Therapy for Anxiety: Does My Therapist Need to Know Claire Weeks? (Podcast Episode 278)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лис 2023
- Do you need to find a therapist that knows and follows the "Claire Weekes method"?
This week we unpack the impact of Dr. Claire Weekes, shedding light on her influential role in the therapy world, specifically in the realm of anxiety disorders. Dr. Weekes' groundbreaking principles of acceptance have proven to be timeless, remaining relevant in therapy practices today. We go beyond the surface, debunking myths about her work and examining the current relevance of her methods in therapy. It's a bonus if your therapist is familiar, but its definitely not a deal breaker if they aren't.
Dr. Weekes' methods, although foundational, are not the be-all and end-all. We discuss how therapies like ACT or mindfulness-based CBT or metacognitive therapy have broadened and deepened the roots she established. Even if your therapist isn't familiar with Dr. Weekes, there's no cause for alarm - I promise it's not absolutely necessary.
For full show notes on this episode:
theanxioustruth.com/278
--
🎓 ANXIETY COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
learn.theanxioustruth.com
📚 MY BOOKS:
theanxioustruth.com/books
🔗 ALL MY SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER LINKS:
theanxioustruth.com/links
💜 SUPPORT MY WORK - BOOKS, WORKSHOPS, COURSES, AND MERCHANDISE:
theanxioustruth.com/support
ℹ️ WHO AM I?
theanxioustruth.com/about
❓ WANT TO ASK ME A QUESTION?
theanxioustruth.com/ask/
🎵 Music Used on My Podcast: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)
bendrakemusic.com
I was diagnosed with GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) a while ago and have gotten a lot better. What helped me a lot was getting to a place of realizing that I wasn't at fault for the anxiety reactions and to give them space to be and do their thing, realizing that it's my mind and body concerned about assuring safety and security. Therapy helped a lot with this, setting boundaries, learning mindfulness using a book called 30 Days to Reduce Stress by Harper Daniels and journaling much more.
I love this! So many people blame themselves or call themselves failures or weak for feeling anxiety or experiencing anxious symptoms and reactions . That's what happens to humans sometimes. It's totally not a defect or shortcoming. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I love the Claire Weekes approach. I really wish I knew about it years ago when my anxiety disorder started to develop. While I think it's really helpful with managing life on a day-to-day basis, it's also been wise for me to start with a therapist to help with achieving recovery milestones and to keep me accountable (agoraphobia recovery). I don't think my therapist is too knowledgeable about Weekes per-say, but having a professional to speak with regularly that deals with exposure therapy is just as important. As much as I understand (logically) Claire Weekes, I was not pushing myself on my own to get out into the world and face what I've been avoiding.
I love this! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Knowing recovery is not the same as doing recovery. Sometimes having that extra help gets us moving so that we don't rest on just the knowing part.
I'm one of the people who found you by searching for Claire Weeks about a year ago. Your content has been very helpful.
I have had a therapist for the last two years.
She has had a massive panic attack herself and has avoided that same situation for 17 years.
She still doesn’t get it.
She actually gave me “self health for your nerves” thinking it was mine I’d lent her.
It had never been opened and it was never mine to start with.
But I took it thankfully.
I have often felt invalidated during our sessions,, and so after trying to tough it out and stick with her I’m finally releasing her. I saw another therapist briefly in between who was another one I had listen to for three weeks who just wanted to teach me distraction and distress tolerance. She teaches others.
She wouldn’t have a bar of any suggestions I made re acceptance therapy but she did say she would listen to one of your podcast… Not sure if she did.
From reading Dr Weeke’s books, listening to your podcasts and UA-cam’s, and various others who follow along the same beliefs about recovering from anxiety and panic disorder, has helped me no end compared to all the white knuckling I’ve done for 42 years and the insults I’ve felt from blindfolded therapists.
At the present time I don’t believe I want to see a therapist any more. Maybe I’ve had bad ones… Being too factual and textbook and by not giving me or my findings any credit whatsoever. Would be nice to have at least a little little bit of recognition that I’m not stupid and that people who have recovered and know how to go about coping if it does raise it ugly head again.
I’m not using distractions an TV y more but they just don’t want to hear that.
Feeling invalidated in a therapy session and like they are not listening to you is a no-go for me any more since I’ve also learned how to set boundaries on how people treat me.
I believe that although I came into this world a little more sensitive than say my siblings and having a very dysfunctional family with some trauma happening there obviously from a violent dad, probably wasn’t in my favour and I need my home as a child, but something else stressed me out badly when I was around 19, then I had a panic attack and then I had another.
Then a relapse and it became agoraphobia. I wasn’t shown Dr Weeke’s method or the acceptance method back then in the 70s. But I know when I listen to you recovered people that until I had that first panic attack, and the next few, I thought it was broken.
If only I had heard her voice or the doctor had not said I had a neurosis and fed me medication. But said you are a little bit broken and you need to rest up and then you need to undo what just happened to you and not be frightened but just accept it and it will get better just like a broken leg.
From that system in the 70s I felt labelled and I thought it would consume me forever.
Always felt concerned with every physical sensation then worried on that. Then it became a cycle. Until I read Dr Weeke’s book and listened to you recovered ones with the knowledge of acceptance and that we aren’t broke.
I’ve taken benzos and antidepressants long-term which is probably giving me more anxiety. I know deep down that I’ve got through some pretty big anxious and panicky times because I had to. When we have to do something we actually do get through it. And it’s because we accepted at the time because we have no alternative.
I just have to learn my chain of bad thinking. I’ve been working on setting boundaries over the last six months and have found that quite invaluable. I think a lot of my people pleasing behaviour and acceptance and tolerance of the way people treat me has come from my insecurities and my dependence on people and feeling of guilt since panic disorder started.
Nothing to do with the trauma of my past. Sure sometimes you need to heal from past trauma but nothing affected me until I had my first of a panic attack. Thank you and others like you for all you do. Irreplaceable
Thank you for sharing this. There's quite a bit of learning and insight in this comment, which I appreciate. I'm very sorry you were led down another path back in the day. It sounds like you started experiencing panic during a time where acceptance was beginning to emerge from the shadows, but was still generally regarded as nonsense and still overshadowed by medicalization of the issue. This is especially true because at that time, next generation medications were showing up, surrounded by lots of enthusiasm about them. Kudos to you for advocating for yourself. That's often not an easy thing to do.
I just discovered her book a couple months ago, and I have to say, this was the first book that was so simple to understand , and yet, so powerful. I read her book in one day. I loved her book so much and has helped me the most.
I was very lucky to have a therapist who advocated acceptance, even though he hadn't heard of Claire Weekes. He described anxiety as this mundane, predictable thing, and I wondered if I'd made a mistake. At first I was terrified, as I'm sure is very common among us, but after a few sessions I did some googling that led me to Hope And Help For Your Nerves, which in turn led me to the podcasts you mention in this episode. Truly game changing information. I will be eternally indebted to Weekes.
I'm in Hawaii, on a once in a lifetime vacation. Tonight, we went to the obligatory luau and my brain decided it would be a great time to have an "adrenaline rush." I felt old feelings kicking in: shallow breathing and coming up with an escape plan. Then, I reminded myself of all the caffeine I've consumed today, starting with a coffee farm tour that gave free samples. I told myself the feelings of panic weren't real or based on anything that was actually happening. I rode it out and it went away, just like you said it would. And like it has every time before. I'm so glad I've found your podcasts! They really help.
Wow. Very difficult, and very well done! Congrats on doing the Hawaii trip. I hope you enjoy the rest of it. 🙂
Here in the uk I've tried therapy 3 times with only one of them being familiar with dr weekes. The other two therapist well they was very much into the coping with it technique using various copimg mechanisms and distractions. I even recall one of them telling me to hold a bag of frozen peas to help ease off a panic attack 😂 no jokes. I was already in the frame of mind of i am more interested in facing my panic gradually and taking the fear away from it. Not avoiding it or distracting myself. I know its hard but thats no way to live
I love her audiobooks. She’s so dramatic and like a matriarch which is what we need!
I loved this! Thanks so much for sharing her history, I love her even more now! Thank you for passing her methods along and crediting her name. She definitely deserves a place in history❤
The biography by Judith Hoare is an interesting read. Lots of personal details about Dr. Weekes that we would have never known if the book at not been written.
Read “The anxious truth” yesterday!! Gonna read it again soon..thank you Drew
Her books amazing!!!
I think if your a therapist and you want to teach skills on anxiety u need to read dr Weekes. Ive had to many therapist tell me what i know now is to basically white knuckle my way through nobody ever taught acceptance and if they did i gave up with it because i had no idea it takes time for the brain to learn ..
I am training as a therapist and I can tell you that while I certainly "speak Weekes", I would not insist that reading her work is required for skills. There are more current and detailed sources that would sound a whole lot like Dr. Weekes, but are more effective primarily because 60+ years have passed and we get better at things over time. Dr. Weekes is an excellent example of how to communicate about anxiety for sure!
@@TheAnxiousTruth I agree with you! No question. Thanks for all that you do
@@TheAnxiousTruthHi Drew! Mind sharing some of the more recent sources?
As far as i am aware most coined anxiety as a mental illness. Whereas Dr Weekes described it as a nervous illness. Her description and explanation sit better with me and i firmly believe she was right. It works for me anyways.
I think she did an AMAZING job of painting a much less ominous and threatening picture of anxiety. She was really good at explaining the "not broken'" thing!
I would even say anxiety is not an illness at all, but a normal state of our growth, that we learned to misinterpret as something to avoid
@@ChatGTA345 I have to agree. I just pick up the book that I have by Dr Weekes. Right on Chapter 1, Nervous Fatigue. Muscular fatigue, Emotional fatigue, Mental fatigue and Fatigue of the Spirit. Just these 4 short phrases, the Light bulb turns on in my brain again. She is so spot on.
Fun fact is moust of them dont! And even if they do main job is we do it ourselfs.
Fact
WhTs the best book I can get from Claire weeks?
Hope and Help For Your Nerves is a great place to start
Hope and Help for Your Nerves, which in some places is called "Self Help for Your Nerves". Same book.
I remember initially talking to my last therapist about her, and they had no idea about Claire Weekes. There was one session in particular where that same therapist got a bit heated while I referenced her, and they said something like, “well actually, Claire Weekes was kind of problematic”. By this point, my therapist had read up on Weekes, but what they read, I don’t know. All I knew was that criticism didn’t sit right with me, considering how they would frame anxiety and subsequent treatment. I have no interest in coping through life.
As a side note, I didn’t see my last therapist for panic or anxiety. Most of that time, I was living a mostly-recovered life. I was there to work on separate issues. Unfortunately, I started to experience a resurgence in panic attacks on a daily basis, lost my job, and naturally that became the focus point for the next two months. Talking about anxiety with someone who doesn’t share your outlook is tough, especially when this person is a professional. In fact, every therapist I have ever seen in the last decade has never heard of Claire Weekes until I introduced her to them!
Dr Weekes ruffled many feathers in her time. Her suggestion that one should face fear still doesn't sit right with many clinicians that recognize the concept but still feel uncomfortable with it. There is some very interesting research that shows that even clinicians that recognize that this approach is most effective will refuse to use it because it makes then personally uncomfortable. She was also quite aggressive in rejecting psychoanalytical and "root cause" approaches, which could be why even now she might be called "problematic".
@@TheAnxiousTruth My therapist would say that what Claire Weekes spoke about was only “part of the process”. They insisted that there was more to it, that I needed to build coping skills, and build distress tolerance. The latter, I would argue is a lot of what Weekes wrote about, and my therapist even agreed. When my therapist got heated about Weekes’ approach, my understanding was that it was in reference to the treatment of trauma, which is not what Claire Weekes focused on, and wasn’t a focal point from the start. I was honestly more confused than anything, because if acceptance and tolerance are recognized as “part of the process”, those things cannot coincide with something like squeezing a stress ball when I feel panic coming on.
Same thing if you are car mechanic but never heard about otto.
Does Clair talk about
Lose of appetite
When u don’t get the nutrients you need …you naturally feel weak and fatigued
How many times do you say…..”total surrender”
“That feeling is there but I truly don’t care”
Every it comes on?
I would stop trying to tell yourself that you don't care. Clearly, you do care, and that's totally fine. Everyone cares. You can't just decide to not care. You're taking the "risk" of surrender to learn that you don't have to care as much as you do now. You can use these framing statements to support the action (or non-action) you take when triggered. Just don't fall into the trap of using them as mantras to try to calm down. Use them as reminders of what you're trying to do, and what you're trying to learn from the experience.
@@TheAnxiousTruth
Thanks for your response
It’s not the repeating a quote over and over
It’s truly putting the quote into action in your mind