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Caitlin Whyte: Welcome to Hally Healthcast, the monthly wellness podcast from Hally Health, your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Every month on our podcast, we address a new topic important to your health, bringing in expert doctors, therapists, and specialists who offer advice and answer your most pressing questions.

Mental health and anxiety have always been a public health issue, but those triggers have been ramped up with COVID-19 and all that is going on in our world currently. So today, we are focusing on breaking down anxiety with Maggie Johnson, the counseling supervisor at Carle Health. Maggie, to start us off, how common is anxiety?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: Well, anxiety is actually really common. Statistically, it's about 31% of adults that experience anxiety disorders in their lifetime, and so that's a diagnosable anxiety disorder. A lot of people experience bouts of anxiety throughout their lifetime, even if it's not diagnosable, it's incredibly common. And especially over the past 18 months with the significant stressors that have been present for all of us in our country and in the world, we're seeing increased stress and anxiety for a lot of people across the board, not just those with diagnosable anxiety disorders. A stress response would be more of what we would be talking about in that situation. So stress is more of a response to a threat or situation, whereas anxiety is the reaction that we then have to that stress. So we as individuals can experience symptoms of anxiety without necessarily being criteria for a full-blown anxiety disorder, particularly if there's a situational stressor present as has been the case most recently in the last 18 months or so.

Caitlin Whyte: Absolutely. And just going off of that, how debilitating can anxiety be?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: Yeah. A person's responses to anxiety and or stress can vary pretty greatly, depending on a lot of factors like for example, what their ability to be resilient is, what kind of outlets that they have to cope with anxiety and what kind of supports they have. So we have some people that find that they can cope pretty well with anxiety and navigate that with some discomfort, but they're only minimally impaired by that. You know, perhaps people might take longer to fall asleep at night, or they find that they're more easily distracted or irritable, or they might find that they want to avoid triggers for anxiety, but they're still able to navigate those triggers in the end. Sometimes the person's body may also respond to their anxiety in the form of racing heart or feeling jittery. Some people also may find that they want to avoid sources of anxiety completely. For example, somebody who fears driving may refuse to get behind the wheel or somebody may be pretty significantly impaired by panic attacks that carry with them, not just the emotional distress, but also feeling faint or dizzy or experiencing tingling in the hands or fingers.

Caitlin Whyte: So what really causes anxiety?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: The causes of anxiety can vary pretty greatly as well, anything from biological factors to life experiences, to traumatic experiences, to situational stressors, sometimes what may cause anxiety for a person at one stage in life doesn't in another. And additionally, a person's circumstances and the amount of stressors that they are experiencing can certainly impact the level to which anxiety is impacting them.

Caitlin Whyte: And how do you recognize that it's really an issue either in yourself or your loved ones, family and friends around you?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: Yes. Anxiety responses vary greatly from person to person, watching your loved ones for changes in the way that they go about their days can certainly help. I mean, if you see family or friends withdrawing from people when they're normally outgoing, or if they start to be more irritable or distracted, then it may be an indication that they're experiencing some stress or anxiety. Or if they start calling into work or staying home from school or they're reporting that their performance in those areas is suffering, then they may benefit from that support from family friends or even a professional.

Caitlin Whyte: So what are some self-help strategies we can use?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: Yeah, there are actually lots of really great things that people can do to help themselves with anxiety. For example, making sure to set good limits with yourself, so as to avoid overextending and it also serves the purpose of giving yourself time to recharge. Getting good sleep is absolutely crucial, because sleep is where our bodies and our minds recover from the day. And it also allows us to reset for the next day. Taking time to move our bodies, either through exercise or simply doing something that's not idle is also really great. And exercise is also really helpful because it allows us to have an outlet for some of that tension and stress, so physically that that's going somewhere when we're exercising. And then as simple as it sounds, simply taking a minute to do some deep breathing for even a minute or two can also work just to kind of reset and, you know, return to whatever the task is.

Caitlin Whyte: And when should we seek that professional help? When do we know we've kind of hit that critical point?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: Really anytime we feel like we need it. It can vary from person to person, what level of anxiety or stress that they're able to tolerate on their own. I certainly think that professionals can help whether the anxiety is just uncomfortable or if it's become more debilitating. But especially if a person is thinking of harming themselves, that would definitely be a good indicator that it's time to seek some help. But overall, the best advice I can give is just to be attentive to yourself and listen to what you need and reach out if you feel like you need support at any point.

Caitlin Whyte: That leads me into my last question here, what should I do if I'm worried about a family member or a friend experiencing suicidal thoughts, maybe making those comments?

Maggie Johnson, LCSW: I think first and foremost, it's always okay to ask if a person is experiencing suicidal thoughts. It's a really common misconception that we should avoid asking, because this would plant an idea in the person's head that wasn't there before. That's actually not at all the case. It's certainly uncomfortable for any of us to ask that question of another person. But asking that question can actually let someone know that we care enough to ask and to help them get professional help. It certainly open the door to helping them feel like they can talk about their suicidal feelings. It's absolutely important that anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts not feel like they have to navigate those on their own.

Caitlin Whyte: Well, we so appreciate your time today, Maggie, and your work in this critically important field. That concludes today's Hally Healthcast. Tune in next month, as we tackle yet another topic important for your health and well-being. And remember, Hally Health is your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Visit hally.com for resources, information, tips, and much more. Let us help keep you and your family healthy and well. Thanks for listening. We hope you tune in next month.