Mental health experts discuss the causes of anxiety, its sociological effects and what can be done about it. | dG1fUlVicExzbDhNUHc
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 [ Applause ]
00:02 >> Welcome back, everybody.
00:04 A new documentary from Seattle-based company IndieFlix takes a close look at the feelings of angst among kids and young adults in today's society.
00:12 The film examines these emotions through the lens of both experts and honest peer-to-peer interviews.
00:17 It will be shown in schools and communities around the world with the goal of affecting change through dialogue.
00:23 Joining us now are two people featured in the movie, 18-year-old Louisa Skerritt and her husband, Dr. Michael Skerritt.
00:29 And returning now, Dr. Cora Bruner from Seattle Children's.
00:32 It's great to have you both here.
00:34 Louisa, what was this experience like to be part of this film?
00:38 >> I feel like it kind of struck pretty close to home because when my dad, when it was first presented to him, he kind of -- I was the first person he went to because they needed to pull together kind of like a teaser really fast.
00:50 And so he just sat me out on the back porch and started asking me all these questions and stuff.
00:54 And then the next thing I knew, that was kind of --
00:57 >> Part of the film.
00:59 Part of the film.
01:00 Did you relate to the topic?
01:02 Did you understand the word "angst" to be what people are experiencing when they have anxiety or a feeling of dread?
01:08 >> Yeah, for sure.
01:10 I kind of started really struggling with anxiety my freshman year of high school.
01:15 And it got pretty bad the first two years.
01:19 And it's kind of balanced out since then.
01:21 But I still have like panic attacks all the time.
01:24 So it's always been kind of something that I've had to deal with.
01:27 So doing this was pretty good, yeah.
01:30 >> Was it helpful to talk?
01:32 >> Yeah.
01:33 I personally don't really like to talk about it, but I know that I have to put that behind me in order to kind of like help this whole thing move forward and to help like people out there that aren't just me.
01:42 This is kind of like a bigger picture.
01:44 I have to help other people besides myself.
01:46 >> I appreciate that.
01:47 Cora, talk to us about, you know, being a teenager is anxiety-provoking, you know, in its best circumstance, right, because you're trying all these new things and you're worried about what people think about you and you're sort of putting yourself out into the world.
02:01 What's the difference between that and maybe the level of angst that kids talk about where it interferes with the things they're trying to do?
02:09 >> Well, that's the whole point of us really talking about this because a lot of times we hear kids say, oh, I broke a hangnail or my makeup doesn't look right or, ah, they hate me.
02:21 And then as a parent, you say, it's okay, just take a breath and go.
02:26 And they move forward and they can bounce through that.
02:29 That's part of just growing up and learning how to experience feelings that bubble up and then go away.
02:35 But anxiety and anxiety disorder is a little higher than that, feeling overly anxious.
02:41 It interferes with your personal relationships with your friends.
02:43 It interferes with your ability to think clearly about what you're supposed to do next and you just ruminate and think over and over and over again about something over which you have no control.
02:53 It gets in the way of sleep.
02:54 It gets in the way of eating.
02:56 It gets in the way of school performance.
02:58 It overwhelms kids so much sometimes that they just can't do anything.
03:02 They freeze like they're, ah, in front of the headlight.
03:05 Even the things that they used to enjoy.
03:06 And one of the things that I thought was really interesting listening to the different kids talk about this is that they were finding a vocabulary to talk about their feelings for the first time and being able to feel okay expressing it.
03:19 Is that one of the things we need to sort of crack open is get past the stigma of saying I'm not okay.
03:25 Yeah.
03:26 I'm okay right now.
03:27 Yeah, for sure.
03:29 I think, I mean, for me it's always been pretty hard for me to open up and say that to people because I know what it feels like to go through that and I don't want to put that on to other people like my parents, my friends.
03:39 But I think in order to be able to understand it and realize that it's not something you have to be ashamed of or not something that you can really control, you have to be able to talk about it and you have to be able to do that in an environment where people will understand where you're coming from and be able to completely like see your side of it.
03:56 Exactly.
03:57 Let's take a look at a clip of some kids talking about this very thing.
04:00 A school where it's like it's very competitive socially and academically.
04:06 Trying to get good grades, doing everything right.
04:10 There's always someone smarter than you who has a better GPA, who has better test scores.
04:15 There's always someone who's prettier than you.
04:16 There's someone who's more charismatic.
04:18 There's always someone better.
04:19 The second you pick up your phone, you know, you're bombarded with your text messages, you know, Instagram notifications, you know, the internet, your homework.
04:31 All my friends have this many followers.
04:33 Like, oh, can you guys give me a shout out on Instagram so I can gain more followers like you guys?
04:38 You probably think about like their image or how they look or if they have enough friends and like they just, I don't know, it's tough.
04:46 So one of the interesting things about that is just what all you guys are thinking about.
04:50 Did that ring true to you as you listen to that?
04:52 That list sounds.
04:53 Yeah, pretty much.
04:55 And it's easy and kind of cliche to blame the internet or the phone, but there is a lot more, it seems like a lot more for them to worry about than I recall.
05:05 You know, we were not on Instagram posing, you know, doing all of this.
05:10 I just don't remember all of that incoming.
05:12 Yeah, for sure.
05:13 It brings kind of a lot of, even if you don't see it that way, it makes everything a little bit more competitive in a way.
05:19 And you're always, you always think, yeah, you always have to be on kind of.
05:23 And that's already that's adding to an already really stressful four years of your life that like most people have a hard time dealing with.
05:30 So I don't think it really helps that much.
05:32 I think it's kind of a negative impact.
05:34 But Dr. Bruner had interesting things to say in the film as well.
05:38 Let's take a look at that.
05:39 I can't tell you how many times I will tell a family.
05:42 The reason why your kid has chronic abdominal pain is because they are too anxious about school or they're so worried about how they're going to do the basketball game or they're scared that their parents are going to be deported.
05:59 And that's why their stomach hurts.
06:01 And that's a big leap if you think about it.
06:03 How can that possibly have anything to do with the brain and the stomach?
06:07 But it does.
06:11 Because if you think about it physiologically, that if you create a chronic stressful condition worrying, that raises your cortisol level, which is our internal steroid, which raises the amount of hydrochloric acid in our stomach, which is not OK.
06:26 And your stomach hurts.
06:28 Your heart starts going faster.
06:30 Your eyes dilate.
06:32 Your mouth gets dry.
06:33 Your hands get cold.
06:34 Your muscles get tight.
06:35 And if your muscles are tight for a long time, then you start hurting.
06:37 Your back starts hurting.
06:38 Your shoulders start hurting.
06:39 Your neck starts hurting.
06:40 If you furrow your brow for too long, you'll start getting a headache.
06:43 If I explain it that way, like at a very basic physiologic level, people get the "Aha!"
06:49 They suddenly have this moment of awareness.
06:53 And so what I got out of that is as a parent, if you have a child who doesn't want to go to school, you know, fairly often because of a stomachache, a headache, if they're not sleeping well, if these things are going on, it's time to talk about this and make it OK to talk about this.
07:08 Right. And I think that's sometimes difficult for families because they--sometimes they don't want it to be stress-related.
07:15 As odd as this sounds, they want there to be something wrong with the stomach or something sort of abnormal.
07:21 Well, then we can take medicine and fix it.
07:22 Right. Or swipe and it's gone.
07:24 Right.
07:25 But it's not that simple, but it's really simple because once you get away from trying to find some pathology in the system that hurts and really get to the issue, which is your kid's scared or they're worried,
07:37 or they just have overwhelming fears of fear about what's happening in the world, and that's--ah, once you figure that out, you can help them.
07:47 When you can get there, then you can get some help.
07:49 Right.
07:50 So thank you both very much for talking to us about this.
07:53 Please visit angstmovie.com to find a screening near you.
07:56 It is a really amazing film.
07:58 Or to find out how to host one in your school or your community.
08:01 I think you'll find it interesting.
08:02 Next up, straight talk with a panel of teenagers about how day-to-day pressures in social media can lead to thoughts, including thoughts of suicide and what parents need to know back in a moment.
08:12 in a moment.
08:13 (APPLAUSE)
08:13 (applause)
08:15 (applause)