In this episode of Calm Your Caveman, Dr. Twitchell deepens the conversation on finding your purpose as a foundational strategy for mastering anxiety. Building upon the previous discussion, this episode emphasizes the power of a clear 'why' to navigate complex emotional events and conflicting inner valuations. Dr. Twitchell explores how a defined purpose helps in choosing the right emotional regulation strategies and ensuring efficient resource allocation. Real-life examples, including job dissatisfaction and social anxiety, illustrate how identifying long-term values can guide critical life decisions. Additionally, the episode encourages writing exercises to bring subconscious values to the surface, thereby fostering greater emotional autonomy and resilience.

Key Points:
Choosing Strategies Based on Desired Outcomes: We discuss how knowing your desired outcome helps in selecting the appropriate emotional regulation strategies.
Handling Complex Emotions: We talk about the complexity of emotional events and how having a sense of purpose can help resolve inner conflicts by prioritizing long-term values.
Willingness to Feel Anxiety: We Introduce the concept of being willing to experience anxiety in the service of something valued and how this paradoxically reduces anxiety.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast

In this episode of Calm Your Caveman, the focus shifts from anxiety concepts to introducing foundational strategies for managing anxiety, specifically 'Finding Your Why.' Dr. Twitchell reviews the emotion generation process and the four families of regulation strategies, emphasizing the importance of choosing suitable strategies based on personal context and goals. Finding your purpose, or 'why,' is highlighted as it reduces anxiety by altering the brain's perception of demands and resources, increasing autonomy, and fostering persistence. The episode also offers practical exercises to help listeners identify their life purpose and overarching goals.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast

In this episode of the Anxiety Master Key Concepts, we delve into Dr. James J. Gross's renowned process model of emotion regulation. We explore the intricacies of how emotions are generated and regulated, emphasizing the importance of influencing emotions by intervening at key points in the cycle: situation, perception, appraisal, and response. The episode provides foundational knowledge necessary for effectively employing anxiety management strategies, highlighting the conceptual framework of emotion processes and the need for adaptability in coping methods.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast

In this episode of Calm Your Caveman, the discussion picks up from previous sessions on anxiety master key concepts focusing on the appraisal theory as a tool for regulating emotions. Dr. Twitchell explains how appraisals, our brain's interpretations of situations, determine whether emotions are helpful or harmful by aligning with our goals.

The episode delves into the dimensions of appraisal: desirability, attribution, and expectancy, and how they influence our emotional responses in stressful situations. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the challenge versus threat response – the former being when demands are met by our resources, producing adaptive and facilitating stress, and the latter when demands exceed our resources, leading to detrimental and lingering stress. Practical tips are given for recognizing and altering these responses. Dr. Twitchell references key studies and provides resources for further exploration.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast

In this episode of "Calm Your Caveman," Dr. Adriana Jarvis Twitchell delves into the appraisal theory of emotion, emphasizing its role in understanding
1) what emotions we should regulate and
2) how regulation is done (the basic principles behind the regulation process).

The first question, about knowing which emotions to regulate, or knowing when emotions are helpful or harmful, is addressed by explaining that emotions evolved to help us adapt to our environment. Dr. Twitchell highlights the evolutionary purpose of emotions and contrasts them with rigid reflexes. She explains that we can determine the helpfulness of our emotions according to whether they are adaptive or maladaptive for our circumstances.

The second question, concerning how to cultivate helpful emotions and down-regulate harmful ones, is illuminated by the appraisal theory concepts that emotions are processes, not states, and that emotions are not direct responses to external events but are shaped by our appraisals (assessments) of those events. This understanding reveals that unhelpful emotion processes can be regulated by changing our appraisals, either directly or indirectly.

Dr. Twitchell provides practical examples and shows how these two concepts facilitate our understanding of anxiety and how to regulate it. She also introduces an exercise to enhance moment-to-moment awareness of emotions, equipping listeners with tools to understand their emotion processes better.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast

In this episode, we discusses the concept of an "anxiety master key," a foundational tool for effective anxiety management. Dr. Twitchell outlines four essential questions that this master key addresses:

1. How to distinguish between adaptive (helpful) and maladaptive (harmful) anxiety.

2. How to cultivate helpful emotions and down-regulate harmful ones.

3. How to choose the right strategies for different situations.

4. How to implement these strategies effectively.

Dr. Twitchell emphasizes the importance of understanding and using a wide range of anxiety management strategies, referencing research that shows many people rely on only a few strategies. She highlights the need for a flexible approach to apply these tools effectively. The episode also introduces appraisal theory as a comprehensive framework (a master key) for understanding and managing anxiety, explaining its historical development and its practical applications. Dr. Twitchell promises future episodes will delve into specific concepts and strategies based on this theory.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast

In the first episode of "Calm Your Caveman," Dr. Adriana Jarvis Twitchell introduces herself and her qualifications in anxiety management. She shares her lifelong struggle with anxiety and how a chronic illness intensified her need to manage it. This led her to focus her doctoral research on anxiety management strategies.

Dr. Twitchell introduces the key theories and strategies that have transformed her life and offers a preview of what listeners can expect to learn in future episodes, including emotion regulation, anxiety reduction techniques, and practical applications to improve mental well-being.

For full show notes including resources mentioned go to: https://www.calmyourcaveman.com/podcast