Worry and Sadness 3 HW - Lesson 1

7/23/2019 Worry and Sadness 3 HW - Lesson 1

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LESSON ONEWorry and SadnessIntroduction


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THISWAYUP.org.au/SelfHelp| 2

Welcome to the Worry and Sadness Program! Congratulations on having the courage to improve

your emotional health and wellbeingexplain some of the techniques involved in learning to manage sadness, low mood and worry. Ofcourse, your own experience will be very personal, but you may find that you relate to some aspects oftheir stories.

This program involvesfour lessonsto be completed over a four week period. Here is an overview ofthe four lessons in this Program:

Lesson 1 Learning about low mood and anxiety, and tackling physicalsymptoms

Lesson 2 Learning about thoughts, and tackling low activity

Lesson 3 Tackling unhelpful thoughts and facing your fears

We have prepared a lesson summary (like this one) for each of the three lessons in the course, whichincludes thekey informationtaught in the lesson, andexercisesthat can help you put the skills intopractice in your daily life. By practicing the skills, you will get the most benefit out of the program.

stage of this program, byemailor by telephone 02 8382 1400.

Good luck!

The Team from THIS WAY UPwww.thiswayup.org.au
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.thiswayup.org.au/http://www.thiswayup.org.au/http://www.thiswayup.org.au/mailto:[email protected]


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Topics Covered In This Summary

Here is a list of the topics we will cover in this Summary. Tick these off as you go:

1. The Consequences of Low Mood and Anxiety for You

2. What Do You Want to Achieve Here?

3.

About Depression and Anxiety

4. Thoughts, Physical Symptoms and Behaviours

5.

Exercise

6. Fight or Flight Response Explained

7. Controlled Breathing

8. Your Checklist

9. Summary

1. The Consequences of Low mood and Anxiety for You

What areas of your life does low mood and anxiety interfere with?

Tick the boxes that apply to you:

It interferes with my personal life

It interferes with my employment/education/career

It affects how I get on with others

It affects how I feel about myself

It affects how I feel about other people

It affects my health

Note down other areas here:


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2. What Do You Want to Achieve Here?

What do you want to achieve during this Program?

(What are your goals? What things would you be able to do if you had betteremotional health and wellbeing?)

We have listed some commongeneral goalsbelow. Tick the boxes that apply to you:

Have better control over my thoughts

Learn how to manage low mood and anxiety Feel better about myself

Be more independent/less dependent onothers

Feel more physically relaxed

Feel in control without feeling too worried anddown

Feel more secure in myself

Along with more general goals, write down any other specific goals you want to achieve

during this Program below.

What You Should Know:

The Worry and Sadness Program isnot a treatment. It is an educational self-help coursethat hasbeen specifically designed to teach you practical skills that may help you to improve your emotionalhealth. These skills have been shown to help others to worry less, and to feel less sad and down.

Many people who suffer from feelings of depression and other mental health problems feel suicidal attimes. If you are suicidal and feel at serious risk of self-harm you should immediately callemergency services (Ambulance/Police) on 000, or call your local hospital mental health crisis

team.

If you are highly distressed, you may need additional support to get better. If you are feeling verydistressed, depressed or anxious, it is recommended that you consult with your general practitioner,and see a mental health professional (Psychiatrist, Counsellor or Psychologist) who can assist you.


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3. Depression and Anxiety Explained

Everyone feels anxious and depressed from time totime. They are normal human emotions, just likefeelingfearful, worried, sad, happy, frustrated, anddisappointed. Anxietyis experienced when we feelthreatened, worried or frightened. We often feeldepressed following a loss, disappointment orfrustration.

Although everyone feels anxious, sad anddepressed sometimes, for many people thesefeelings are temporary. However, for some people,symptoms of depression and anxiety turn into aproblembecause their symptoms become:

Excessive and severe

Difficult to control

Pervasive (occur in many situations)

(Tick the boxes that apply to you)

Too intense

Interfere with day-to-day functioning

Long-lasting

Feelings of sadness, numbness or low mood that last for most of the day for at least 2 weeks

Lack of interest or difficulty experiencing pleasure or enjoyment for at least 2 weeks

Low energy, feelings of fatigue and exhaustion

Sleeping problems (either sleeping too much or too little)

Feelings of worthlessness, and hopelessness about the future

Suicidal thoughts

Normal

Emotions

Happy

Sad

Anxious

Excited

Guilty

Angry

Upset

Afraid


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There are also different types of anxiety that people experience. We have provided a list for you to

explain what these labels mean.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD):People with GAD usually experience excessive worrythat is persistent, usually out of proportion (or about lots of everyday things), and difficult to control.

They also experience irritability, fatigue, muscle tension, insomnia and other problems.

Social Phobia:People with social phobia fear social situations (e.g., being the centre of attention,public speaking, meeting new people) because they are afraid that they will be evaluated negativelyby other people. This often causes them to avoid many social interactions or experience high levels ofanxiety in social situations.

Panic Disorder:People with panic disorder fear having panic attacks. They often developAgoraphobia, which is the avoidance of situations where they believe they will be unable to escape,should a panic attack occur.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):People with PTSD usually experience recurrentand distressing memories, flashbacks and/or nightmares of traumatic events that they have witnessedor experienced. They often avoid reminders of the traumatic event, and experience other problems(e.g., irritability, numbness, insomnia).

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD):People with OCD experience distressing intrusive

thoughts or images, and also experience compulsive behaviours (e.g., checking).

4. Thoughts, Physical Symptoms and Behaviours

As you found out in lesson 1, thoughts, physical symptoms, emotions and behaviours are all relatedand affect each other.

What you feel in your bodyWhat you do or dont do

What runs through your mind


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When people experience low mood and anxiety, their thoughts, behaviours and physical symptoms

not only affect one another, they are also important in maintaining the problem (that is, they keep thelow mood and anxiety going).

are linked. As you

for long periods (behaviour). Unfortunately, he found that themorehe stayed in bed, themore down and low he felt, which meant he was even less motivatedtodo other activities.

story, each of these experiences

affects the other experiences.

When I felt tired and stayed in bed,

Id worry that Ive got so much to

do, Im letting everyone down, I

cant cope

When I felt tired, Id stay in bed, rest

more often and avoid going out

I often felt tired and exhausted


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Another example:

thoughtwhich led her to feelvery anxious, experience heart racing and sweating (physical symptoms) andalso meant that she checked whether he was ok again and again by calling his mobile (behaviour).

The more she checked her phone and tried calling him, the less confident she felt, and the more herattention was focused on her fears, and the more anxious she felt!

As you can see in these examples, low mood and anxiety involve avicious cyclethat can be hard tobreak. All of the different parts (thoughts, physical symptoms and behaviours) interact with oneanother as illustrated in the diagram above. You may relate to these examples, or may find that yourthoughts, feelings, behaviours and physical symptoms are slightly different, yet all interact with each

other.

The good news is that if you make any small changes and improvements on any one of these parts ofyour experience, it will have a positive impact on the others (because each one affects the others).

That is why this educational course is so important it helps you to dismantle the cycle so that thephysical symptoms, thought and behavioural symptoms improve.

When I felt anxious my heart would

race

When my heart raced, I thought Im

having a heart attack, and theres

something seriously wrong with me

I began to avoid activities (like

exercise) that would make my heart

beat fast


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5. Managing Fatigue and Exhaustion Using Exercise

One of the most important steps in overcominglow mood and anxiety is gradually increasingyour activity levelseven though it might be thelast thing you feel like doing! Engaging in physicalactivity is a very effective way of relieving nervoustension, and can also help you tackle physicalsymptoms of fatigue and exhaustion.

Why increase your activity?

Activity helps to improve emotional health andwellbeing in several ways:

Activity makes you feel better

There is a lot of evidence that light aerobic exercise (e.g., walking or swimming) is an effectiveway of improving wellbeing.

Your attention is shifted away from the worry and onto the task you are doing. Therefore, it cantake your mind off your distressing feelings and worries.

It can also give you the sense that you are taking control of your life again, and achievingsomething worthwhile.

It can give you the opportunity to do things you enjoy, which you may have stopped because ofpoor emotional health.

Activity makes you feel less tired

Normally, when you are tired, you need rest. When you are feeling low, the opposite is true. Youneed to do more. Doing nothing will only make you feel more lethargic and exhausted. And doingnothing leaves your mind unoccupied, so you are more likely to brood on your difficulties, and tofeel even more down.

Activity motivates you to do more

The less you do, the less motivated you become. However, the good news is that the opposite isalso true: the more you do, the more you feel like doing.

Activity improves your ability to think

Exercise improves focus and attention. Once you get started increasing your activity levels,problems which you thought you could do nothing about come into perspective.


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Despite all of these advantages to exercise, we know that it is not easyto become more active,

especially if you are feeling sad or worried a lot of the time. This is because you may feel too drained to

exercise into your day. It is also becauseunhelpful thoughtsstand in your way. When you are sad andyou are faced with something you would normally do before being sad, like going for a walk, you may

do less andless. This means:

Avoiding activity will only increase feelings of lethargy and exhaustion

It will stop you from taking action, and keep you in the vicious cycle of low emotional wellbeing.

Pick an exercise you enjoy and do it at least three days this week.

We recommend that you do light physical exercise at least half an hour a day, three days a week. Wealso recommend that the exercise you do be cardio exercise. Cardio exercise is the type of exercise that

rk really hard to get benefits from exercise.

You need to make a specific plan about when, where, how you will do it, what might get in the way, and

how you will deal with what might get in the way. Making specific plans makes you much more likely that

you will succeed in your plan and succeed in reaching your goal. If you keep it general, its unlikely that

youll stick to the plan.


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6. Fight or Flight Response Explained

Another physical symptom common with anxiety is panic and tension. In order to learn how to tacklethis physical symptom,

In this lesson, you learnt about the fight or flight response. When our brain detects possible danger orthreat, our body reacts with an automatic biological response called the fight or flight reaction. Thefight or flight response is a series of normal biological reactions that are designed to keep youphysically safein the face of possible danger.

A number of things happen to our body when this reaction is triggered. These include:

1. Our breathing rate and heart rate increases to get more oxygen to our muscles2. Blood is diverted from non-essential organs (e.g. stomach) to more essential muscles3. Our muscles tense up in preparation for activity4. Our bodies start to sweat to cool us down5. Our brain focuses on any potential dangers (making it hard to concentrate)

Blood is diverted to the

muscles so your muscles

tense, ready for action!Sweating increasesso you

feel uncomfortable

The brain becomes focused

on danger

. causing you to concentrate

on your distressing feelings,

making it hard to concentrate

on other things

Saliva decreases

so your mouth becomes

dry

Breathing speeds up

.causing dizziness, feeling

unwell, or lightheaded

Heart rate and blood

pressure increase causing

your heart to pound and

leaves you feeling tense

Digestion slows down soyou feel sick and nauseous


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7. Controlled Breathing

As well as engaging in regular exercise, another way of improving your emotionalhealth and wellbeing and to reduce stress is to regularly use controlledbreathing. Controlled breathing can be useful to reduce the symptoms caused bythe fight or flight response. The aim is that once you get good at being able to docontrolled breathing you can use it at times during the day when you notice youare starting to feel worried.

It is importantto practice, practice and practicethe controlled breathing taskand then practice some more!

STEP 1:A normal resting breathing rate is 10 12 breaths per minute. What isyours now? Use a watch with a second hand (or timer) and count the number ofbreaths you take over one minute. Write it here:

_______________ breaths per minute

STEP 2:Sit comfortably in a chair. Use a watch with a second hand to timeyourself. Breathe in and out gently through your nose. Rest your hands on your tummy to check thatyou are using your stomach muscles (and therefore, your diaphragm) to drive your breathing ratherthan your upper chest.

STEP 3:Now, do the following exercise:

Breathe in for 3 seconds

Breathe out for 3 seconds

relax to yourself)Do this for 3 minutes and notice the difference in your tension.

Try counting your breathing rate for one minute before and after the exercise.Does the rate drop afterwards?

Write it here: _______________ breaths per minute

SUMMARY:The controlled breathing exercise can be done at different times throughout the day.At first you may need to find a quiet, relaxing place. With practice, it becomes easier and you can use itwhenever and wherever you need to.

The more practice you d

that it takes time to master this skill,technique at least3 times per day every day.


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8. Your Checklist

Your tasks to do following this lesson are:

Review lesson 1 again

Print out and re-read this lesson summary

Get active! Schedule light physical exercise at least 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes

Practice controlled breathing at least 3 times per day, each day

Reward yourself for completing lesson 1!

9. Summary

Congratulations on completing Lesson 1. -read this, so feel free to print it orcopy it.

The main points from this summary are to begin to:

Recognize how anxiety and low mood affect your life

Recognize how THOUGHTS, PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS, and BEHAVIOURS affect anxietyand low mood in your life.

Pick an exercise you enjoy and do it at least 3 times/week. This will help you to startto reduce feelings of fatigue and nervous tension.

Practice the controlled breathing at least 3 times a day. Learn how your breathingchanges when you feel worried, and learn how that makes your worry harder tomanage.

Great work, you have now completed the first Lesson! Remember, you can comeback whenever you like and re-read Lesson 1.

Please schedule a time to complete Lesson 2 in your diary. It is important that

you read this lesson summary and complete the homework tasks before you goonto lesson 2.

Good luck!

The Team from THIS WAY UPwww.thiswayup.org.au
http://www.thiswayup.org.au/http://www.thiswayup.org.au/http://www.thiswayup.org.au/

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Worry and Sadness 3 HW - Lesson 1