Anxiety addiction.
Plus ideas for handling this second pandemic summer for fully or partially vaccinated groups.
Hello! There was a bit of a hiatus there, but there’s been work done to find ways to make this even more helpful, so stay tuned.
😟 The reward pathways of anxiety.
Judson Brewer, a researcher in psychiatry at Brown University, has a history of trying to help us break bad habits. His first book, The Craving Mind, was full of strategies for dealing with our various addictions, from smartphones to cigarettes. His second book, Unwinding Anxiety, came out last month.
The part that got my attention is that he approaches it the same way he approaches anything we keep jonesing for. What if we were addicted to our own anxiety? And, if we’re able to acknowledge that, what if we were able to master it?
It had occurred to me before that we can become addicted to anger, or things like outrage and feeling superior (morally and otherwise). That seems obvious, there is some release in acting out on frustration, and it feels good to look down on others. Unsurprisingly, there is evidence that these feelings stimulate dopamine in our brains.
But anxiety? That’s weird. Feeling anxious isn’t pleasant. Dr. Brewer says we must think of habit in terms of “trigger, behaviour, reward.” So:
trigger: someone on Twitter says “they’re implanting 5G chips with those vaccines!”
behaviour: you mock them, share all the knowledge you’ve got about vaccines.
reward: you feel great about yourself.
What does this model look like with anxiety?
trigger: there is a pandemic and not everyone moves to protect themselves.
behaviour: lucky you, it’s your job to dive into the research and identify top experts. You compile the current knowledge, let it change your mind as it evolves, produce interviews, you share it far and wide, end up shoving all the science into a newsletter, tag government officials who clearly haven’t got a clue or an interest in Doing Things Right.
reward: you regain a sense of control. Hurrah for dopamine!*
Anxiety comes out in different ways, beyond turning into Amy Brookheimer from VEEP. It can also take the form of panic attacks, procrastination, you name it. The underlying principle, however, is the same.
How to use this: read the book, obviously. Just know that if you were to tackle anxiety (and the quality of sleep you enjoyed when you were young and carefree), you’d go about it the same way you’d go about any sort of craving: mindfully, by watching the feeling rise and fall without attempting to do anything about it.
*Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
🏖 Summer travelling plans?
Jason, who is my spouse, found this piece today and thought you might find it useful. So do I. What are vaccinated medical experts planning to do, travel-wise, this summer? The CDC did change their recommendations for those of us who got jabbed, so CNBC interviewed six of them, and their answers range from “no travel plans” to “travel with care.”
Jason and I will get our second shots next week, but our calculations must take into account variants, which are multiplying and raging in many parts of the world, and our 6-year-old twins, who are nowhere near immunised. As you may remember, we’re not messing around with the kids’ situation. Here’s where our boundaries are:
Hard no on plane travel. Whilst it is true that air in plane cabins is purified quickly, there are chunks of the trip that still pose a risk. Using CO2 levels as a proxy for how much passengers share the air, science teacher Ryan Hisner noted that boarding and deboarding are “the most dangerous part of flying.” See his whole thread, which was retweeted by #CovidIsAirborne Pope José Luis Jiménez, of the University of Colorado, Boulder:
“Outdoors, outdoors, outdoors” is still the mantra. We went camping last year. It was wonderful. We’re doing it again this year at nearby state parks.
We have considered getting a car here in NYC to drive down to South Carolina, where Jason’s family have been taking great care and are now fully vaccinated. We’re trying to figure out how and where to stop along the way, and how long it would make sense for us to stay there to justify such a long trip. Once there: no restaurants, groceries and meals delivered or picked up at the curb. Outings would consist of beach time, parks, and playgrounds.
We’re unsure whether we’ll be getting visitors here in NYC. If we do, they must be fully vaccinated, or else plan to quarantine.
How to use this: a variety of rationales that take into account current risks helped us establish our comfort levels for this second pandemic summer. I hope they help you, too.
👶 Kids and Covid — the event
Our panel on how the development of children at a time when normal activities are damn near impossible took place this Monday. Ignore the technical hiccups! Watch here:
How to use this: feel hope! There is plenty we can do to help our kids recover. There’s even more we must do to get our elected officials in that mindset as well.