Fear is a part of everyday life. Read that again. Fear is part of everyday life. It’s always lurking around, threatening us, horrifying us, on bad days crippling us, and on good days simply annoying us. There are the mega fears—both real and imaginary: that someone is following you when you walk alone at night or that you might be killed by a terrorist the next time you go to the mall or a movie. More common are little nagging fears that keep you awake at night, eat away at you, and prevent you from experiencing the day around you. How do we work through all of these sources of anxiety?

Personally, I haven’t found one all-purpose answer. But, what seems to ring true for most situations is that you have to challenge yourself to do things that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable. For me, this approach helps me wake up, calm down, and extend myself. In the past ten years, I’ve noticed that physically challenging tasks are the ones that cause the most visceral fear reactions for me: seeing my fears, my seeming limitations, and questioning how I can go beyond what I think I can do.

So, I recommend the uncomfortable as a way to learn to work with fear. It can be a physical challenge, as described above, or leaning into a relationship or an uncomfortable interpersonal space. As the Stranger in The Big Lebowski says, “Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes, well, he eats you. “ You don’t always win, in other words, but you learn as much from the mistakes as from the triumphs. And fear will always give you more chances on the path of life.

3 Steps to Transform Your Fears

To help get cozier with the uncomfortable, and even the downright fear-inducing parts of life, try this:

1. Approach your fears with a bit of tough love. The tough part is that you don’t give up on yourself or the task at hand at the first sign of difficulty. Unless you have hit a life-threatening precipice, you can press on a little—even if it’s a tiny little step forward. Like the children’s story of The Little Engine that Could, tell yourself: I think I can, I think I can. Then take another step and see how it goes.
2. Appreciate that you have shown up. The love part of tough love is that you have won by just showing up. So be kind to yourself. You may not conquer your fear, but you make some inroads forward. Celebrate that, and next time press on a little further.
3. Meditate and observe your fears. Mindfulness meditation provides a safe space in which your fears can arise. See them come and go, breathe them out, breathe them in. The more familiar they become, the less power they have to control you. At some point, you may even be able to sit with your fears and smile at them.

There are different types of therapy when treating trauma. PTSD therapy has three main goals, improve your symptoms, teach you skills to deal with it, and restore your self-esteem. Most PTSD therapies fall under the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This therapy is to change the thought patterns that are disturbing your life.

Here are a few different types of therapy you can get for trauma

Cognitive processing therapy

At first, you will talk about the traumatic event with your therapist and how your thoughts relating to it have impacted your life. Then, you will write in detail what happened. This allows you to examine how you think about your trauma. It also helps you figure out new ways on how to deal with it.

Prolonged exposure therapy

This is for people who have been avoiding things that remind you of the traumatic event. PE will help you confront them.

Your therapist will teach you breathing techniques to ease your anxiety when you think about what happened early in the sessions. You will then make a list of the things you have been avoiding and then learn how to face each one. In another session, you will explain the traumatic experience to your therapist again, then go home and listen to a recording of yourself.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

With this therapy, you may not have to tell your therapist about your experience. Instead, you concentrate on it while you watch or listen to something they’re doing. They could be something like moving a hand or flashing a light.  The goal of this is to think of something positive which you remember from your trauma.

Stress Inoculation Training

SIT is a type of CBT. You can do it alone or in a group. You will not have to go into detail about what happened. The goal is to change how you deal with stress from the event.  

There are massage and breathing techniques that you may learn. There are other ways to stop negative thoughts by relaxing your mind and body.

Treating trauma truly is an art, and The Houston Foundation Inc. is here to help. Reach out to us for more information.

Depression is a common illness worldwide. More than 264 million people are impacted by depression. It is a leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. More women are impacted by depression than men, and it can lead to suicide.

Depending on the number and severity of symptoms, depression can be categorized as mild, moderate, or severe. Depression results from a complex interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors. People who have gone through adverse life events such as, unemployment, bereavement, psychological trauma, are more likely to develop depression.

Between 76 to 85% of low and middle-income countries receive no treatment for their depression. There are many barriers. Some of them are lack of resources, lack of trained healthcare providers, and social stigma associated with mental disorders.

There are effective treatments for moderate and severe depression. Health-care providers may offer psychological treatments such as behavioral activation, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), or antidepressant medication.

Around 450 million people worldwide have mental or psychosocial problems, but most of those who turn to health services for help will not be correctly diagnosed or will not get the right treatment.¹ 

You are not alone and many people are going through the same thing. there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are here to help you get there. The Houston Foundation Inc. knows exactly what we need to do to help people who are facing depression or any kind of trauma. We are dedicated to helping underserved communities be built up.

Depression’s outcome can be good, and you can get through this with the right resources.