Anxiety, and the 'worry bully': One of Lynne Malcolm's favourite All in the Mind programs
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What is the “worry bully” and how does it affect our thoughts?
This is an ABC podcast.
Hi, Lynne Malcolm with you on All In The Mind. Today from our series of highlight programs from my years as host on All In The Mind, we bring you a program from 2019, which I'm sure will resonate with you now. We look at anxiety and how to manage it. Have you encountered the worry bully?
The worry bully is everyone has it. It's this thing inside your head that keeps on telling you worries and worries and worries and the more you listen to it the stronger it gets.
I used to procrastinate a lot about things which is possibly the worst thing that you can do for your worries because you're just putting off those worrying things and then they build up and build up and build up. I think I'm a bit of a hard marker on myself and I was really surprised with how much my mental state was affecting me physically.
30-year-old Peter Leipnick and before him was 10-year-old Willow Freer. For both of them, their worries became overwhelming and so
they sought professional help. We all experience anxiety to some degree because it's part of our primitive survival mechanisms in response to threat in our environment. So our brain responds, the amygdala hijacks our brain and triggers the fight or flight reaction, which is a physiological reaction to set our body up to fight or to run away from danger. That response occurs with perceived threat as well.
Dr Jodie Lowinger is a psychologist and CEO of the Sydney Anxiety Clinic.
Anxiety in a normal context for most human beings, for all human beings, gets triggered in response to trying to survive against danger. Where it turns from anxiety into an anxiety disorder is if this threat response occurs to a level that it's providing prolonged fear, suffering and avoidance in a person's life. It's
estimated that 25% of the population develop clinical anxiety and it's recently become more common in children and adolescents. Jodie Lowinger suggests that one of the factors leading to increasing anxiety in young people is the technologically driven environment we now live in.
Kids are experiencing anxiety that is, certainly in Western society, largely around some of this digital technology that is overwhelming now. And everybody presenting their airbrushed selves on digital technology or in social media, the sense of compare and despair or fear of not being good enough or fear of missing out, not getting invited to the parties. So there's one element of the impact of digital technology, which perhaps there's more recognition of, which is around cyberbullying. Then there's the fear of failure or fear of not being good enough or fear of missing out. then there's the impact that it has on our children getting the exercise that they need, getting the fresh air that they would have otherwise done prior to digital technology.
And it's not just our children, it's us as well. So the impact of this is its connection, but its disconnection. We are tribal creatures. We crave connection. And the technologically driven world that we have is creating a false sense of connection, but it's not the connection that we truly deeply need. It's not the connection that stimulates dopamine and oxytocin and endorphins from hugs and touch and love and eye contact and the impact that it has on sleep as well. This is something that's frazzling our younger generations. Hi,
I'm Miriam Heatheridge. I am the mother of gorgeous Willow and Willow has made some great progress over the last few years with her anxiety.
My name is Willow Freer. I'm 10 years old and I'm in Year 5.
Willow first started feeling anxious after she and her family moved to Australia from Singapore and she started in a new school.
I was scared of making friendships with new people.
How does anxiety develop from a normal survival response to a clinical disorder?
I was scared that I was going to embarrass myself. I was worried that people would make a lot of fun of me and I'd never be able to get friends at that school. And I would get bad results because I was so focused on friendships.
Did you experience any bullying?
Yes, I actually did. Some of the girls, they tried to get away from me and they said, why don't you go and get your lunch?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the “worry bully” and how does it affect our thoughts?
0:02–4:23
2
How does anxiety develop from a normal survival response to a clinical disorder?
4:23–7:03
3
Why are children especially vulnerable to anxiety in today’s digital world?
7:03–11:04
4
What strategies did 10‑year‑old Willow learn to manage her anxiety?
11:04–13:54
5
How can a worry diary help adults like Peter track and reduce anxious thoughts?
13:54–17:32
6
What role do safety behaviours and “mind‑strength” therapy play in treating anxiety?
17:32–21:01
7
How does aligning personal values improve anxiety management at work?
21:01–25:23
8
Why is seeking professional help and reducing stigma essential for anxiety recovery?
25:23–29:04