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The value of meditation

Douglas: That reminds me of what a number of people say about the value of meditation, as well. In addition to your three minute approach, as a way to manage anxiety, do you also encourage people to engage in longer meditation practice?

Dr. Orloff: I do if they can tolerate it. But somebody who's experiencing extreme anxiety, it's better to only do three minutes. I tell people to stop then. And if they want to do longer meditations, they can do walking meditations. That's very, very good.

Douglas: Yeah.

Dr. Orloff: As opposed to just forcing yourself to sit there which can be anxiety provoking in and of itself.

Douglas: Yeah.

Dr. Orloff: Or do dance, or movement, or walking in nature. I'm a big believer in going out in nature and having that replenish you. Nature's very calming.

Techno-anxiety

Dr. Orloff: I also recommend not staying by the computer for too many hours, because that can make you very anxious. It creates anxiety, because it's not nurturing your energy.

Douglas: That's very interesting. There are certainly a lot of us who spend many hours a day at a computer for work or other reasons. So, just taking a break from that, regular breaks, maybe, would be helpful.

Dr. Orloff: Taking regular breaks, doing stretching. The body loves that to release anxiety. Stretching, because that stretches the body, and it releases the anxiety in the joints and the tension in the joints - stretching, movement, breathing in fresh air.

There's a phenomena I've noticed called techno-despair, or techno-anxiety that happens as a result of being obsessed with the computer and staying there all the time. It's not good for human emotions to do that without breaks. The key is to take breaks.

Douglas: Yes. We've been talking a lot about anxiety. You cover other strong emotions in your book, Emotional Freedom, do you want to comment about how the book is helpful for other strong feelings, or is it mainly about anxiety?

Dr. Orloff: No, I go through seven different emotions. Anxiety is one of them, a very important one. But also I talk about how to transform anger with compassion, and how to transform jealousy and envy with self-esteem, or how to transform loneliness with connection, how to transform depression with hope. So I really go through the whole list of emotions that we experience.

The book is structured in such a way you don't have to read it from page one to the end. You can go to any chapter that most suits you.

If you're depressed, go to the depression chapter. If you're anxious, go to the anxiety chapter.

If you're afraid, go to the fear chapter.

If you're dealing with emotional vampires, go to the emotional vampire chapter.

Douglas: Very good. The final question is - I'm not sure if this is a quote of yours or somebody summarizing your book but the comment is, "We treated emotional disorders including depression and anxiety as biochemical imbalances requiring medication."

That's certainly been the main orientation of psychiatry, at least to us who are not in the profession. From what you've been saying, that's really a limited view of emotion and the causes of negative emotions.

Dr. Orloff: Yes, that actually is a quote from my introduction to "Emotional Freedom" when I was talking about my traditional biologic training at UCLA when I went through my psychiatric residency. Anxiety and depression were treated as disorders that can be corrected with medication only. That was the primary emphasis.

Douglas: Yes.

Dr. Orloff: Although sometimes medication can be useful - depending on the case, it's so important to use all the other strategies I'm talking about in terms of energetic strategies, meditation, intuitive strategies, all these other things so that you can take charge of your own biology and start regulating that serotonin, and start decreasing that fight or flight response. You don't have to depend on a medication to do that.

However, I want to say for everyone that's taking medication, and that is the right choice for them, that's totally fine and not to get down on yourself.

Sometimes medication is appropriate.

But, in addition, I suggest trying the other techniques I'm talking about in the book, which I think could help you lower medication. I've seen that with my patients a lot of times.

Most important is to practice self compassion, whatever path you're taking for your anxiety or depression, or other emotions. There is no one way to do it. It's only the one way that is best for you. That's where intuition comes in. I always stress that as a psychiatrist.

And never compare yourself with another person in terms of, 'this friend is getting better from his or her anxiety, by doing this, but it's not working for me.'

Douglas: Yeah. Right.

Dr. Orloff: And that's it. Yeah, it's not working for you, and that's the most important thing. You must find what works for you and don't go by what works for other people because you're an individual.

Douglas: Well, that's an excellent thought to leave on. Thank you very much. I wish you the best with the book. I'm sure it will be really helpful to many people.

Dr. Orloff: Thank you. I also wanted to mention I have free videos on how to stop absorbing other people's emotions and emotional vampires on my website, drjudithorloff.com or on YouTube, which is www.YouTube.com/judithorloffmd.

Douglas: Very good. An additional resource for people.

Dr. Orloff: Yes, and they are free.

Douglas: Well thank you again, Dr. Orloff.

Dr. Orloff: You're very welcome.

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To listen to the podcast, go to Judith Orloff, MD on Emotional Freedom.