Fix Your Anxiety Issues - We Tell You How!

Super-important discussion with Anxiety Expert today. Don't suffer with debilitating and mood-ruining anxiety - we explain how to fix that stuff!

[mjones]

Getting off sugar and eating more meat helps a lot.

[TheWilliamHoganExperience]

Anxiety is a symptom, not a disorder.

Listen to it. Seek out it's cause(s). Don't just try to suppress it. Undiagnosed ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) was the root of my difficulties with "worry." The ordinary world is dangerous to autistic people. Because of this, our lifespans are 20 or more years shorter than average. My sympathetic nervous system was always on high alert because I was under constant assault from the ordinary social and sensory environments I was subjected to every day of my life.

Cognitive behavioral approaches don't work when a threat is legitimate. They are themselves dangerous. They didn't work because the threats to me were REAL, but UNRECOGNIZED, and therefore went unmitigated. Decades of self help and psychotherapy amounted to expensive gas-lighting - I felt like a failure on top of the crushing anxiety. I was told in effect: "It's all in your head - the world is safe - stop worrying so much" by mental health professionals, when in fact I was under constant but occult assault.

Anxiety is a universal feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder. It's common with ADHD too. ASD is easy to screen for yet this is not routinely done by therapists. I suspect 20 to 30% of the population have significant traits associated with ASD and/or ADHD, yet the "official" numbers are 2% and 5% respectively. There is a diagnosis bias in both cases favoring males and children, especially when coupled with intellectual diability - which has nothing to do with either condition. ASD and ADHD are both associated with challenges in executive function, which in turn is associated with all sorts of negative life outcomes. These include social and employment and basic life management skills. When you are unable to maintain relationships with other people and are under constant sensory assault due to an extreme sensory profile, anxiety becomes your emotional baseline.

For good reason!

Living with unrecognized, unmanaged unremitting anxiety eventually breaks you down. You collapse emotionally, physically and spiritually. At that point the symptom of anxiety becomes life threatening depression.

Two things helped eliminate my (pathological / chronic) anxiety:

1) Treatment by an anesthesiologist with ketamine infusion therapy in 2018 stopped the horrible "panic attacks" I'd experienced for decades. The ketamine treatment actually healed something in my brain.

2) Screening for and assessment and diagnosis of ASD level 1. A team of doctors and psychologists at Kaiser Permente finally figured it out in 2022. ASD explained the root cause of my sympathetic nervous system's near constant state of arousal. No wonder I struggled my entire life. I was under constant threat!

Now, I'm able to recognize and mitigate stressors from my social and sensory environments. I'm supporting my autism, and life is good now. The threats remain, but I now recognize and avoid or mitigate them as much as possible.

At age 59 I finally understand how to manage my life in ways that support my atypical neurology. I'm not saying autism or ADHD are behind all pathological chronic anxiety. I'm saying anxiety is always a symptom of something larger that's wrong. It's not a disorder, it's a warning system. Don't -just- try to suppress it.

Listen to your body and mind. Seek out the root causes of your unease. Eliminate or mitigate them, and the alarm bells quiet down.

Peace of mind was my result.

[GAILSKEELS]

I had my first panic attack when I was 17 and found Claire Weekes very helpful, since then I have discovered Peter Levine ( the effect of trauma stored in the body), Pete Walker cptsd sufferer and psychotherapist and also Steven Porges, the polyvagel system ...all super helpful for understanding anxiety etc. Thanks for the interesting discussion, I think raising awareness of this issue is always a good thing .

[susanhills]

Anxiety can be caused by many stressful situations in a short space of time too. They can set off the amygdalae into the freeze fight and flight mode. Freeze response can show up as lack of motivation, lack of energy etc which can then cause depression. A tip for people going through the freeze response... praise yourself for every tiny thing you do, this can trigger dopamine which then raises mood and can convince the amygdalae that there is no threat.... x

[BarbaraTechel]

Great discussion. Buteyko Breathwork is so helpful for anxiety also. Couldn't agree more - it really is a mind game - but it can be done to bring more calm to oneself. As an asthmatic and realizing I also had anxiety (tend to be a worrier) as I've gotten older, this breathwork has really helped me - as well as, conversations like this. Thank you.

[Feinrizulwur]

I had the fortune to live with my relatives born in the 1800s.
They knew how dangerous feeding children with sugar was was for their mental health.
They eat fish every day. Bread should be rye.
Old knewledge.
New research shows the same.
A good channel is :low carbs down under.
And scientists like Georgia Ede.
A bad example is Greta with sister and a lot of sugar eating children.
In Stockholm the shelves with kandys are 10 - 20 meters long in the stores
Hard job to correct when the damage is done.

[jackoneil]

Brilliant Ivor. I've been involved with veterans, first responders and their families, and their struggles with anxiety for coming up on 20 years now, and what Matt relates resonates strongly with what I've gleaned and implemented in my own life. Over that time, I've become aware of a few modalities that aid in the bringing conscious awareness of subconscious and compulsive thoughts and negative emotions, if you and Matt have any interest in covering some finer points.

[elaineS]

Hypnotherapy at a deep level specifically targeted at trauma works too. Beat Retreat has been helping ex military peole who had PTSD. The root cause mainly stemmed from a childhood negative experience. John Watkins discovered this in WWII and helped many troops overcome shellshock and return back to duty.

[grebulon]

The advice about 'being in the moment' is excellent👍
The past is history. You can't change it. The future hasn't happened yet and cannot be predicted, so we should not try to control it, especially by worrying about it. The present is now, and it is where you can make a difference, so... live in the moment!

[TrevorCrook-cs]

Claire Weekes was a legend . Her book self help for your nerves saved my life and gave me great insight into the anxiety condition . RIP

[megpierce]

Ivor, your vulnerability has increased my respect for you.

[jackpech]

Guys I just want to say thank you again. Matt, I looked into Claire Weekes and her books. I've started reading one already. I can't believe I've never heard of her before until you mentioned it here. Amazing discovery, thanks so much.

[mariannedonne]

What an amazing presentation.thank you gentlemen.

[shantishanti]

I only have to hear the first few bars of the music for the song “I’ve been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life “ by Foreigner and I am back in the car crash I was in. Can be walking past a house or wherever and suddenly I take a deep breath a “panic” breath and then I realise the music and I now can calm it immediately BUT that song triggers the memory immediately.
Doesn’t matter where I am and how far away it’s playing I will notice that song and the car crash is back.
The mind is really the last frontier.
The car crash was back in 1981 in another country. 40 years.
Best of luck to all managing past happenings and worries of it happening again. ❤
PS It’s a great song but I find it hard to enjoy. It of course was playing in the car when I crashed.

[Delboy]

That was a great interview. I suffer terribly with nerves before an interview or public speaking, etc. Its really helpful to understand the process that is happening in my brain. I find your channel one of the most important on YouTube at this point.

[snaggletooth]

Definitely one of the most beneficial videos you've posted, thank you Ivor

[BronzeAgeSwords]

awesome talk amazing timing thank you both

[Phantom-hpcq]

Very valuable information here! Thanks Ivor 🙏

[nataliebutler]

I have anxiety, but I'm not a worrier. I'd say it's more caused by a need to process 'trauma' that is stuck in the nervous system - nervous system disregulation / freeze response. Being present to the feelings and calming exercises are helpful, but it's a process and I don't find it easy... the worrying could be subconscious thoughts though. I tend to go straight to the feelings without 'thinking' worrying thoughts.

[joesphbegley]

Sometimes life makes us feel very anxious and we feel we are clinging on to a rope for our very survival. It is a natural reaction. Let go of the rope and let your anxiety float away.