not easy for them to just say, ‘Oh, okay, you told me to not have to worry.

00;22;59;25 - 00;23;25;28

Dr. Tami

Thank you. Miigwetch. I'm just going to stop worrying about that. Now let's have fun and enjoy this.' The state that we're on’, you know, whatever just happened there, that's never going to happen with GAD because their cognitive rigidity is is almost their number one coping mechanism. So they're holding on to stability of worry because it's safe for them.

00;23;26;17 - 00;23;50;10

Dr. Tami

They know how to worry and they know how to worry well. So it's the main thing that they falsely feel like they're doing that's productive. So when I say ‘they’, I mean ‘we’,  we feel like it's productive to worry. ‘Well, at least some worrying about if you just just walk around like, not like nothing to worry about.

00;23;50;16 - 00;24;17;18

Dr. Tami

Hey, look how productive I am. I just worried for two and a half hours. I feel sick, my stomach hurts, I have a headache. I'm irritable as hell, but I’m productive because I can worry straight for two and a half hours while you sit and enjoy a movie just like nothing. Like the world is not crashing around us’, now I feel I if you guys, if our listeners could see you you're still you're Rob is smiling he's shaking his head.

00;24;18;05 - 00;25;00;21

Dr. Tami

I feel like many of our listeners are going, ‘Wow, are you talking about me?’ And I know a lot of our high functioning anxiety people who responded to our episode in our first season are going ‘Great. Now I have I kind of sound like I have both of these. Thanks a lot, Doctor Tami. I feel like I also now have this other thing you called GAD, and I feel like my anxiety list is getting really high’, and so I want you guys to take a deep breath and in through the nose.

00;25;00;21 - 00;25;29;26

Dr. Tami

Okay. Fill up that belly, not the chest, and let it out through the mouth and just bear with me that it's very common to have not just one type of anxiety, but anxiety can breed other anxiety. Isn't that just beautiful? That's why I love anxiety disorders. I love because I suffer from them and they're complex and they're you don't just sometimes you don't just have one.

00;25;30;12 - 00;26;01;13

Dr. Tami

Sometimes having one burst chronically can lead to. Then having another one. And the more that you stick with us and be part of this podcast, hopefully it's starting to shed some light and get this get some insight on this. We're not maladaptive people, we're not dysfunctional, We're not just worry-warts because we enjoy to worry. It's no fun. It's no fun to be to be stuck in something called an obsessive thought.

00;26;01;27 - 00;26;30;24

Dr. Tami

It's not fun to be preoccupied when you're with your children and you want to engage, but you're mentally somewhere else but you're staring at them and you're shaking your head. My kids call it when when I'm preoccupied with something, but I'm looking on. They go, ‘Oh, you know, mom, you go: Mhm,’ you, you look they raise their eyebrow and they shake their head and they know I'm not present, but I'm I'm physically there.

00;26;30;24 - 00;26;50;27

Dr. Tami

But my mind is on something. It's rum- (ruminating). It's stuck in a wheel. It's stuck in the mud, stuck in the snow. And I'm in my vehicle, and I. I need some traction. I need to get out of my car and put something under my tire or I need to go get my husband, somebody to help me, you know, push the car out.

00;26;51;17 - 00;27;39;18

Dr. Tami

I need some tool. And so it's okay. It's good to be called out on that, but not have to feel that we're so flawed and not everything is a disorder. Yet, that word ‘disorder’ has to exist. And it's just really seeing as these list of symptoms are characteristics or traits that we share. And they they can be a heavy load to carry when you want to enjoy life, when you want to just enjoy a day, maybe when you want to enjoy a straight week without feeling uptight, or worried, or anxious, when you want to have a day without when you're feeling good and all of a sudden your brain goes, ‘Hey, what if… Yeah, the

00;27;39;18 - 00;28;16;08

Dr. Tami

sun shining today your all your medical test came out okay. Your business is doing well. Oh, but what if you forgot? Did you..? Did you..?’ Did you see that? That's how fast a person can get get that gets stuck because the cognitive rigidity means they feel safe in this state of worry because they're so used to it. Their body is used to feeling aroused due to feeling this heightened arousal.

00;28;17;03 - 00;28;42;13

Dr. Tami

So when they're when they don't have an anxious day and they're calm and they're they're relaxed and they're smile and they're engaged and they can really connect with people, it feels amazing. It's like ‘This really exists? Are there human beings able to just function like they're really here?’ And so, of course, we all want to feel that.

00;28;43;17 - 00;29;16;01

Dr. Tami

And GAD people, we can get there, you know, we can get there, but we we need help. We do need help. It's like any other anxiety disorder. We have to retrain our brain. And there is many other things that we can do. But it's the first thing is what you're doing today by listening is learning about it, learning that it exists and learning that there is hope, there's so much hope or GAD and other anxiety disorders.

00;29;16;26 - 00;29;40;29

Dr. Tami

But I think this is where we're starting to talk in the show about, oh, here's the difference. You know, I talked about social anxiety in one of our episodes, and now you can see just because you have GAD does not mean it has to relate to social. GAD, we worry about everything, not so much about social. When we're in it, we worry about it.

00;29;40;29 - 00;30;21;03

Dr. Tami

But that's not our only worry. It's not it's not this physiological arousal to being scared of performing. It's a generalized worry about so many things that could be go wrong during our performance, not just fear of showing up to perform. And then so now you're starting to see the difference and the importance, I hope, of having a doctor, a psychologist, a therapist to evaluate that, because it is it does take work to have to really find out what type of anxiety that a person is suffering from, because that does guide the type of treatment that needs to take place.

00;30;21;20 - 00;30;52;16

Dr. Tami

And it's okay. A lot of times we're suffering from more than one anxiety. And so the treatment is about first finding out what type or types am I struggling with because it is impairing my relationship, my job, my schooling, my even thoughts and the future. GAD can shut us down due to crippling fear because there's too many ‘what ifs’.

00;30;52;17 - 00;31;21;05

Dr. Tami

There are too many unknowns and it's not safe for us to just it's almost like they feel like we're jumping out of a plane without a parachute. We need a parachute. And that parachute has to have multiple, multiple other parachutes in case that one fails. Otherwise, there's no way in heck you're going to get me to dive out of that plane unless you can tell me 20 different ways that I'm going to be okay.

00;31;21;05 - 00;31;49;10

Dr. Tami

So that's this is one of the things I love dealing with anxiety. Because I am a sufferer, I don't minimize them. I also need to balance that. With one of the trainings I went to. She said, ‘We're anxious creatures’, you know, there was this and I do refer to that in terms of myself. And I just think that I mean, I have an anxious nature about me and I've had it since I've been a kid.

00;31;49;23 - 00;32;11;14

Dr. Tami

And there are different theories, you know, there's different theories of saying like, ‘Well, why? Why are you anxious versus this other kid that isn't anxious? Why? Why did you become an adult? That's this perfectionist, overdriven, anxious, kind of uptight person versus this other person who didn't?’ And so there's a lot of theories and I can't go into them all right now.

00;32;12;10 - 00;32;44;16

Dr. Tami

But I do I do want people to know that there are ways that we can work through that and find out like ‘What are some of our unresolved hurts or fears that we're we're trying to live out now that we have it resolved? What is our worst case scenario?’ Because GAD people are really big for catastrophizing. That when we catastrophize and this is out of CBT, we, our mind goes to the worst case scenario.

00;32;44;16 - 00;33;11;02

Dr. Tami

It's it's never like a small leap. It's a big jump into ‘I already know what's going to happen and it's it's horrific and I can't I can't I don't want to live here horrific’ and nobody taught us how to ‘decatastrophize’ that that cognitive it's called a ‘cognitive thought distortion’. It's irrational. It's not real or the chance of it being real,

00;33;11;03 - 00;33;46;27

Dr. Tami

the percentage is so small that it's unlikely that that's what's happening in your life at that moment. And so that's work that takes work to learn those tools. And, you know, just even reading up about CBT is going to provide some insight for people. There's a lot, probably even maybe too many, too many options on where you can start to get some education on this. Because the Internet's flooded with with education, right?

00;33;47;03 - 00;34;16;04

Dr. Tami

Or with people who say they know. And that's one of the reasons that I'm doing this podcast, because, since the pandemic, we have more people searching the Internet to find answers. And there's a lot of sources that you should not trust. Or if they want to tell their story, it needs to come with a disclaimer. And the disclaimer should say, ‘I am not a trained mental health provider.

00;34;17;08 - 00;34;58;10

Dr. Tami

You're choosing to take my personal insight or stories or my interpretations of the books I've read to, to speak as if I'm an expert. And if you still want to listen to me, then here's my story.’ But know that who, it's The Disclaimer needs to say that. We're coming to an end of our show, and I hope you enjoyed our discussion on GAD and that it gave you some gain, some a better understanding of how our worries can motivate our behaviors or lack of behavior.

00;34;58;27 - 00;35;22;28

Dr. Tami

So P.S.: generalized anxiety disorder can sound like a daunting term, yet it just is really one of those things that we're, we can tackle, we can tackle this, but we have to do it together. And the step, the first step is it's here and the next one is up to you.