Drs. Megan Hays and Elaine Mahoney gave a packed house lecture to the department inpatient rehabilitation team on July 15, 2021.
Their talk titled "The Anxious Patient: Practical Strategies for Addressing Anxiety and Emotional Distress with Patients and Families in Inpatient Rehabilitation" aimed to address the struggle patients and families face after suffering from a significant injury or illness.
Hays and Mahoney listed four practical techniques for managing anxiety and emotional distress:
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Breathing exercises: with a focus on slow exhales through pursed lips and breathing into the diaphragm rather than the chest.
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Grounding exercises: reorienting individuals to the present by focusing on the things they can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel in their current environment
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Distraction techniques: using conversation or other activities to break the cycle of worry
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Exposure techniques: using graded exposure to help patients confront feared activities or situations
In addition to the four techniques, they also highlighted tips for managing anxiety with patients who have cognitive deficiencies.
"The psychology service remains available to assist, but we hope that these simple strategies can serve as a front-line effort for managing anxiety and emotional distress when it occurs.", said Mahoney.