Presenter: Sallee McLaren
Presentation: Don’t Panic: You can overcome anxiety without drugs
Date: 23/09/2010 – Review!!!
Dr McLaren’s ‘Don’t Panic’ lecture was very well presented and I think the audience would have taken a lot away with them. People were very interested in her take on anxiety, certainly if the selling of her books is anything to go by (as we sold all but one book). Dr McLaren opened the presentation with a general outline of anxiety. Each type of disorder was listed (e.g., agoraphobia, panic disorder, OCD etc.) and I thought it was great that she gave a little definition of the disorder and then an excellent example of what each disorder is by explaining the experiences of her clients that had that disorder. For example, when talking about panic disorder Dr McLaren explained that this was basically a fear of fear. She then explained that one of her clients that had panic disorder walked around with a glass bottle because as soon as she felt a panic attack coming on she was so fearful of it that she would hit herself over the head with the glass bottle to knock herself out, so that she would not have to experience the panic attack. These definitions and clear examples made it very easy to understand what each type of anxiety was and what someone with that type of anxiety might be feeling.
Dr McLaren made good use of diagrams to explain difficult things such as the self-reinforcing cycle of anxiety. Sometimes it is just easier to understand something when you see a picture of it. When the talk came to focus on avoidance Dr McLaren spoke of helpful avoidance vs. unhelpful avoidance and again used good examples to distinguish between the two. In addition to the diagrams in the powerpoint presentation, Dr McLaren made use of the whiteboard to explain her ideas about the limbic system, the frontal lobe, and the neural pathways that people with anxiety reinforce, when in fact they should be trying to ‘kill off’ these unhelpful pathways. Talking about parts of the brain and neural pathways can get complicated, but with the drawing of a simple brain and only talking about a few structures it was made simple and easy to understand. From the questions at the end of the presentation it seems that people understood the connection between the limbic system and the frontal lobe, and actually found it quite interesting, which indicates that Dr McLaren definitely got her message across!
After explaining how the self-reinforcing cycle works and going into a little more depth about this through explanations of what is going on in the brain, Dr McLaren then presented her treatment proposal in five easy steps. It is always helpful to present a solution to someone using a few easy to understand steps. As the steps were being presented, Dr McLaren was going back to the diagram of the self-reinforcing cycle of anxiety using the whiteboard to demonstrate how it all comes together, making the whole presentation clear and inclusive.
Question time at the end of the presentation was very fruitful as people demonstrated that they had understood what was presented and they were interested in hearing Dr McLaren’s thoughts on other issues relating to the topics discussed in the talk. Questions were answered very well with Dr McLaren again using really good examples to answer questions and bringing the presentation back into the answer so that the audience could see where she was getting the information. Also, people asked questions during the presentation that Dr McLaren was happy to answer which is helpful for people who want something answered at that very moment (not at the end of the talk) so that they could understand the rest of the lecture
Overall, Dr McLaren gave a very clearly explained presentation. She used easy to understand language and stayed away from using a lot of psychology jargon that most people would probably not understand. Examples were used really well which just helped people put things into context or perhaps relate it to their situation in some way. Dr McLaren did a good job in explaining how people can control anxiety with skills rather than a pill! At the end of the presentation we were at the table in case anyone wanted to buy her books and many people did, in fact as already mentioned we sold all but one book and people said the presentation was interesting and informative.
By Candice (Coburg Anxiety Support Group Facilitator)
Presentation: Don’t Panic: You can overcome anxiety without drugs
Date: 23/09/2010 – Review!!!
Dr McLaren’s ‘Don’t Panic’ lecture was very well presented and I think the audience would have taken a lot away with them. People were very interested in her take on anxiety, certainly if the selling of her books is anything to go by (as we sold all but one book). Dr McLaren opened the presentation with a general outline of anxiety. Each type of disorder was listed (e.g., agoraphobia, panic disorder, OCD etc.) and I thought it was great that she gave a little definition of the disorder and then an excellent example of what each disorder is by explaining the experiences of her clients that had that disorder. For example, when talking about panic disorder Dr McLaren explained that this was basically a fear of fear. She then explained that one of her clients that had panic disorder walked around with a glass bottle because as soon as she felt a panic attack coming on she was so fearful of it that she would hit herself over the head with the glass bottle to knock herself out, so that she would not have to experience the panic attack. These definitions and clear examples made it very easy to understand what each type of anxiety was and what someone with that type of anxiety might be feeling.
Dr McLaren made good use of diagrams to explain difficult things such as the self-reinforcing cycle of anxiety. Sometimes it is just easier to understand something when you see a picture of it. When the talk came to focus on avoidance Dr McLaren spoke of helpful avoidance vs. unhelpful avoidance and again used good examples to distinguish between the two. In addition to the diagrams in the powerpoint presentation, Dr McLaren made use of the whiteboard to explain her ideas about the limbic system, the frontal lobe, and the neural pathways that people with anxiety reinforce, when in fact they should be trying to ‘kill off’ these unhelpful pathways. Talking about parts of the brain and neural pathways can get complicated, but with the drawing of a simple brain and only talking about a few structures it was made simple and easy to understand. From the questions at the end of the presentation it seems that people understood the connection between the limbic system and the frontal lobe, and actually found it quite interesting, which indicates that Dr McLaren definitely got her message across!
After explaining how the self-reinforcing cycle works and going into a little more depth about this through explanations of what is going on in the brain, Dr McLaren then presented her treatment proposal in five easy steps. It is always helpful to present a solution to someone using a few easy to understand steps. As the steps were being presented, Dr McLaren was going back to the diagram of the self-reinforcing cycle of anxiety using the whiteboard to demonstrate how it all comes together, making the whole presentation clear and inclusive.
Question time at the end of the presentation was very fruitful as people demonstrated that they had understood what was presented and they were interested in hearing Dr McLaren’s thoughts on other issues relating to the topics discussed in the talk. Questions were answered very well with Dr McLaren again using really good examples to answer questions and bringing the presentation back into the answer so that the audience could see where she was getting the information. Also, people asked questions during the presentation that Dr McLaren was happy to answer which is helpful for people who want something answered at that very moment (not at the end of the talk) so that they could understand the rest of the lecture
Overall, Dr McLaren gave a very clearly explained presentation. She used easy to understand language and stayed away from using a lot of psychology jargon that most people would probably not understand. Examples were used really well which just helped people put things into context or perhaps relate it to their situation in some way. Dr McLaren did a good job in explaining how people can control anxiety with skills rather than a pill! At the end of the presentation we were at the table in case anyone wanted to buy her books and many people did, in fact as already mentioned we sold all but one book and people said the presentation was interesting and informative.
By Candice (Coburg Anxiety Support Group Facilitator)
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