Episode 55: Empowering Tools for the Anxious Artist with Dr. Bobbi Ballard

Dr. Bobbi Ballard’s life journey is a fascinating blend of psychology and creativity. Graduating in clinical psychology in the '90s, she's been a therapist since 2001, but her creative spirit has always thrived, whether through music, drawing, painting, or a newfound passion for surface pattern design. Initially, her therapy career began in a traditional setting, but she discovered a unique connection with creatives over time, leading her to specialize in this area.

Bobbi's path also took an intriguing detour when she faced burnout, briefly transitioning to forensic psychology. Despite the challenges, she eventually returned to therapy, wiser and better equipped to prevent burnout. Her work with creatives emphasizes the importance of therapist-client rapport while addressing common artistic challenges like self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Still, at its core, her therapy approach recognizes that anxiety treatment is a shared human experience that transcends artistic boundaries.

Understanding Clinical Anxiety
Anxiety is a complex, far more nuanced than a clinical definition might suggest. While the official criteria for anxiety disorders may appear rigid, anxiety itself is a natural human response. It's something we've all experienced in varying degrees. The key distinction lies in the severity, duration, and impact on one's life.

Clinical anxiety isn't just the fleeting nervousness before sharing your art; it's a relentless fear that can paralyze, making simple tasks feel like insurmountable obstacles. It's the racing heart, the clammy hands, and the feeling of being trapped. And what's tricky is that it's not a binary state of anxious or not; it exists on a spectrum. Understanding this dimension helps us appreciate that anxiety is part of the human experience, but when it becomes overwhelming and disrupts daily life, it's time to seek support and intervention.

What’s Going on In Our Brain?
Understanding anxiety becomes a concrete endeavor, when we can learn what is going at a physical level. The brain's architecture plays a pivotal role in this narrative, with its ancient limbic system acting as the emotional epicenter. The more primitive the function is, the further back in your head it resides. The brainstem, for instance, is all about basic functions like breathing, shared even with reptiles. On the flip side, the front of our brain houses those high-level functions unique to humans, like planning and creativity.

The limbic system, residing toward the back, are where emotions run wild. It's the survival headquarters, but here's the kicker: it doesn't differentiate between real and imagined threats. When it senses danger, whether it's an actual life-or-death situation or just the thought of giving a speech, it goes into overdrive. Your body gets flooded with cortisol and adrenaline, priming you to escape danger, even if it's just in your mind.

Those sweaty palms and racing heart? Just a snippet of what anxiety unleashes. It's not just physical; cognitively, anxiety makes you feel trapped, doomed, or in imminent danger. And here's the twist: the rational parts of your brain tend to take a coffee break when anxiety strikes, leaving you in a fog of fear. So, while it may feel like a life-and-death situation, it's crucial to understand that it's your brain's ancient alarm system hijacking the controls. Mastering this understanding can help you tame anxiety's physical and mental turmoil.

Tools to Help with Anxiety
In Dr. Bobbi Ballard’s insightful perspective, tools to help with anxiety fall into two categories: regulating the nervous system and addressing those sneaky beliefs and assumptions that fuel anxiety.

The quickest route to regulate your nervous system is through the simple art of breathing. Much like learning a musical instrument, practicing breathing exercises ingrains relaxation into your muscle memory. Soon, it becomes second nature, an automatic response to anxiety.

Anxiety often stems from hidden beliefs, those pesky assumptions that lurk in the background, steering our feelings and behaviors. Dr. Bobbi Ballard reveals one common culprit: the belief that "I have to figure this all out right now." Imagine the pressure and anxiety that comes with that belief. Shifting to a mindset of "I don't need to figure it all out right now" can be liberating. It's a reminder that you have options, and it helps ease the grip of anxiety. Our anxious minds also often generate negative what-ifs, but as creative individuals we can repurpose this skill to generate positive and motivating what-ifs. By imagining favorable outcomes and embracing the imaginative nature of creativity, this can help propel one forward.

Anxiety is Treatable
Dr. Bobbi Ballard explained that she has seen profound shifts in artists and creatives as they embrace anxiety management tools. It's a transformation that brings confidence, productivity, and alignment with personal values. Artists who once grappled with paralyzing fear find themselves empowered to tackle creative challenges. They step out of their comfort zones, share their work, and face the world with newfound assurance. These tools help artists move beyond the fear-driven decisions that often lead to unfulfilling choices.

As artists confront their fears and realize that the perceived threats weren't as menacing as imagined, anxiety begins to lose its grip. This growing track record of pushing through anxiety empowers them to venture further, scaling new creative peaks with confidence. The key message? Anxiety is treatable. It can be tamed, and individuals can regain control of their creative lives. As they incorporate these tools, they find themselves on a path of self-discovery, confidence, and alignment with their true creative potential.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Anxiety is a normal human response, but the difference between normal anxiety and clinical anxiety lies in the severity, duration, and impact on one's life.

• The brain's limbic system, responsible for emotional reactions and survival instincts, often doesn't differentiate between real and imagined threats, which leads us to have anxiety responses even in non-life-threatening situations.

• Anxiety and overwhelm often go hand in hand, and learning to manage anxiety can also help us feel less overwhelmed.

• Some tools to help with anxiety were:
  -regulating the nervous system through techniques like controlled breathing 
  -challenging and changing negative beliefs and assumptions
  -Shifting anxiety into excitement and using positive "what if" thinking
  -Getting to the bottom of your anxiety with asking the question “then what”

• Applying these tools can lead to increased confidence, productivity, and alignment with your values

• A hopeful fact is that anxiety is treatable, and it is possible to learn to manage and reduce clinical anxiety with practice and the right tools.

Dr. Bobbi Ballard is a clinical psychologist and artist originally from Los Angeles, who currently practices in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has worked as a therapist with artists and creatives for over 20 years. Her current passions include surface pattern design, and expanding her reach as a psychologist beyond one-on-one therapy by facilitating an online membership for artists and creatives who cope with anxiety. 

Follow on instagram and find out how you can work with Dr. Bobbi Ballard through her website.

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