Wellness Matters Webinar — Emotions What They Are and What To Do With Them

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Emotions can be a complicated mess that doesn’t seem to make any sense at all. Fortunately they’re not magic or random. We can make sense of our emotions, and in the process understand our experiences and ourselves in a much deeper way. In this talk you will learn:

  • What makes emotions an essential part of being a person

  • How to be aware of and identify emotions

  • What causes emotions

  • What emotions tell us about ourselves

  • How emotions can help us meet our needs

  • What a healthy & unhealthy relationship with emotions looks like

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Wellness Matters Webinar — Emodied Self Care Somatic Skills for Stress Management

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In this experiential workshop (webinar), you are invited to listen, breathe and move gently as we discuss the meaning of embodied self-care. Self-care is an important concept but also a common saying. Come to learn a deeper understanding of what self-care can mean to you personally. In this talk, you will learn: body basics of stress and self-care simple movement and breath for grounding ideas for somatic self-care

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Wellness Matters Webinar — Your Teen and Their Anxiety

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Anxiety impacts us all, especially during the past year’s challenges and changes. Although anxiety can be normal and at times even a helpful reaction, it can also cause problems and over-activate a stress response in our bodies. Teens experience anxiety in unique ways and often need support to identify their experiences. As parents and caregivers, we hope to help our teens find healthy ways to manage and deal with their symptoms. Join us for an evening of learning and discussion on anxiety and your teen.

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Panic Attacks and How to Cope

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Panic attacks are terrifying and can seriously interfere with daily activities and quality of life. If you've ever had a panic attack, you know the intense feelings that completely overwhelm your body and brain. In this post, we'll discuss what panic attacks are, how they work, and give you some tips and tricks for both treatment and prevention of these upsetting episodes.  While panic attacks are extremely unpleasant, they are both treatable and often preventable. Learning more about how panic attacks happen and what to do to manage them can be useful in preventing these incidents from disrupting life more than necessary. We'll outline some strategies to help understand the attacks, reduce the unpleasant symptoms, and regain control over these disruptive episodes.

We’ve all had the experience of feeling anxious at times and probably even feeling panicked. Recall for a moment what that feels like in your body- heart racing, palms sweating, dry mouth, your whole body on "high alert." This activation of a particular branch of our nervous system is an evolutionary advantage, commonly called “fight or flight” and helps to ramp up the body's defenses when faced with danger. There are times where this state of alertness serves us well- like when there is a threat to our lives or when we are faced with an imminent attack. For some people, however, the activation of fight or flight system gets out of whack, and the result can be an overwhelming bodily response that is not commensurate with the situation at hand. These incidents are called panic attacks. One of the hallmark signs of a panic attack is that is doesn't necessarily come about in a threatening situation, though it might. Some people have panic attacks seemingly out of the blue; some have reported even having them while sleeping!

Panic attacks come on suddenly and may recur. Some people only have one panic attack in their lifetimes, and others suffer from repeated attacks in what is known as Panic Disorder. Recurrent panic attacks are often triggered in a particular situation or environment. Panic attacks may occur in people that have no history of other mental health problems, or they might be part of another disorder such as anxiety, social phobia, or depression. They tend to run in families, suggesting a genetic component and typically emerge in teen years or early adulthood. Interestingly, women are twice as likely to suffer from panic disorder than men. Panic Disorder is relatively common, affecting as many as one in 75 people.

Some people who experience panic attacks report that they feel like they are literally dying. An immensely strong wave of both physiological and psychological sensations overtakes them, and they find themselves debilitated, completely immobilized by the intensity of the episodes. The following are common symptoms of panic attacks:

        1. Shortness of breath or hyperventilation

        2. Heart palpitations or racing heart

        3. Chest pain or discomfort

        4. Trembling or shaking

        5. Choking feeling

        6. Feeling unreal or detached from your surroundings

        7. Sweating

        8. Nausea or upset stomach

        9. Feeling dizzy, light-headed or faint

        10. Numbness or tingling sensations

        11. Hot or cold flashes

        12. Fear of dying, losing control or going crazy

There are many lifestyle changes you can make to help reduce the likelihood of panic attacks, and most of these changes are common sense tips that make for good health regardless of if you are suffering from panic attacks: 

1. Learn about panic attacks and how anxiety manifests itself physically. The references listed here are a great place to start. Sometimes understanding how and why panic attacks occur can really help to reframe the disorder and take some of the fear out of the experience. 

2. Avoid smoking, alcohol, and caffeine. These drugs can be harmful to anyone but particularly for people who suffer from panic attacks. Also, avoid any stimulants such as those sometimes found in cold medication as they can provoke attacks.

3. Learn how to control your breathing and practice mindfulness and meditation. Try taking a yoga class or downloading a mindfulness or meditation app. Controlled deep breathing can directly and instantly counteract the overwhelming physical symptoms of a panic attack. The more you practice using this important tool, the easier it is to employ it when you need it most.

4. Exercise regularly. Exercise is perhaps the single best health-promoting behavior we can practice. Particularly for anxiety and other mental health issues that manifest themselves physically, the benefits of regular aerobic exercise cannot be overstated. 

5. Stay on top of your sleep and your stress. Too little sleep and/or too much stress can leave you frazzled and vulnerable for an attack. Try to keep your hours of sleep up and your daily stress level down to keep yourself on an even keel.

6. Set up a support system. Be sure your loved ones know about your panic attacks and how to help you if you suffer from one. Let your support system know if there are particular situations or times that you are likely to suffer from an attack so they can be there for you to help.

These tips are a great place to start to help manage panic attacks but often times they are not enough and need to be paired with the guidance and supervision of a trained professional. Only a trained professional can diagnose panic disorder and can help to get a treatment plan in place. Please reach out for help if you or someone you love is suffering from panic attacks or struggling with something else. Many proven effective therapeutic techniques specifically work for people with panic attacks and panic disorder and can be tailored to suit each individual's needs. In most cases, through lifestyle and behavioral changes, therapy, and sometimes medications, people can reduce or even eliminate panic attacks from their lives.

References and Further Reading

Perfectionism

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Perfectionism is a problem a lot of people struggle with. Having high standards is great but having standards that are too high can leave you feeling like nothing is ever good enough. Have you ever heard the old adage that perfectionism is the enemy of done? Sometimes productivity can really suffer when we’re too focused on getting something “just right” instead of getting it finished and moving on to the next thing. This obsession with perfection can actually hold you back from accomplishing great things. The first step is realizing that things are not always going to be perfect and that’s okay. Try creating more realistic goals and expectations for yourself and remember to be kind to yourself. Try challenging your inner critic and ask yourself if you would criticize someone else the way you criticize yourself. Being a perfectionist can be exhausting, and sometimes lead to stress, anxiety and other problems like procrastination. It can also keep you from celebrating your accomplishments because you’re so focused on what is wrong instead of what is right. Realize that you have the power to change your perfectionist habits through compassionate self-love and radical acceptance of the fact that everything is imperfect - and that’s perfectly okay.

Take a Deep Breath. Here's Why.

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“Take a deep breath.” We’ve all heard this old adage at some point, but you may not know that it is grounded in some really solid science. Deep breathing is one of the best tools we all have at our disposal to center the body and mind and regain composure. You can do it anytime, anywhere, it is completely free and easy to master. While many ancient cultures have extolled the virtues of deep breathing for centuries, modern scientists are now shedding light on how this fundamental technique can almost instantly benefit your body, mind, and spirit. Sometimes it feels like we’re not in control of the way our body and brain react to a situation, but deep breathing reminds us that our behaviors can have profound influence over our heart rate, blood pressure, and mood. 

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Good Stress vs. Bad Stress

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By Lily M. Bowles, M.S. 

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The very word “stress” can instantly evoke feelings of anxiety and tension. These negative connotations arise as we are constantly hearing how stress is bad for the body and brain. We’re told that stress can damage everything from the heart to the brain and even the immune system, elevating our risks of cardiovascular disease and even cancer. There is no doubt chronic, overwhelming, and negative stress is harmful and a persistent and growing problem in today's society. What you may not know, however, is that a little bit of the right kind of stress can actually be genuinely good for you! Scientists call this ‘good’ stress eustress, from the Latin ‘eu’ meaning “well” and it is different from the bad stress, sometimes referred to as "distress" in several ways. Researchers think that having a healthy dose of the right kind of stress can, in fact, be beneficial to your body, mind, and spirit. This healthy stress surprisingly improves both our focus and performance and may be an essential part of living a fulfilling and meaningful life.

There are several important distinctions between healthy, positive stress and toxic negative stress. Healthy stressors often elicit some or all of the following characteristics:

  1. They motivate and focus energy

  2. They are short-term

  3. They  are perceived as within our coping abilities

  4. They feel exciting

  5. They improve performance and focus

These qualities may help you reframe a stressor as something stimulating and challenging but ultimately enjoyable. Meeting these positive stressors head on can result in immense feelings of euphoria, success, invigoration, and accomplishment. Small doses of beneficial stress can be motivating, revitalizing and encouraging. In the absence of any stress at all, we can feel listless, bored and without direction or purpose. Good stress can kick us into high gear, exciting the body and brain to tackle new challenges. There is even evidence it can help to improve memory and performance on both cognitive and physical tasks. Good stress may even help to fortify the immune system and improve cardiovascular health!

The nature of a positive stressor is in stark contrast to the characteristics of a negative stressor, the kind of things we typically associate with the word "stress". Negative stressors usually check some or all of the following boxes:

  1. They cause anxiety or concern

  2. They can be short or long term

  3. They are perceived as outside of our coping abilities

  4. They feel unpleasant

  5. They decrease performance

  6. They can lead to mental and physical problems. 

It is sometimes hard to concretely categorize what makes stressors "good" or "bad" because different people can have very different stress responses to the exact same situation. Public speaking is a great example of this. What is thrilling and exciting to one person can be absolutely debilitatingly stressful to another. This wide variety of individualized stress responses truly illustrates how much of the manifestation of stress is not in the experience itself, but in how you perceive it. We do also have to be careful of oversimplifying this, however, and resist the urge to put each stressful experience in a discrete box of "good" or "bad." Some experiences are both good and bad stressors, vacillating between the two and containing a healthy mix of both. The experience of having a new baby, for example, can bring immense joy but the physical toll of giving birth and the inevitable sleep deprivation can be very negative stressors. Additionally, the anxiety over having a new set of responsibilities can sometimes almost overwhelm the feelings of joy and love. Much of the stressfulness of experiences like these are dependent on a variety of other factors as well, such as social support and the individual's outlook and mindset.

 

There are some pretty clear-cut examples of both positive and negative stressors, however, like the death of a friend or family member which is almost always a negative stress experience. Profound losses of any kind typically fall into the harmful stress category, including divorce or separation, loss of a job or other meaningful relationship. Instances of abuse, neglect, severe injury or illness are all negative stress experiences as well. Alternatively, there can be life events that are exciting and joyful, yet still taxing. These full into the category of positive stressors. Examples include new relationships, marriage, children, buying a home, moving, starting a new job or getting a raise or promotion. Going on a first date is an excellent example of a positive stressor. Your heart races, your palms sweat, and your body has a clear cut stress response, though typically it is an enjoyable one! These positive stress experiences can be profoundly stressful in the way that they alter our lives and require more of us, yet they are often immensely satisfying and give us great feelings of accomplishment. Once the experience is no longer stressful, we typically look back on these memories with fondness and even pride.

There is some emerging evidence that the way that you think about stress can actually change the way it manifests itself in the body. Notice that one of the most significant differences between eustress and distress is whether or not the challenge is perceived as within our coping abilities. When we believe that we have the capacity to overcome a stressor it can be seen as a challenge and even be fun. When we feel that a stressor is outside of our abilities, it seems unmanageable and scary. In this instance, we tend to project failure and become overwhelmed by the experience.  

In addition to trying to reframe the stressor as within our capabilities, here are a few more tips for managing stress:

  1. Take care of yourself: exercise, eat healthy whole foods and sleep

  2. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and other drugs

  3. Try mindfulness, meditation or other deep breathing or relaxation techniques

  4. Try to set up a support network of friends and family you can turn to in stressful times

  5. Try to get ahead of things by setting up a time management system that works for you.

  6. Go easy on yourself! Sometimes we can be our own harshest critics. Try reframing your accomplishments.

Both negative and positive stress can be overwhelming at times. If you are struggling with stress or something else in your life, please reach out to us at Rivers Edge Counselling Centre. Building the right support structure for your mental and physical health is essential, no matter what life throws at you. 


REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

How to diagnose and Deal with Stress in Children

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Just like adults, children experience stress at various stages of development. It could happen when they are transitioning to a new school, their parents are going through divorce or they experience the death of a close family member.  The good news is there are things we can do to help as their parents.  You may not be able to eliminate the stressful factor, but we can certainly do more than assume that it will go away on its own.

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