Show 308 Mindfulness Meditation 2022

When I'm looking for viable resources, I can tell when I find a traditional approach to treatment.

Listed are two options listed, medication and therapy. Sometime they will mention others as a lifestyle choice. That is slowly changing. I am seeing more traditional sites including mindfulness and meditation. 

There is increasing medical documentation that mindfulness and meditation work. 

Medical scientists are still trying to quantify how it works. But they aren't kicking up a fuss about it anymore. 

Another force for change is the entrepreneurial health app providers.  They offer meditation as a treatment option, for users and for large corporations. 

Many are targeting corporations. The pitch is "we can provide meditation as a services and it won't cost you (corporations) as much as dealing with traditional providers." 

And in-between the entrepreneurs and traditionally medicine is you, me and the rest of the gang. 

Truth is, there are people that will be thrilled with an app that actual helps them. They are practicing and benefiting from meditation via an app.

There are other people that need an in-person experience. Some will get that through a faith based provider. Other people will seek out secular choices from non-profits, university offerings and commercial or virtual retreats.

No matter which way you choice to go; know what you are getting into and see if the app or training course meets your expectations. 

As I mention in the episode, there is no consensus about what those two words mean across disciplines, faith systems and from the medical and behavioral health professionals.

Some people use mindfulness for meditation or meditation for mindfulness.

I had to cobble out a definition that works for me but I do mention the other definitions in the show.

One definition of mindfulness is that it is a practice of paying full attention, being aware of what you are doing and grounding yourself in the moment. 

The website Very Well Minds definition of meditation: 

"can be defined as a set of techniques that are intended to encourage a heightened state of awareness and focused attention. Meditation is also a consciousness-changing technique shown to have many benefits on psychological well-being"

In this episode, a look at mindfulness and meditation in 2022.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

App and Audio Resources:

ASICS Runkeeper app for those that want to run as they meditate.

Australian podcaster Rachel Kable has an episode on How to Train Your Brain and Worry Less, might be good for the generalized anxiety folks. 

NPR Life Tool Kit has an interview with Jon Kabbt-Zinn. In addition to the text interview is a recording of the conversation where he defines mindfulness as awareness. 

10 Percent Happier with Dan Harris - there is also an app for accessing more content.

Text Resources: 

American Psychological Association page on Mindfulness Meditation.

The Blissful Mind has a page on Mindfulness 101: Everything You Need to Know About Mindfulness.

 

The National Center for Integrative and Complementary Health page on Meditation and Mindfulness, What you need to know. 

Update 2024 - Mindful.org Getting Started page on Mindfulness.  Scroll down to see the text.

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Show 307 - Quick Look at Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

In this episode, a quick look at mindfulness-based stress reduction.

The end of the year stuff is coming up early this year so quick episodes are probably going to be in the mix for the next few weeks. 

 If I can even get to an episode at all, it's that busy too much to do and not enough time. 

However, my news feed blew up with articles, about a study about mindfulness-based stress reduction, The headlines, in many of these new stories were something like mindfulness works just as well as medicine. 

In this episode, a quick look at the study and some resources so that you can do a deeper dive than most of mainstream media.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

The JAMA Network Abstract on the MBSR Clinical Trial

NPR One Minute Listen on the clinical trial.

Medline Pro page on Escitalopram/Lexapro

Mindfulness and Health Institute - Programs and Virtual Classes 

Sounds True Jon Kabat-Zinn catalog page of recordings. 

Google Books preview copy of the book Full Catastrophe Living Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness published by Random House Publishing Group 

2024 Update: The website seems to be offline. The University of San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Health has multiple on-line courses in MBSR for 2023.

On the east coast there is the Mindfulness and Health Institute s they also have classes in MBSR.

Mindful.org has an informative page about How to Meditate with Anxiety, with a word or two on MBSR.

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

ARP 306 - The End of Amazon Care

Hi folks, I'm at high tide with work and symptoms acting like a three-year old. But I wanted to put this out to let folks know that the Amazon.Care service has closed. 

It is a little embarrassing for me. I had posted the episode and three weeks later the telehealth service began the process of shutting down. 

From what I can suss out, there were several reasons for the service going down, and I'm getting my information from the Washington Post newspaper, some of the industry publications, and I believe there was an actual internal memo from Amazon that was cited in some of the news reports.

So this is just a quick informational update plus a little bit about my Twitter concerns.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

Washington Post article about Amazon to shut down its telehealth offering and a second story Amazon Care is dead, but the tech giant’s health-care ambitions live on both by Caroline O'Donovan.

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

ARP Pebble in the Road on Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a pesky bugger. 

It is worry on steroids. You worry about money; you worry about every ache or pain and worry about things in the past and the future.

There is nothing that you don't worry about, in excess.

And the amount of worrying you are doing can impacting your life. 

Or keep you from doing things you want to do because of the fear of the unknown is going to happen.

In this short episode, the symptoms of GAD and what you can do about it.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out of Control, a 12-page booklet that contains information about the condition from the National Institute of Mental Health.

From the ADAA.org site, a personal story, GAD Hard to Recognize by Meredith Arthur

The American Psychological Association has a podcast on mental health topics. Episode 173 Speaking of Psychology: What is anxiety and how can we treat it effectively? With Bunmi Olatunji, PhD

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

 

Show 303 - Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners

In the introduction to this episode, I mention the financial bum rush of companies providing mental health apps to clients, patients and customers.

Still working on that tact thing.

There is a small but growing segment of entrepreneurs that see gold in them there mental health hills.

Some of those entrepreneurs have honest intentions about making mental health accessible. They have hired psychologists and psychiatrists to help shape their product.

Others vendors are more focused on building chat bots that provide rote services that can be sold to businesses.

 

Probably as a checkbox for saying "Hey, we have provided this mental health gizmo, saves you money and that will allow you as business person to give us money. Win-Win."

But sometimes, you need a living licensed professional that will meet with you and your problems.

HMO doctors ain't got the time or the training for that kind of service.

Psychologists will talk to you but cannot provide medication treatment or management.

Psychiatrists are in short supply. Many are ageing out of the profession. Those that haven't are either booked solid or priced out of the range of most people.

There is another option. Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners. That is the topics of this episode.

In the episode, I mentioned that I was going to post an image or maybe a video about accessing the two psychiatric nurse search engines. 

I'll figure something out.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

Association of American Medical Colleges post about the psychiatrist shortage.

The Myth of Normal, Trauma, Illness & Healing in A Toxic Culture by Gabor Mate, M.D. with Daniel Mate. Published by Avery Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.  

I also recommend that you check out a video that he talks a bit more about the myth of normal.

American Psychiatric Nurse Association page About Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

Nurse Journal page on What to Know About Seeing a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners web site has a Find a Nurse Practitioner search engine for those practitioners.   

Psychology Today has a therapist search engine. It also is a little fiddly but you can use it to locate psychiatric nurse practitioners.

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

ARP Pebble in the Road - Medication Considerations 2022

Deciding on taking medication is a choice and a responsibility. 

If you have been diagnosed with an anxiety condition or disorder, you probably have been told that one of the treatment options is medication. 

As I mentioned in ARP 169, It is ok to decide if medication is right for you. 

It is equally ok that you don't want to take medications. First step is to get a through checkup to make sure it isn’t a physical health problem. Many anxiety symptoms are similar to a physical illness. 

Anxiety medications can help reduce your symptoms, but it's not a cure. 

Your symptoms are telling you that there is a problem. 

Your challenge is to figure out the underlying cause. 

In the meantime, your next step is to learn about the types of medication for anxiety: 

Short term medication can help you with embarrassing or symptoms that are affecting your work or personal life. They are in and out of the body quickly. It is sedative opioid level medication. 

Long term non-opioid medication takes a while to build up in your system, but once there it keeps you mellow for as long as you keep taking the medication. And you have to keep on taking the medication. 

Both types of meds have side effects and drawbacks.

Check out the resources below to get a dusting about medication options.

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

U.S. National Institute of Mental Health page on Mental Health Medications. There is an overview and then a listing of the various types of medications.

Anxiety and Depression Association of America page on Treatment Help. Talks about treatment, types of mental health professionals and patient's rights.

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Show 301 - Self-Medication Pro and Con

Having to live with anxiety symptoms is not easy. I can't speak for you but I have sometimes been shamed, embarrassed or felt hopeless after a bad bout with those rascals.

My self-medication of choice is food. I kinda have to deal with that because it isn't an effective way to deal with the problem. I've been around this bend before so I know I can do it.

Will I? Probably.

You see my symptoms are flaring up again. Big time.

And yes, I do breathe. 

Go out side and walk a bit.

Fill my head with music so I can get from point A to B.

Most times it works, sometimes it does not.

I used to think that self-medication was a bad but understandable idea.  I’ve kinda moved to the center of “it depends, and what are your other options?”

So in this episode, the questions that I've asked myself and maybe you should consider is what are the benefits and liabilities of self-medication?

There are the obvious ones

• Stopping or hiding symptoms
• A rest period
• Ability to focus
• Relief

And the cons

• Dosage, how much and not knowing when it is too much?
• Dependency, could be adding on an additional problem.
• Financial, the cost of trying to control your symptoms instead of treating the problem. 
• Affect on the Body, does the treatment of the symptom cause more harm than good?

If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741.

Resources Mentioned: 

Post Covid Anxiety Is Real is on the Psychology Today website about how hard it seems to be to reintegrate back into the public space.

Helpguide.org is a non-profit organization and website that provides information about mental health issues.  They have a post on Self-Medication and there are some questions to be considered. 

You should know that they believe in investigating other options before taking medication. 

There is a page on the Good Rx website that talks about self-medication and alcohol. 

It is a good article, however the main purpose of the website is to connect users with coupons to use for medication from pharmacy vendors. 

Disclaimer: 

Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. 

Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder.

This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.