Anxiety Road Podcast

I try to stay off of sites like Kickstarter and Indigogo. Too much temptation and even more disappointment. Back in the day, I use to support the up and coming companies.    But I got tired of waiting sometimes month before the product arrived. I have been burned by companies that found out it was hard to be an innovator.   Few days ago, I got an email that I was about to toss in the trash. Looked...

The TLDR version: What I do know is that a coloring book could be an opportunity for those who have trouble with some of the traditional concepts of meditation or mindfulness practice.    But be careful about making a purchase. When possible, buy from a human creator.   The much longer version : I insist on being a human being so I still do my own research. Not saying I having dipped a toe or two...

I'm on the summer slow down vibe, but there are lots of interesting ways to handle and reduce symptoms. One of those ways is combining a breathing practice with humming. To be clear, I'm talking about the sound that humans make with their mouths. Usually involves the sound "hum". Take the human body, the Vagus nerve and an open mind and you just might have an additional tool to tell the body to re...

As I mention in the podcast, it is the eight anniversary of the podcast. The need to connect people to the various mental health services  is still necessary. There have been times that my symptoms were stable and I could crank out an episode, no problem.   But there are times when I'm at high tide, the symptoms are showing themselves to the public and I can or cannot produce an episode.   Thing i...

It is the start of the summer slowdown where I'll post less often as I try to catch up on my sleep and elocution skills. I've been talking a lot lately and I can hear multiple imperfections.  Really a bad idea to do five things at the same time.    Anyway, last week's error has created this episode. As a standing warning. Never upgrade as you are working on a project. I've gotten away with it befo...

After missing last week, I was determined to get an episode up.  I recording and edited it. The SOS software decided to garble my speech.  And then it stopped working. So I turned to my phone and made something happen. It ain't pretting but I dood it. This is a quick look at the new movie called Minding the LIne, which is a fictional movie about fly fishing, PTSD and coping as best you can.  I'll...

It has been a while since I've mentioned this; the focus on the podcast is for folks that have been medically diagnosed with an anxiety condition or disorder.    However, all are welcome. The over-stressed, the somewhat anxious or those that are up against it and don't know what to do.   Everybody has anxiety. That is normal and necessary. We need it for our personal safety and awareness that ther...

There are days when we muck it up. And spend hours berating yourself that you were not perfect or you did not catch one of the dozens of bug a boos that you handle in a day.    On this day I would like to suggest that you stop being mean, nasty or hyper-critical about being fallible. Practice your breathing, drink some water, move your body and actively be kind to yourself. If you need support con...

For those of you that don't understand about the experience of depression, I have two websites that might help folks get a grip on it.     The first is Will O'Neil's Actual Sunlight.    It is a fictional narrative game about the experience of living and trying to exist in a depressive state.     Another expression of the experience is an old school HTML website called Deprression Quest.   It is an...

Last time, I talked about coaching. How there are different types of coaches and that it is an unlicensed and unregulated practice. There are good and bad coaches, and we need to find ways to figure out who is who.   I tried to chop it down into chunks but this is a big topic. And not a lot of consumer friendly information sources. Many of the resources I found where connected to vendors wanting t...

I'm working my way through the mental health telemedicine providers and I'm coming across the word "coach."    I get a little leery about that word because I've had some experiences with people using it to wrap themselves in a health wellness cloak of respectability.   I've gone to conferences and sat in on sessions that I thought were about how to best provide information to people wanted health...

This episode is not for everybody. Some of you will be highly dismissive. That is okay. Different strokes for different folks.     Knitting provides an object of focus for our practice. We can practice focusing our attention and letting go of distractions.   The point is, doing something analog or tactile can help you relax. Or meditate or route you and keep you in the present tense. In this pebbl...

Long time listeners know that I am a connoisseur of the sequential arts.    It is truly the theater of the mind because I can co-create with the artist to experience an environment or an adventure.   I bring this up because sometimes healing can come from unexpected places. Like a graphic novel or a comic book.    Three of the books talk about the experience of having a perpetual negative voice in...

The anxiety symptoms can muck up our ability to see what we've done, whether it was fair, good, or excellent. There are a lot of wonderful people that have anxiety conditions that do mighty good things. People write, create or force a revolution into how we should treat each other as human being. In this week's episode, a look at a pioneer that helped to improve mental health care in the U.S. and...

As one section of America tries to move forward there are others that are determine to hold on to what didn't work in the past and certainly won't work in the future.    In this day, do the best you can. That is the lesson to be learned across all of time and space. I had to record this episode seven or eight times.    I kept messing up. Mispronounced words. Forgot to explain something. Then there...

There are times when I find myself in unexpected territories. This is one of those times. It is why I'm trying to include more attention to the virtual mental health providers.  If you have ever listed to a podcast or watch YouTube, you probably have heard or seen something about the company known as BetterHealth.    You might have seen an advertorial from a social media influencer or from a podca...

A few years ago in an episode I said: Anxiety is so much more than the typical stress reaction.  For some of us, we gag, we choke, we have heart pains, we have chest pains, we have diarrhea, we have gastric distress, we have excessive sweating. We can't leave our homes. These are not the kind of things you're going to be thinking your way through if your symptoms are that extreme. And there was a...

I freely admit that I mentioned can soda too many times in this episode. But it had a profound effect on my body and parts of my brain.    There are folks that use other substances in excess to deal with their symptoms or whatever else is going on with them. For me, it was sugar drinks and pastries.    Almost never met a donut I didn't like.   I no longer beat myself up on wanting to scarf up a sw...

Some providers of services use the term behavioral health. Some use mental health.  I have spent the  hours trying to get a concise meaning of both terms.    It ain't easy.   The American Psychological Association defines behavioral as:   ...an interdisciplinary subspecialty of behavioral medicine that promotes a philosophy emphasizing individual responsibility in the maintenance of one's own heal...

Update 2024 - Seems like Ro Mind has bit the dust. Although the mental health only therapy explainer page is still listed on the website, it seems that there has been a downsizing of the medical services offered.  Per the main page of the website, they no longer list anxiety, depression and seasonal affected disorder conditions. When I select the "What We Treat" menu, there are no mental health se...

In this episode, a look at some of the mental tele-health options that are in or will be introduced to the healthcare marketplace. Next time, and throughout the year I'll show examples of a virtual mental health service, what it does, the pros & cons and other items of interest.  If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-...

This is the start to a mini-series about telehealth and telemedicine options. Starting out with a definition of what telehealth is, types of provider services including a taste of virtual mental health care and recourses.   The short version is, per the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services,  "Telehealth — sometimes called telemedicine — lets your health care provider care for you without an...

Trying to finish up on my science literacy class. It is a pip. It is very good and provides a lot information about how scientists evaluate questions and data.    It is thumping my poor brain with all kinds of concepts. Once I finish the class, I should be back on a regular schedule.    Going through my stuff and seeing if I forgot anything. Seems like I did forget a thing or two.    I might have...

In this episode, a look at a kindness inspired grounding practice you could do when you need to tame your internal little hater. Sometimes people come to the podcast intentionally. They see the album cover or up on a social media site and check it out. Or they might see a post on a social media place and happen to see the name of the show.   Some entrepreneurial site owners will post a link to the...

It is the time when a bunch of people and advertisers want to encourage you to make changes to your existence and how you currently live your life.   You might in fact want to do this because you do not feel good in your mind and body.  Totally understandable.  But you don't have to define you worth on promises you really don't want to do.   There is a way to achieve your goals without imposing an...