With fall harvest in high gear for farmers in the Plains and Rockies — combined with a short window of time to “get er done,” it’s timely that October began with Mental Health Awareness Week as well as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Farmers, ranchers and anyone weighted with many responsibilities and worries, may have frequent, or even constant stress at high levels, especially during this time of year, which a webinar Fear, Anxiety, or Panic? highlighted Wednesday, Oct. 11. The spotlight was on emotional struggles and tools for this emotional toolbox with specific tips.
Farmer suicide rates remain a public health concern. Depression is a common but serious mood disorder, which causes severe symptoms that affect how someone feels, thinks, and handles daily activities, such as sleeping, eating or working, says the National Institute of Mental Health.
Up to 40% of the general population will have mental health challenges including anxiety disorders at some time in their life, a severe anxiety disorders specialist explained during the hour-long webinar. Detailing some of the more common concerns: general anxiety disorder or GAD, social anxiety disorder, SAD, and obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, the webinar speaker focused on the positive results and the renewed perspective gained from seeking help.
“These are highly treatable, and the more you learn and understand it, the easier it is to go through it,” said Nathaniel Van Kirk, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist, who specializes in severe anxiety disorders, OCD, and trauma/post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, speaking on the webinar. Van Kirk is the director of psychological services at the OCD Institute at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.
ANXIETY DISORDERS DISCUSSED
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by a persistent concern about work/school/relationships when people get into the spiral of worry, or expect the worst possible outcome and are on edge for six months or more, with uncontrollable worry.
Social anxiety disorder is the fear of negative evaluation by others (performance-based or worry that they will be judged for saying something.)
Obsessive compulsive disorder is having unwarranted and repetitive thoughts that come up and make a person feel they need to do something over and over with the hope it will stop.
Sometimes with OCD, a panic attack could be brought on by an obsessional fear.
“OCD is looking for 100% certainly, not 99%… because it’s still looking for absolute certainty,” said Van Kirk. In 1997, McLean’s OCD Clinic opened as the country’s first residential treatment program for this condition.
TREATABLE CONDITIONS
Medication can be a treatment to turn down the anxiety to allow you to use your tips. For some people, medication is enough, until they learn the other work… the skills,” Van Kirk said. Becoming transparent on the webinar, Van Kirk explained his own struggles with OCD at an early age. “When I started high school, I developed an onset of OCD/fear of contamination/bloodborne pathogens and fear of what if.” He washed his hands for hours and took long showers. He also did Exposure, Response Prevention treatment. Later, in school, Van Kirk specialized in treating refractory behavior (resistant medications) and his OCD started to fade.
“I actually started to forget what it was like to be in it so much (the OCD,) when I got busy in school; helping others,” Van Kirk said.
Understanding the how and why can help when panic attacks come out of the blue including learning about that fear of the physiological response… and how to deal with the panic.
HOW PANIC DEVELOPS
Panic involves sweating, almost hyperventilating, even chills and possible vision changes. Someone could also have a feeling that things around them aren’t real, and that they might be at risk of harm or death.
“Think about how our body protects itself. The heart rate increases because it’s pushing blood through your body faster. The sweating is your body is essentially cooling itself. But while your heart rate is increasing you aren’t running around and using all that energy in that moment, so it can cause feelings of chills,” Van Kirk explained. Dizziness… can also result, so changing your breathing is important to calm the body.
The more frequently a person’s stress is activated, it takes more work to shut off the worries and become more peaceful, according to HealthTexas Medical Group, a primary care physician group in San Antonio. Chronic stress can strongly impact the body, over time. Ninety percent of all diseases are caused or complicated by stress.
To navigate a panic attack change your breathing.
“Breathe in 3 seconds through your nose, then… exhale for 2 seconds longer than you inhale, .which allows your body to re-regulate,” Van Kirk said.
FALL HAVEST
“The top three concerns now for us and for many involved in fall harvest are the workload, financial worries and lack of time with everything that’s involved,” said Linda Emanuel, RN, and community health director with AgriSafe Network, a national non-profit in agriculture health and safety. Emanuel is also a row crop farmer, farm co-owner and livestock producer in east-central Nebraska.
Resonating deeply with her is the important theme of the recent National Farm Safety and Health Week that ‘No one can take your Place.’
“How true; each member of a farm family team has their own distinct skill set and expertise. Each member of that farm family team has a valid place within the farm operation’s success,” she told The Fence Post.
In Nebraska, farmers and their families or employees can get five free emotional therapy counseling sessions through Nebraska Rural Response Hotline, a comprehensive mental health voucher program for Nebraska residents. It links people to sessions with mental health therapists. They also provide a farm law attorney, financial advisers, mediators and a list of available resources. The program issues about 400 mental health counseling vouchers a month for farmers, their families or anyone directly involved in their ag work. “Our most popular reason for people attending counseling is adjustment disorder (any time there’s a lifestyle change or a change in life, anything from having a blended family, or loss of a loved one, an occupation change, struggling with retirement.) Also, for depression and substance abuse,” said Michelle Soll, Farm and Ranch Project director at Nebraska Rural Response Hotline. “I know our program has saved marriages and saved lives, and it’s wonderful to take care of your mental health, just to learn the tools to work through scenarios that happened in the home, or the onset of panic,” Soll said.
Over 31% of U.S. adults experience any anxiety disorder at some time in their lives.
Doing mindfulness exercises daily, Van Kirk advises, can reduce your relationship to anxiety long-term.
The power of gratitude is also a large dynamic in the day, and helps cultivate relationships., Emanuel said, noting, “A simple ‘thank you’ can make a difference to someone who stepped up with a solution, and lessened the workload.”
