Madeleine Sauve said she suffers from anxiety, a mental health condition which manifests itself in her life in various ways.
For example, she’s always been terrified of driving to Toronto.
But Sauve said she’s been working on conquering her anxiety through learning positive self-talk.
She recently drove to Toronto several times to attend a personal growth course about self-expression and leadership.
“Before, I would have said to myself ‘Oh my God. I’m going to get lost, I’m going to take the wrong exit and I’m going to get in an accident,’” she said.
“When you talk to yourself that way, that’s when the anxiety comes in. So now I’ve changed my self-talk. I say ‘OK, (Madeleine), there’s millions of people who drive to Toronto. If you get lost, you have a mouth. You can ask for directions.”
As part of an assignment for the course, Sauve was asked to organize a community workshop. She decided to put on a workshop focused on overcoming anxiety.
The workshop, titled Living with anxiety: Empowering yourself to tame your dragon, takes place Nov. 17 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel on Brady Street.
She’s also planning to offer a 10-week course about managing anxiety and depression in the near future.
“I talk about anxiety as a dragon, and how you need to tame that dragon,” Sauve said. “Anxiety is something that you can manage. And you can manage it without medication just by observing your thoughts.”
I talk about anxiety as a dragon, and how you need to tame that dragon.
Madeleine Sauve,
organizer of upcoming anxiety workshop
One of the guest speakers at the event is Dr. P. Krishna, a local psychiatrist, who will speak about the signs and symptoms of anxiety, and the medications available to treat the condition.
Psychotherapists Erma How and Betty Ann McPherson will speak about the more holistic treatments to dealing with anxiety.
To some extent, everyone suffers from anxiety, McPherson said. The problem comes in when anxiety starts to rule your life, she said.
“I often say to people, when they come and they’re presenting with some anxiety issues, that they’ve got the lucky diagnosis, because it’s something they can overcome.”
Dealing with anxiety doesn’t always have to involve medication, McPherson said.
“Cognitive therapy is very popular for people with anxiety disorders,” she said.
“It would be things like teaching clients how to turn negatives into positives — so learning positive self-talk. We might help them learn skills around self-esteem issues...
“Physical things might include teaching people how to do relaxation exercises or breathing, and learning how to self-soothe. Even just exercise itself can be a real mitigating force in terms of dealing with anxiety, because it naturally raises your serotonin level.”
McPherson said she sees many teenagers in her practice who are dealing with anxiety problems.
“Some have problems with getting through the front doors of the school,” she said.
“It can be precipitated by things that are going on in the home. Sometimes it can be caused by things that are going on in school like bullying.”
She advises those who experience high levels of anxiety to seek help from their family doctor, their workplace Employee Assistance Program or by going to the Canadian Mental Health Association for a referral.
There are also many self-help books out there which may be useful, McPherson said.
Sauve said her sister suffers from a severe, debilitating form of anxiety.
“She would wake up and have a feeling that something was going to happen that day,” she said.
“So she didn’t go to work, and she kept her son at home. It was all the way she was talking to herself.”
Tickets to the anxiety workshop cost $10 per person, and are available at the Canadian Mental Health Association office, located at 111 Elm St., or by phoning 705-675-7252.
All proceeds from the event go towards the Canadian Mental Health Association.
