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Breaking Anxiety's Grip with Dr. Michelle Bengston
- 2024/08/16
- 再生時間： 28 分
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あらすじ・解説
Do you ever struggle with anxiety and thoughts that just spin out of control? Today we're going to hear from someone who is an expert in the field of anxiety and depression. Please welcome my very special guest on the podcast, Dr. Michelle Bengston. She's a clinical neuropsychologist, speaker, author, coach, and she hosts her very own podcast, "Your Hope Filled Perspective." And she understands anxiety and depression from personal experience. Dr. Michelle - I've been a board certified clinical neuropsychologist for over 30 years now. The field has changed a lot since I got into it. But what I've had the pleasure of doing is walking alongside patients who have had any kind of brain dysfunction, whether we're talking ADHD or learning disabilities, depression, anxiety after they've had a stroke or a head injury, or even in the senior years when there's a question of, are we dealing with dementia or are we dealing with depression? So it's been my pleasure to evaluate patients, figure out what's going on with their brain functioning, and then get them on the path to optimal wellness. In terms of their cognitive health. that's given me the opportunity also to speak into their lives in terms of things like stress management. Where are your thoughts and what are you focusing on and how does that impact for better or for worse your daily functioning? Anxiety has gotten more pervasive over time. Because 30 years ago, when we didn't have the internet, which could relay the news in a split second or be there live, we had to wait until the six o'clock or 11 o'clock news. And if we missed it, we missed what was going on in the world and we'd have to catch it the next day in the headlines. Today is so in our face and it's in our face when we don't get together or go to the event that all of our friends are and then they post online. And then we've got this angst about the fact that we weren't there, but we had other things that we needed to do. So, this has increased the anxiety. Anxiety has not only increased, but it has across the age span, whereas we didn't used to see it in the elderly, nearly as much or in our young children. Now we're diagnosing it earlier and earlier. Pseudo increased social connectedness because of social media that doesn't really build that innate longing that we have for social interaction and the older our seniors are living, the less social interaction they're getting. And I think that's contributing to their anxiety, the fear of loneliness, fear of how I'm going to live out my last days, fear of what diagnoses I'm going to be. Anxiety often does run in families, just like depression does or many other mental health disorders. But it's not all because there's a genetic component. There is a genetic component. And we can see from the research that if you have a 1st degree family member, like a parent who has struggled with depression or anxiety, there is an increased likelihood that that you will contend with depression or anxiety, but it's not just because of the genetic link. There's also the factor of modeling. Some people are more predisposed, predisposed to anxiety, to worry, to get anxious, to become fearful. But it's not a weakness. God knew that we would struggle with this because his number one command in scripture is do not worry. Do not be afraid. Be anxious for nothing. It's in the Bible over 300 times. And I thank God who created us. So he wasn't chastising us, but he was saying, hold on just a second, don't go down that path. Dr. Vickie - I love the beauty of your background in neurobiology and how that has obviously impacted your faith and your faith has impacted. Your professional life with that background in neurobiology and in lifestyle medicine, the component of gratitude, the power of that is widely recognized in people who are believers in Christianity and people who are members of other faiths. There is no question about the benefit of gratitude. Dr. Michelle: Anxiety rewires our brain. We can get stuck in a rut, going down a certain path, being a complainer, for example, are always seeing the negative of a situation. But when we will stop in the middle of that, And we will think, no, can I look at this differently? And we can look at it through a lens of gratitude. It actually does rewire the brain. And the more we do that, the more that becomes our lifestyle and the more we reap the benefits from it. That's why scripture tells us to take every thought captive. can't afford to just think and not pay attention to what we're thinking because scripture says that out of. The heart, the mouth speaks and scripture also says that our words have the power of life or death. That's a lot of power. So we have to be observant and pay attention to what it is that we're thinking then determine whether or not that aligns with the word of God or someplace else. Anxiety is really a ...