Understanding Anxiety.

15 Minutes with Dr. Chuck – Understanding Anxiety. Your ability to work as a firefighter with anxiety depends on the intensity and the triggers; firefighters will hide their symptoms from their peers and try to plow through troubled times rather than reach out for help.  

Mild anxiety in a small number of situations might not be a problem if you can control the symptoms, but so many will go through their entire career without sharing with family and friends how they are feeling.  The problem becomes an issue when acute anxiety with panic attacks is so extreme that you can’t bring the situation under control, and you are now responding to very traumatic events and are expected to perform under extremely stressful conditions. 

You can’t risk becoming a liability in the middle of a stressful situation if it may mean lives are in danger, that is why it’s so important to understand why this is happening. Learning how to control and understand anxiety should be taught on the first day of recruit training along with continued education through your entire career.
In this episode, Dr. Chuck explains why we have anxiety and how to control it with a technique he developed when he was a Vietnam Vet. To ask Dr. Chuck a question for an upcoming podcast, please email your questions to Steve@muscularmentalhealth.com