Mental Health U

Transformative Insights and Strategies for Social Anxiety with Kim Grower-Dowling

• Bill Emahiser

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Have you ever felt your palms sweat and your heart race at the thought of a social gathering? Let seasoned therapist Kim Grower-Dowling guide you through the maze of social anxiety, where fear and nervousness reside. On Mental Health U, we provide a platform for Kim to share her 17 years of expertise and personal experiences, casting a light on the often misunderstood world of social anxiety. Our candid conversation peels back the layers of this condition, identifying its unique signs and the pivotal age when it most commonly takes hold. Discover how Kim's insights can help distinguish social anxiety from similar disorders and find new pathways to manage its grip on your life.

Kim's expertise isn't confined to theory; she illuminates the practical side of therapy as we discuss her success with telehealth treatment groups like open doors. She outlines how 'soft icebreakers' and controlled exposure to social scenarios pave the way for healing. The emphasis is on creating a nurturing space free from the fear of judgment, allowing individuals to face their social fears head-on. Every step taken in these therapeutic settings is a stride towards regaining personal power and fostering mental resilience. Join us for a session of understanding, hope, and strategies, with Kim Grower-Dowling as our guide, to arm yourself with the tools necessary for overcoming social anxiety and supporting mental health.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

because we want them to understand that they can execute their own power and they're not allowing others to have control or power over them by perceived judgments.

Bill Emahiser:

Hello and welcome. I'm your host, Bill Emahiser, and you're listening to Mental Health U, the podcast dedicated to demystifying and destigmatizing mental health issues. So if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma or some other mental health issue, then this podcast is for you. This episode is proudly sponsored by Unison Health, dedicated to making lives better through compassionate, quality mental health and addiction treatment services. Learn more at unisonhealthorg. You are in for a treat. Today. We are privileged to have Kim Grower-Dowling, a distinguished licensed professional clinical counselor renowned for her expertise in trauma and anxiety disorders. With a compassionate heart, extensive qualifications and unyielding passion for mental health, kim is here to guide us through the intricacies of social anxiety. Kim, I am so excited to have you back here on the show. How are you?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

I am terrific. I am so excited to be here to talk about social anxiety with you.

Bill Emahiser:

Can you tell us a little bit about your professional experience and what drew you to this kind of work?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Yeah, I am about 17 years into being a licensed professional clinical counselor and before that I volunteered for a couple of years at Rupert Center for Psychiatry at what was then Medical College of Ohio. When I was volunteering there, I was fortunate enough to be included in research with Dr Angel McGready, dr Ron McGinnis and Dr Stephen Cox regarding the link between diabetes, depression and heart disease. During the course of that research, we looked at the effects of biofeedback-assisted relaxation there and the mind-body connection, and that our systems are able to adapt to any particular environment and situation, and that is just amazing to me. The interest in social anxiety comes from my experience with Shinas, which is different from, but related to, social anxiety. When I was a kid, I would rather have been part of the wallpaper than say anything or have anyone notice me.

Bill Emahiser:

Yeah, so you do have a connection to this personally, which is, I think, it comes through in your passion for this kind of work. Before we get going too far, you mentioned research and I wanted to kind of set the stage for today's show. I was looking at some information and I think it would be helpful to share with folks. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, social anxiety disorder affects 15 million adults, or 7.1% of the US population, and social anxiety disorder is equally common in women and among men, and it typically begins around the age of 13.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Yeah, and 13,. 13 is hard. No matter what, we either want no one to notice us or to stand out as not being normal, or we want everyone to notice that we are unique individuals.

Bill Emahiser:

Can you tell us a little bit about and explain what social anxiety is for our listeners who may not be familiar with the term?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

So this definition is kind of dry because this is the diagnostic and statistical manual. Mental disorders five Social anxiety is marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations where the person may be exposed to possible scrutiny by others. The person fears that they'll act in a way or show symptoms that will be negatively evaluated by others. Social situations almost always provoke fear or anxiety and they're either avoided or endured with intense anxiety and the reactions are out of proportion to the actual threat. The fear, anxiety or avoidance is persistent. It causes clinically significant distress or impairment and it's not attributed to any other physiological effects of a substance or the symptoms of another mental health disorder or a medical condition.

Bill Emahiser:

Social anxiety, then is is the fear of being judged or being Rejected. Is that, is that accurate?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Absolutely, and again go back to 13. What's the fear of being rejected? Yeah yeah, your social group is so important. Yeah, and so social anxieties often, most often, concerned with judgment of the person themselves, as opposed to like a phobia which might be about a very specific Object or substance or situation. It's about the judgment.

Bill Emahiser:

How is the open doors telehealth treatment group valuable for somebody who's suffering from social anxiety?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

So telehealth gives the opportunity for the person to already be in their perceived safe space and when we're first meeting, members can leave their cameras blocked. As Members get familiar with this sound of my voice and other participants, they're encouraged and supported when they're able to show themselves. We initially participate in soft icebreakers, with no additional narratives or explanations, to kind of gently expose members to social interactions that can be perceived as safe from scrutiny in a different episode we talked about a goryphobia and kind of dipping your toe in like kind of easing in.

Bill Emahiser:

This is another one of the benefits of this, this treatment style, this telehealth treatment style, is someone can kind of work their way up to so they can kind of be anonymous I mean they might say something or but they're, they don't have to show their face. And then one of the first treatment goals I would assume can you tell me a little bit about that is like like one of the objectives is to turn the camera on and be seen and to talk and to interact with others and and the, and even before that, when I talked about the soft icebreakers.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

So maybe we start out with Something like would you rather? And? And give them two choices. It's really brief, but they get to hear everybody else's voices, right, and and if they've left their camera closed, they can feel safe in giving a response. They can see the other people, right, but they're not hearing any kind of judgment from them and we, we don't give them any additional Narrative. We might give them support, you know, as we want them to respond, obviously, but that, I think that's the thing, is that you, in the first session, you know they're starting on their exposures.

Bill Emahiser:

You've mentioned exposure. What is an exposure?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

So that's when we take an action to change a behavior and we become desensitized. So just like think about Polar Bear Club, where people jump in the lake with ice floating in it on New Year's Day or something right Initially we're going to be freezing, but eventually it feels okay and hopefully we're smart enough to get out of the water before it becomes dangerous. But that's the idea, is that we become used to it. We understand that we're in control and we're safe.

Bill Emahiser:

Yeah, so you kind of I think you've used the word habituate in other podcasts that we've done together so your body essentially gets used to that discomfort. It doesn't bother you anymore, so it doesn't have power over you and that's kind of the idea. So when somebody participates in this telehealth group, and the more they practice, they might be uncomfortable to begin with, but as time goes on they get better and better. I mean, this really isn't. It's a very action oriented therapy, isn't it?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Yes, and I love the fact that you talked about power, because we want them to understand that they can execute their own power and they're not allowing others to have control or power over them by perceived judgments. One of the first things that we talk about is that are you being judged? Absolutely 100% of the time? We're being judged even if it's by our cat walking by right. All all systems need that really for survival, and that's another thing that we do in the first session is a very brief explanation of survival response and to help everyone understand that this is absolutely normal and we are hard wired for this, and judgment means survival right.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Right and how we react to it.

Bill Emahiser:

Mental Health? U is brought to you by Unison Health. Unison Health, making lives better Great. Well, what are some specific signs or indicators that might suggest that it might be the right time? Let's say somebody's experiencing social anxiety or they think they have social anxiety. When's the right time for someone to consider joining a group like the Open Doors Telehealth Treatment Group?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

So anytime someone notices that what they're experiencing is not working for them, limiting them, interfering in how they want to live their lives, that's the time to reach out, and we're here to help. The great thing about Open Doors is that it's only nine sessions. That's very brief for most groups, and if someone needs to continue their progression, they can then be referred to an in-person anxiety group.

Bill Emahiser:

This kind of primes the pump and gets you ready to maybe do more treatment and kind of work in more so in-person rather than online.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Right. The goal with social anxiety would be to feel comfortable in person, wherever you are, and so obviously you know we want people to to feel as though they can express themselves, and Open Doors really helps with that, supports that. But once they get there, we want to just keep going. You know we want to own the world and feel like we can be confident anywhere.

Bill Emahiser:

What are some self-help strategies or practical tips or exercises you might recommend?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

So breaking things down step by step, consistent practice of progressive exposures and daily self-care to decrease physical tension and I think a lot of people don't really think about the physical tension and how much that contributes to a sense of anxiety. And if we're feeling comfortable and relaxed in our bodies, our vagus nerve will reflect that and then our brain will also accept that, that sense of safety.

Bill Emahiser:

Yeah, what would that self-care look like or how would somebody achieve? What are some, maybe some tips where somebody could achieve that more relaxed body?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Okay. So there are so many different ways. I think one of the best is just to learn to become mindful, which means being where you are and just experiencing it again without judgment, accepting whatever it is and knowing that it will pass and there will be something different, and not just anxiety, whatever we're experiencing. Also doing physical things like maybe walking or yoga, meditation, color breathing box breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, just there are all kinds of techniques and some of them especially when we're talking about vagus nerve maybe only take a minute.

Bill Emahiser:

Wow.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

And up to, obviously, meditation. People can make that whatever they want it to be. Prayer A lot of people get released from prayer and anytime that our muscle tension relaxes, everything else feels better.

Bill Emahiser:

Excellent. So do you teach some of these strategies in the Open Doors Telehealth Group?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

We do. We do actually practice a few of them given our time constraints, but one of the benefits I think of Open Doors particularly is that at the end of each session I send all the information to each group member, including video links, so they can practice things on their own, because they're the ones who need to practice it and feel it, experience it, and then they learn what works for them and what doesn't. So, for instance, the other day I heard one person where you start to experience anxiety and then you look quickly up in the left hand corner of your vision or the right hand corner of your vision. For some people that's immediate relief and for some people that doesn't work so well.

Bill Emahiser:

So you can pick and choose and try and find the technique or strategy that's going to work for you.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Yeah, customize.

Bill Emahiser:

Nice, excellent. Well, this is really fascinating. We're starting to run out of time. If I'm an individual and I'm thinking, you know what I have social anxiety, or I know a family member that's experiencing it and we want to learn more about your OpenDoors telehealth treatment group. How can folks find more information?

Kim Grower-Dowling:

We can always go to the unisonhealthorg the website that always gives more information and that also has my direct contact information on it as well. I'm always open for someone giving me a call or sending an email. I'm happy to answer questions or address any concerns that someone might have.

Bill Emahiser:

Excellent. So that's unisonhealthorg forward slash OpenDoors.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Yes, thank you.

Bill Emahiser:

Absolutely Well, kim. As always, you have delivered a ton of valuable and helpful information. It's always a pleasure to have you on the show.

Kim Grower-Dowling:

Thank you so much, bill. I'm so glad to be able to talk about social anxiety, and it's always great to chat with you.

Bill Emahiser:

Well, we really appreciate you being on and to our listeners today, thank you for spending a few minutes of your day with us. Until next time, have a super fantastic day. This podcast has been brought to you by unisonhealth. Unisonhealth is a nonprofit mental health agency dedicated to serving the Northwest Ohio community for the past 50 years.