Episode 8

A Permanent Solution to Anxiety? | Daniel Packard

Published on: 10th December, 2023

A Permanent Solution to Anxiety? | Daniel Packard

One of the most common mental health conditions I see as a Therapist in private practice is Anxiety. Whether it is about social situations, relationships, work or school performance, health or family, anxiety often arises in situations that are unpredictable, uncertain or unknown. Which is why so many people experience anxiety in times of chaos, because chaos is by nature unpredictable, random, disorderly, messy.

There are a variety of different skills, tools and techniques to cope with anxiety. And most of them work just great if used consistently and properly. But what if there was a permanent solution to anxiety?

Well that brings us to our guest today. Daniel Packard is going to talk with us about a more permanent solution to anxiety…without using all the traditional coping skills, tools and techniques.

Daniel is a U.C. Berkeley Mechanical Engineer who turned his painful 10 year battle with severe anxiety into a mission to reverse engineer a permanent solution for anxiety. We’re going to find out more about Daniel’s story, and also his permanent solution to anxiety.

Intro

Daniel introduces himself and talks about how he reverse-engineered a permanent solution to anxiety, as opposed to just managing it. He offers a way to get past the belief “I am broken” and how to solve anxiety permanently.

Tracy’s 1-2-3 step method of Managing Anxiety

1. Be aware of anxiety and how it feels in your body

2. Use coping skills to calm the body’s physiology

3. Spot errors in your thinking and check the facts

Daniel’s Background and Research into Anxiety

A toxic relationship and missing ALL the flags (from white to purple to red)

Developing Complex PTSD

Trying “everything” to treat it for 10 years and losing hope

Then: The idea to “reverse engineer” a permanent solution to anxiety

Solving Anxiety – Permanently?

1. Exploring what anxiety looks like mechanically

2. Testing it with real participants around the world

3. Approaching the skeptics / mental health professionals who “don’t seem to care” and think anxiety is a problem with the mind. But what’s missing?

4. Engineering a solution that is based in problem-solving

5. “The root cause is in the body. The mind is only linked to it…it’s not the cause.”

“My body is feeling anxious” helps you to understand that anxiety is a problem of the body.

“Some well-meaning professionals sent you to the wrong location to deal with the problem of anxiety”

Tracy Pushes Back: “Isn’t anxiety necessary?”

Daniel: There’s a difference between the body’s stress response (body is on high alert for a short time) and anxiety (body is on high alert for a long period of time)

Key points:

Your body is creating the anxiety, not your mind.

There is a shame / stigma about the idea that anxiety is happening in the mind

“There’s no stigma in the idea that anxiety happens in the body”

Understanding why your nervous system is malfunctioning and that there is a way to repair it and maintain it

Every system needs the basics: The body needs care and maintenance in all sorts of ways. There are 29 basics of care that we weren’t taught. You can repair the nervous system and maintain it.


The process:

1. Repair

2. Retrain

3. Maintain

Resources

a. Website www.danielpackard.com

b. Social Media Links

i. Twitter @danielpackard

ii. Instagram @danielpackard

iii. YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/user/danielpackard


c. Resources

A Recent Podcast Daniel was on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR04RnxhOu0


FREE TRAINING + RESOURCES

https://www.danielpackard.com/free-resources-download


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About the Podcast

Calming the Chaos
Helping You Find Peace in a Chaotic World!
Calming the Chaos is a podcast by Licensed Mental Health Counselor Tracy Kenela, who interviews a variety of professionals around the world in an effort to find different ways to help people (and herself!) find peace in a chaotic world. Each episode contains Information, tips, tools, and resources that come from different schools of thought, and are presented as a fun and entertaining way to help you move toward a more peaceful and enjoyable life.

About your host

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Tracy Kenela

Tracy Kenela is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist and Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist in Olympia, Washington. As the Host of "Calming the Chaos" Podcast, Tracy has made it her mission to help people (and herself!) find peace in a Chaotic world! Her podcast interviews, YouTube Channel and short videos are an entertaining way to find self help for all things that cause you chaos!