Why Anxiety Is Good For You - In Conversation With Dr Tracy Dennis-Tiwary

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In today's episode Angela is in conversation with Dr Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, author of 'Future Tense.: Why Anxiety is Good For You (Even Though it Feels Bad). Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, Ph.D. is a researcher, entrepreneur, and author of the book Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though it Feels Bad), Harper Wave, 2022. She is a professor of psychology and neuroscience, Director of the Emotion Regulation Lab, and Co-Executive Director of the Center for Health Technology at The City University of New York, where the mission is to connect researchers, community stakeholders, and technology innovators to bridge the healthcare gap. 

Tracy highlights that anxiety has got an (undeserved) bad press: because it feels uncomfortable, we should get rid of it. 'Anxiety as disease' - an idea that has been propagated by the mental health profession for years, is setting us up to failure and stops us from engaging with the useful aspects and gifts that anxiety has to offer us. There is evidence now that the  disease model of mental illness does not work.

In the past everyone talked about stress; now we talk about anxiety.

Tracy talks about parenting children effectively. Often parents assume that their children are fragile. The opposite is true: children have antifragility.  If you don't strain muscles they will atrophy. The same is true for emotions. Children need to learn the skills to sit with their anxiety and other emotions that they may struggle with.

Tracy also discusses the difference between being a perfectionist and a pursuer of excellencism. Excellencism involves setting yourself high standards but not getting overly frustrated if these standards are not met.

The conversation ends with Tracy describing the three key principles that you can take away from making anxiety your ally.

As PAs Founder and CSO of Wise Therapeutics,  Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary translates neuroscience and cognitive therapy techniques into gamified, clinically validated digital therapeutics for mental health. She has published over 100 scientific articles and delivered over 400 presentations at academic conferences and for corporate clients. She has been featured throughout the media, including the New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, ABC, ryBS, CNN, The Today Show, and Bloomberg Television.

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