MOVING MOUNTAINS

Resources

Surgeons General Connect on Mental Health at Dartmouth

One of the many benefits of Mountain Valley’s beautiful location in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire is our proximity to Dartmouth College and its world class medical school and teaching hospital. Mountain Valley’s relationship with Dartmouth provides us with many benefits, such as Dartmouth psychology interns and psychiatry fellows doing clinical rotations in Mountain Valley’s therapeutic milieu, our residents undergoing exposure work on the Dartmouth campus, and ample cultural and recreational activities for our residents to enjoy on the weekends. Occasionally, it also allows us the fortune of being first-hand witnesses to historic events such as Dartmouth hosting U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and his seven living predecessors for a panel discussion titled, “Future of Mental Health and Wellness.”

During the discussion, Murthy and his predecessors discussed their concerns about the national mental health crisis and how to combat it. This comes on the heels of Murthy releasing a new Surgeon General Advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country.

Murthy said that in the face of unprecedented loneliness and mental health issues, community is one of the keys to repairing the crisis. Murthy brought the conversation to the challenge of community and interpersonal connection. “For a lot of us this issue is very personal,” he said, asking the audience to raise their hands if they or someone in their lives had struggled with mental health or loneliness; almost everyone in attendance in the basketball arena raised their hand.

This discussion prompted me to reflect on how loneliness in particular can have profound and far-reaching effects on mental health, impacting various aspects of well-being. We humans are social creatures, and a lack of meaningful social connections can contribute to a range of emotional and psychological challenges, including debilitating anxiety. It is no coincidence that coming off the devastating effects of the COVID 19 pandemic and the explosion of social media and other immersive online experiences that our country is facing epidemics of both loneliness and anxiety.

Loneliness and anxiety are interconnected, and the relationship between the two can be complex. Loneliness, characterized by a perceived lack of social connection or meaningful relationships, can have various effects on anxiety.

Here are some ways in which loneliness can impact anxiety:

  • Increased Stress Levels: Loneliness often leads to heightened stress levels. The absence of social support can make it challenging for individuals to cope with life’s stressors, contributing to increased feelings of anxiety.
  • Negative Thought Patterns: Social isolation can give rise to negative thought patterns and self-perceptions. Individuals who feel lonely may be more prone to self-doubt, negative self-talk, and a heightened sense of vulnerability, all of which can contribute to anxiety.
  • Rumination and Overthinking: When individuals are lonely, they may spend more time ruminating on negative thoughts and experiences. Overthinking and dwelling on perceived social inadequacies can exacerbate anxiety symptoms.
  • Impaired Coping Mechanisms: Social connections often serve as a crucial support system for coping with life’s challenges. Loneliness can limit the availability of these coping mechanisms, making it harder for individuals to manage stress and anxiety effectively.
  • Physical Health Impact: Loneliness has been linked to various physical health issues, including increased inflammation, cardiovascular problems, and compromised immune function. The stress associated with loneliness can contribute to these health issues, potentially worsening overall well-being and increasing anxiety.
  • Social Anxiety Development: Long-term loneliness may contribute to the development or exacerbation of social anxiety. The fear of judgment, rejection, or negative evaluation can intensify in the absence of positive social interactions, further isolating individuals and perpetuating a cycle of anxiety.
  • Sleep Disturbances: Loneliness can disrupt sleep patterns. Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing restful sleep can contribute to fatigue and irritability, which are common symptoms of anxiety.
  • Reduced Emotional Regulation: Social connections play a role in emotional regulation. Loneliness may impair an individual’s ability to regulate emotions effectively, leading to heightened emotional reactivity and an increased susceptibility to anxiety.

Addressing loneliness involves not only building social connections but also addressing the underlying thoughts and beliefs that contribute to feelings of isolation. Seeking support from friends, family, or mental health professionals can be crucial in breaking the cycle of loneliness and alleviating associated anxiety symptoms.

This is why the importance of group therapy, exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, and the therapeutic milieu approach to treatment are so invaluable in confronting the epidemic of anxiety and loneliness that is currently confronting young people across the country. ERP has many benefits, but one of the greatest in this context is breaking the cycle of avoidance. It’s important to note that the relationship between loneliness and anxiety is bidirectional. While loneliness can contribute to anxiety, individuals with anxiety may often struggle with forming and maintaining social connections, creating a vicious circle of reinforcement of maladaptive behaviors and responses.

Regina Benjamin, surgeon general from 2009 to 2013, emphasized the complex challenge of mental health issues. “Health does not occur in the doctor’s office or in a hospital alone,” Benjamin said. “It occurs where we live, where we learn, where we work, where we play, where we pray — everything that we do.” Treatment that takes place within a therapeutic residential milieu allows those struggling with anxiety to heal and learn not simply in the siloed isolation of an office, but alongside peers in a collaborative environment that enhances feelings of autonomy and self-efficacy.

When loneliness and anxiety have reached a crisis point, the therapeutic milieu fosters a sense of community and belonging. Individuals often share common experiences and goals, and the supportive environment encourages social interaction, reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness, and promoting a sense of connection. A therapeutic milieu plays a pivotal role in the holistic approach to mental health treatment. By emphasizing safety, community, and collaboration, it creates an environment where individuals can feel secure, connected, and supported on their journey toward recovery. The sense of belonging, mutual support, and normalization of daily activities within the therapeutic milieu contribute to the overall well-being of individuals receiving mental health care.

MOVING MOUNTAINS

Resources

Interoception – Making Sense of Our Inner World

As the external sensations of our world continue to become more abundant and all consuming, we often overlook the sensations of our inner world. One of the most important and foundational sensory systems we have is our interoceptive system. Interoception is our body’s internal radar of the condition of our body, conveying information about the state of what is happening within the bounds of our skin.

Our internal organs like our heart, lungs, intestines, bladder and even skin have receptors that send signals to our brain about the condition of those major organs. Interoception is our body’s ability to recognize and respond to those signals. For example, interoception includes awareness of changes in heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, or sensations of pain, hunger, thirst, and other autonomic functions. Interoception also plays a significant role in emotional regulation, as emotions are a cascade of autonomic internal physiological responses that need our interpretation.

As with all things, when it comes to interoception, balance is key. People with limited interoception experience a disconnect between their mind and internal states, therefore they are often unaware of their emotional experiences and have challenges appropriately responding to the cues and signals their body is sending.  A common situation most of us have probably had at some point is the phenomenon of being “hangry.” When this happens, we are disconnected from our bodies and missing the cues for hunger, resulting in irritability or dysregulation. On the other hand, some people are hyperaware of their internal sensations. To provide a similar example, this is when we have a hard time focusing on a meeting or class before lunch because all we can think about how our stomach is growling and feeling empty.

Whether you have limited or heightened interoceptive awareness, building a better relationship with your body’s internal cues is valuable for emotional wellness.

Limited Interoceptive Awareness 

If you experience limited connection to your internal sensations and are often unaware of what is happening in your body, here a few ways to foster a stronger mind-body connection:

  • A guided body scan meditation that cues you to focus on the sensations happening in specific parts of your body.
  • Yoga, Tai Chi, or other movement practices that require you to be attuned to sensations such as breathing, heart rate, etc.
  • Biofeedback is the process of conducting vitals or using a heart monitor to practice recognizing what different states of arousal feel like inside your body.
  • Expand your vocabulary and practice using a variety of different language to describe your internal experiences.  Communicating a visceral experience to yourself or others can be really challenging! Practice naming and describing sensations like their location, intensity, texture, size, color, etc.

 Heightened Interoceptive Awareness 

If you experience hyperawareness, and maybe even a little anxiety about your internal sensations, engage in interoceptive exposures to develop resilience to rebuild your relationship with those internal experiences. Examples of interoceptive exposures include:

Breathing: hold your breath for 30 seconds or breathe through a straw for 60 seconds.

Heart Rate: engage in intense exercise (burpees, running up and down stairs, jumping jacks) for 30 or 60 seconds.

Dizziness: shake your head side to side for 30 seconds or spin in a chair for 30 seconds.

Derealization: Stare at yourself in a mirror for 2 minutes or stair at a wall without blinking.

Temperature: Turn the cold water in the shower for 30 or 60 seconds or sit in a sauna/steam room for several minutes.

*These can be graded up or down according to your comfort level and can be increased as you build interoceptive tolerance.*

With each exposure, try to turn towards the internal sensations that you are having or practice diffusing the from the sensation (i.e. removing judgement and objectively observing and describing what is happening). As with all exposures, the most important part is to REFLECT on your experience. What happened? What did you learn? How does experience change how you might engage with your internal sensations moving forward?

MOVING MOUNTAINS

Resources

Origins & Motivations

Origins & Motivations

Some people have asked me about the motivations behind establishing Mountain Valley. I do tell them about the data: from the almost 10 million children diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in the United States (NIMH, 2012); to the 700% increase over the last forty years (Gray, P., 2010); to the treatability statistics of CBT and anxiety disorders that would make even the biggest skeptic give you a high five. I do tell them about the benefits of exposure therapy, how the victim of the fight and flight response can heal more rapidly in an environment where there is no one to fight, and nowhere to flee. I do tell them about the concerning shortage of anxiety disorder treatment programs, and how anxiety is an epidemic, so I think we should be doing more.
I do not tell them about how my life as a teenager was circumscribed by anxiety, and the decisions it made for me. I do not tell them about the America I lost at 17 years of age because “tough it out” was not the panacea I needed. I do not tell them about the Mountain I climbed to overcome panic, and the Valley of recovery I was fortunate to find; a Valley where I became more the arbiter of real threat and less the victim of perceived danger. While my own experience inspired the design of Mountain Valley, my frustrations as a clinician treating anxiety provided equal motivation. I was frustrated that however “in the zone” I was, the benefits of the 50 minute hour wore off on my clients almost as fast as the euphoria I felt after hot yoga. I was frustrated by parents who saw medication as the first line of attack, and rarely as an adjunct to therapy, or the “if all else fails” scenario. I was frustrated by how my clients’ fear, and their fear of fear, made “no-shows” as frequent as I remember it raining in London. I was frustrated by my attempts of social anxiety skills groups and panic attack support groups, where six were scheduled to attend, and only one showed. There is nothing like five empty chairs, and decaffeinated herbal tea, to make a 17 year old feel like he is the only one. I know that you probably know that movement and change is tough without the normalization and empathy from a student’s peers; the power of, “I know exactly what you mean,” and, what I heard a student say on her graduation from Mountain Valley last week, “guys, if I did it, I promise, you can, too.”
Anxiety was once a mechanism to solely prepare and protect us from harm, but it seems to have evolved into something annoyingly unnecessary at best and pervasively destructive at worst. While the complex story of the origin of anxiety disorders needs to be told, it is important for our anxious teenagers to know that the experience of it is just an experience; a series of symptoms, and a symptom itself. Mountain Valley helps our residents to understand that they are not defined by their anxious temperament, or the anxiety they experience, but more by their response to it. Denial, apathy, and avoidance are responses and strategies that provide some immediate relief, but overtime, become equally as damaging as the anxiety itself. Severe anxiety is like a weed -it grows fast, damages the garden, and if not removed by the roots, has a tendency to return. Symptom reduction is merely the beginning of the Mountain Valley journey. It is the origin that provides the motivation for our teenagers to address anxiety at its root; from enmeshed relationships with a parent, to years of teasing and bullying, to sibling rivalry. I know you see this all the time. This is not to downplay the influence of “genetic vulnerability” and “biological predisposition” in the origins of anxiety; merely, let us focus more on what we can change, and less on what we can not. In our daily challenges working with students in need, I think they need to know that just as much as we do.

Daniel P.Villiers,Ph.D. Founder & Director of Admissions