Anxiety Sisters: The Healing Power of Social Connection

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/kypd6m/Anxiety_Sisters_Final_-_9_7_21_1124_AMbk4dq.mp3

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Maggie Sarachek and Abbe Greenberg, two women who have firsthand experience with anxiety, are using their company, Anxiety Sisters, to help others worldwide who are struggling to manage their anxiety and feel alone in their journey. In today’s episode, we sat down with Maggie and Abbe to discuss Anxiety Sisters, some common symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, anxiety in high school students, and anxiety during menopause. First, we asked them about their book, The Anxiety Sister’s Survival Guide. They told us that the idea to write the book came from the desire to write something the two of them would have needed. After looking for anxiety books, they were disheartened to find that most looked at anxiety solely from a clinical and intimidating perspective. They wanted to write something that encouraged open conversations and did not scare those dealing with anxiety at varying levels. In their book, they discuss a concept called “the secret sauce”. Maggie and Abbe explained to us that “the secret sauce” is the ingredients that they believe a person needs to live a happier life dealing with anxiety. The secret sauce contains three components: accepting rather than trying to fight or deny anxiety, a sense of connection with others whose struggles may be similar, and a sense of agency where we feel that we have control of our lives, not that our anxiety is controlling us instead.

When asked about the different symptoms of anxiety, Maggie and Abbe said they split the symptoms into separate categories. The common symptoms are the ones most often portrayed in media and talked about the most. They include symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, flushing, sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness, and stomach problems. Avant garde symptoms are ones that are less talked about, including itching, hives, jaw grinding, and fatigue. Headbangers are symptoms that make you feel like you’re going crazy, such as catastrophizing, feeling like you’re going to die during a panic attack, and feeling like you’re floating outside of your body. We also talked about the second brain, a concept Maggie and Abbe told us was created by a new branch of science called neurogastroenterology. 95% of serotonin is stored in the gut, and through this statistic, scientists are starting to study how psychological issues such as depression and anxiety can begin in the gut. When discussing society, Maggie and Abbe mentioned how we live in a culture that often blames a person for their mental illnesses. If you are not happy, then people assume there is something wrong with you or something that you need to be doing to fix yourself. There is also the assumption that psychological issues are a quick fix and that the road to happiness is short and easy.

Anxiety can make us feel as if we want to crawl out of our own skin, but Maggie and Abbe encouraged people not to try and push down their anxiety. They talked about how rather than fighting anxiety, people need to learn to accept that the anxiety is happening but that, as with all feelings, it will pass. However, it is important to learn tricks that can help calm your body down during times of extreme anxiety. When we’re feeling anxious, our bodies go into fight or flight mode. When asked about it, Maggie and Abbe went into further detail, explaining that fight or flight originates from the sympathetic nervous system. Our parasympathetic nervous system is what calms our body down from panic. Getting your body to go from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system can help calm anxiety symptoms, and the quickest way to do that is through practicing breathing. However, breathing does not work for everyone, and other techniques for calming the body are meditating, talking out loud in a soothing tone, and putting a cool cloth on your neck.

We asked about the difference between anxiety and panic attacks, and they told us that panic is a form of anxiety, which leads to panic attacks. When dealing with a panic attack, different techniques of calming down will work for different people. Helpful tips include practicing breathing, talking to yourself with a mantra, and getting rid of clothing or anything else that feels constraining to your body.

To help with anxiety, Maggie and Abbe created the idea of spin kits, first aid kits designed to help with anxiety. They can be taken anywhere and include individualized items to help someone cope with their anxiety. They can include toys or things to distract you, medication for physical symptoms, things that soothe your senses, and more. We also asked Maggie and Abbe about their opinions on the use of medication to treat anxiety, and they told us that they fully support someone taking anxiety medication to regain control of their life. They disagree with the many stigmas surrounding using medication to treat anxiety, though do acknowledge that there are tons of people who do not have access to good psychiatrists. They emphasized that taking medication can often be a process of trial and error until the right one is found, and when speaking to a psychiatrist, it is important to have a list of questions that answer all of your worries and give you the most accurate and detailed information.

Maggie and Abbe also talked to us about the rising amount of high school students dealing with anxiety. They told us that according to studies, current high school students experience more anxiety than psychiatric patients from the 1950s. When asked why, they spoke about how homelife can play a huge factor. The individual issues a teenager is facing at home, including socioeconomic problems, affect not only parents but also their children. Also, our front lobe is not fully developed until we are 25 years old, so teenagers do not process stress the same way that we do.

Finally, we asked about the connection between anxiety and menopause. Maggie and Abbe explained that hormone imbalances lead to anxiety, so during menopause, the changing hormonal levels can cause increased anxiety in many women. For treatment, they suggest medication or techniques such as meditation.

Maggie Sarachek and Abbe Greenberg

Abs and Mags have been each other’s best friend and touchstone since college. Their infectious blend of warmth, humor and compassion make you feel like they’re your best friends, too.

Abs and Mags know firsthand what it’s like to deal with—and find solutions for—OCD, IAD, phobias, panic disorder, catastrophizing, and depression.

They have interviewed hundreds of experts in the field (therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, meditation teachers, researchers, scientists) and have studied everything from self-compassion to neuroscience.

They have spoken with, coached, and corresponded with thousands of anxiety sisters in person and on social media. They have met them at their workshops, retreats, conferences, and in their everyday lives. After hearing their stories—and sharing their own—they have created a rich and nuanced ethnography of the anxiety experience.

Abs and Mags research, digest and interpret the latest data and studies on anxiety so they can “translate” the science for their sisterhood (without freaking them out with overly clinical language and statistical analysis).

Anxiety is scary and lonely. Abs and Mags created the Anxiety Sisterhood because they strongly believe in the healing power of community. A supportive network filled with stories, ideas and solutions, the Anxiety Sisterhood reassures us that we will get through it.

Since its inception, the Anxiety Sisters network has grown exponentially because their message resonates with anxiety sufferers around the globe.

Maggie Sarachek’s expertise is counseling and teaching people to find strength through community. As a social worker in a New York City high school, she specialized in the development of youth leadership as well as counseling individuals and families. Maggie has also worked as a special-education advocate, helping families to access services for their children and teens. She became a full-fledged anxiety sister in her mid-twenties while dealing with debilitating anxiety attacks. Since becoming an anxiety sister, she has become the wife of an anxious husband and the mother of two anxious kids proving that anxiety is, indeed, contagious.

Abbe Greenberg started talking at nine months old and hasn’t stopped since. She has gotten two degrees in the communication field as well as a certificate in Adult Education and a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing. In addition to her more than 25-year career as a professor, Abbe has served as a divorce mediator, a Myers-Briggs trainer, a motivational speaker and a communication consultant as well as a teacher development coordinator for several educational institutions. When she is not teaching, writing, researching, or panicking, she spends time with her Anxiety Sister (Maggie), her anxious husband, and her three anxious kids.