Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is believed to contribute to symptoms of anxiety, from which panic attacks are a key feature. Dealing with anxiety and panic attacks can be debilitating for both the person with parkinsons disease, their family members and carers.
Dee Daly is providing two three-hour workshops on how to deal specifically with anxiety and panic attacks in Parkinson Disease, on Saturday the 25th of November.
The workshop is to support individuals with parkinsons disease, professionals in the field and family members who experience panic attacks or want to learn more about preventing them from happening.
You will learn why panic arises and get some hands on approaches that can help you deal with and maybe even cease panic attacks in your life or in the life of others.
Both workshops are on zoom from 10am to 1pm and again from 2pm to 5pm on the day, and each individual attending will need to register beforehand.
The cost is €120.00 euros but if you register and pay before November the 10th you get the early bird price of €100.00
If you have any questions please contact Dee at deedaly1@gmail.com
In our current environment there is a lot of banter about mental health and wellbeing issues and rightly so because our mental health and physical wellbeing are dependent on one another. Good mental health persists when our emotional, psychological, and social well-being states are working in tandem to facilitate optimal coping skills featuring positive thinking and feelings. When one is feeling good and in control the stressors of life can be handled and managed with greater personal autonomy and satisfaction. Clear and informed choices concerning everyday situations are made progressively and relationships with others seem to be supportive. Generally, our feelings, thought processes and actions determine the type of colour and personal outlook we adopt in life. If one’s thoughts are predominately dark in colour and depressive in nature then the view and determination to live life to the full can become threatened and undermined. The world might be seen as a dark and hostile place from which one might wish to withdraw from. In 2017, Mary Hartnett reported a Trinity publication, that one in fifteen people in Ireland suffer from a winter depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). As autumn now very much with us and is continuing on into winter and sunlight decreases, symptoms tend to get worse for (SAD) suffers. This year we not only have the usual decline in sunlight hours to contend with, we also have the restrictions as a result of Covid 19. Issues associated with mental health such as depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation, disorders, psychosis, phobias, self-harm, sleep and dementia can and are becoming worsened. The World Health Organisation have stated that ‘Fear, worry, and stress are normal aspects experienced in life and are expected responses to perceived or real threats when encountered. The (WHO) has also documented, that in times of uncertainty it is normal for individuals to experience being fearful, increasing mental health conditions. Covid 19 is a real fear in society today. People ask, what if I contract the virus, what does it mean to me, my life and my health? Thoughts are preoccupied with worry, as the human mind strives to make sense out of what is happening and fear of the unknown is causing depression and anxiety.
Depression and anxiety are mental health conditions that can be associated with parkinsons (PD) in general. In fact anxiety is very much a part of PD and the HSE state that 60 percent of people with PD experience mild or moderate depressive symptoms, both as a direct disease component and as a result of reduced function, loss of role, and reduced quality of life. The organisation ‘Aware’ highlight that within the Irish population alone, depression is a very common condition affecting, 1 in 10 people at any one time, 450,000 people in Ireland alone. As we continue to experience and try to live with covid 19 in society, further restrictions are put on all of us and we are universal in feeling the full psychological impacts that are adding to already existing feelings of loss and reduced quality of life, when living with parkinsons. An increase in agitation and more severe expressions of anxiety can prevail when individuals experience greater isolation; being cut off from friends and social circles. Again, the HSE have suggested that up to 40% of people with PD may experience anxiety as they live with their condition under normal conditions, this is inclusive of generalised anxiety disorder or panic attacks.
Unfortunately, anxiety and depression can go hand in hand, especially if one is worried about supporting personal PD symptoms during times of adversity. Anxiety is always concerned with worry related to the future and is worse when we can’t get a handle on what that future might look like. Important to note and specifically with PD is that anxiety and depressive moods are prevalent and worsened during medication wearing off times, therefore any existing depressive or anxiety symptoms are multiplied, and especially at night, when the mind has less extractions from self. That said if at all one’s emotional state is newly compromised due to the effects and impact of adverse situations and concerns then when wearing off of meds is experienced, it can naturally follows with an increase in depressive and emotional anxieties supporting greater negative impact on health. One side effect can be the development of panic attacks. This should be discussed with your medical support team if apparent. Mild depression can transcend itself into something moderate or severe.
The way in which one deals with depression and or anxiety may have been modelled to you as a young child or developed as a coping mechanism in early development. According to concepts within the field of developmental psychology there is the idea that most human thinking processes have been influenced and moulded from within primary care systems by parental or nurturing figures, who were part and parcel of personal early life care. Researchers have found evidence to suggest that the way in which one copes with life issues, mental states or problems is adopted from our early primary care systems. Depression and anxiety can be both learnt and developed emotional and physiological conditions. Primary care systems according to the Centre of the Developing Child in Harvard University can also impact upon developing brain architectural structures in the young infant. Poverty, emotional abuse and sexual abuse, loss of a parent in early in life, mental health issues in the family, violence, incarceration of parent or parents are some traumatic experiences that some children grow up with. Psychologists refer to these experiences as ‘adverse childhood experiences’ (ACEs).
The cause of Parkinson’s is unknown, but a stressful or traumatic event can trigger symptoms. After the death of a family member, especially at a young age, a big operation that may leave one feeling extremely vulnerable, or experiencing life threating incidents. Parkinson’s symptoms, especially tremors can become worsened and more evident during stressful periods in life. Additionally, stress, anxiety, and sleep deprivation can make tremors worse and these emotional states and responses may precede depression.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- It is essential to maintain or create a positive mental health attitude in order to cope with life and live life to the fullest; regardless of what circumstances we might find ourselves in.
- Seek out some professional help in the form of a counsellor or psychotherapist.
- Connect with others, friends and family members who can support you.
- Shift your mind to focus on what you can do as opposed to what you cannot do. This can be uplifting and empowering.
- Deliberately turn your attentions to what is good in your life, there is never a bad without a good.
- Good sleep hygiene. It is important to address any issues that impact on a good nights sleep, if tired, the entire body is tired, demotivated and apathetic.
- Get your vitamin D levels checked, this vitamin along with B12s are supportive of good mental health.
- Eat a good balanced diet and eat well.
- Take medications on time.
- Exercise regularly and according to your level of fitness. Short walks and often. Try to do exercise earlier in the mornings as opposed to the evening. Late exercising can disturb sleep.
Sample test