Tracy Shawn's Blog, page 9
July 1, 2014
The Courage That Comes with Anxiety
First Published in Psych Central
By TRACY SHAWN, MA
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
~ Ambrose Redmoon
Courage is not usually a word anxiety sufferers would list as one of their most outstanding attributes. Yet it should be.
For even the best of lives are thorn-ridden with frustration, disappointment, and loss. Add the extremely difficult challenge of trudging through outer problems while contending with the inner turmoil of anxiety, and it’s apparent that fortitude, determination — and yes, courage — are some of the strengths that anxious people may not even realize they posses.
Yet people with anxiety probably carry these strengths in higher reserves than those without anxiety.
Unfortunately, people with anxiety often feel a much larger share of shame and regret, labeling themselves as weak people who can’t control their fears. What people who suffer from anxiety must realize — and remind themselves of — is that anxiety is not something that they brought upon themselves; nor does it make them any weaker than anyone else.
According to Scott Stossel, author of the wildly popular book, My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind, the overwhelming conclusion culminating from tens of thousands of studies on the heritability of anxiety show that the susceptibility to anxiety is strongly determined by genes.
The genetics of anxiety not only make people whom inherent the “worry” gene, more prone to anxiety, it may also make it more difficult to overcome. A Science Daily article dated on March 11, 2009, cites research provided by the Association for Psychological Science, which findings suggest that those susceptible to anxiety disorders are more prone to developing fears, and at the same time, less likely to overcome any fears that arise.
If anxiety stems largely from genetics, our society’s conventional response of “just pull up your socks and deal,” can be seen as both outdated and unrealistic. Just like other inherited medical issues which may cause people to have to turn to the necessary aids of physical therapy, medications, or surgery to correct, anxiety should be viewed as just a real — and sometimes an even more difficult — challenge. To understand and ultimately work toward the most beneficial healing process, it’s time to let go of the fallacy that those who struggle with this debilitating disease are weak.
As Associate Director of the Anxiety and Phobia Treatment Center for White Plains Hospital Center, Martin N. Seif, Ph.D., a clinician who has thirty years experience treating anxiety disorders (and has lived through the crippling effects of anxiety himself), says, “Courage is the discomfort that you are willing to experience in order to reach a goal.” Learning to challenge your anxiety is about resisting the urge to avoid whatever it is that makes you fearful. Seif notes that this is the demonstration of what real courage is all about.
Toward the end of My Age of Anxiety, Stossel shares that even though his anxiety has made him feel like a vulnerable wreck at times, he still recognizes that he probably isn’t as weak as he thinks he is. As his “Dr. W.” points out, living with an anxiety disorder is a handicap.
To manage anxiety while carrying on the best you can (even when you don’t think you are), is a greater accomplishment than anxiety-sufferers give themselves credit for. An accomplishment that equals an invisible, yet determined kind of courage that should be celebrated.
Tracy Shawn lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. Her award-winning novel, The Grace of Crows, is about how an anxiety-ridden woman finds happiness through the most unexpected of ways—and characters. Dubbed a “stunning debut novel” by top 50 Hall of Fame reviewer, Grady Harp, The Grace of Crows has also been hailed as an accurate portrayal of generalized anxiety disorder and a healing opportunity to the reader. Please visitwww.tracyshawn.com for more information.
June 23, 2014
How to Navigate the Challenges of Change by Tracy Shawn, MA
By Tracy Shawn M.A., Noozhawk Columnist | Published on 06.05.2014 3:10 p.m.
Since dealing with change can be both one of the most difficult and common challenges of being human, I decided to interview local therapist Anne Diamondabout tips on how to cope with transformation. Please see below for the full interview.
Q: Andrea Simon, Ph.D., notes in an article for Forbes magazine on April 8 that research in the neuroscience and cognitive sciences shows how change is, indeed, quite difficult for humans. In your experience as a marriage and family therapist, what are some of the best ways to navigate through the difficulties that arise from life changes?
A: I always psycho-educate my clients about what they will encounter when seeking transformation. They will experience difficulty using a new skill set; they will find unfamiliarity uncomfortable and tend to regress (go back) even if that is very issue causing them to want to change. They might find resistance or lack of support from friends or family members, even if those very people desired the change.
If people know what to expect, and understand why the process is difficult, it arms them against self-defeating thoughts like, “It’s me. I am unable to change.”
Q: As a trained therapist, why do you think transformation is so challenging — even if change can often lead to such positive outcomes as increased healthfulness, happiness and awareness?
A: Systems theory, as advanced by Jay Haley and others, posits that an organism — in this case, a person who interacts within a sphere of influences, family, friends, community and culture — may find those forces working against change in a process called homeostasis. Homeostasis is the tendency to resist change. Therefore, changing a long-held view, behavioral pattern or relational dynamic is difficult and painful. It is like swimming upstream.
Q: In The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images (www.aras.org), edited by Ami Ronnberg and Kathleen Martin, transformation is listed under the soul and psyche section. Within the description of transformation is the idea that “the psyche also initiates its own transformation, and that capacity is a sine qua non of psychological health.” In turn, this passage states that pathology can be defined as the incapacity to initiate and respond to transformation.
As a working therapist, do you agree or disagree with these ideas about change and transformation?
A: Yes, I agree with that because inflexibility, in my view, is the basis for almost all psychopathology and certainly emotional pain. For example, families who can’t accept a gay child experience a misplaced sense of failure, which is clearly pathological and they inflict emotional pain upon their child. This is an example of inflexibility. Inflexibility impedes adaption and growth. It impedes intimacy and genuine connection in that it dictates conditional love.
I believe that one component of intrapersonal and societal inflexibility is fear and another component is greed. There may be others such as personality traits. I do want to differentiate between pathological inflexibility and healthy stability, which involves codes of behavior, and standards for education, work, etc.
Q: Recently, a friend exclaimed that her huge, life-changing transformations of going through a divorce, recovering from a debilitating illness and moving were, of course, all very painful — but worth it. In fact, she’s happier now than she was before she found out about her husband’s cheating on her — or her diagnosis!
Do you feel that most “transformational change” is usually painful? And if so, does this pain actually serve a purpose?
A: It’s really wonderful when transformation begins as a choice or as a result of positive influences, for instance through education or religious conversion. Though, other times transformation is a healing or growth process as a result of hurt. It can still be a choice, but it hurts to let go of old patterns and/or relationship. In the case of your friend, I am sure some of the pain was grief. Pain has a purpose, it signals something is wrong and serves a catalyst to seek relief.
People often adapt to painful situations because they fear change, feel hopeless, are too enmeshed (e.g. co-dependent in that they participate in the very thing that hurts them and other people). A downside of being human is to consciously or unconsciously rationalize stagnant, dysfunctional or even dangerous situations. When person wakes to the pain he or she is in, that person is already transforming.
This is the upside, the advantages of taking risks, then growing and evolving as a result, personally and culturally.
Q: What general advice would you give to someone who is afraid to change, yet is also aware that a major life transition is in order?
A: I try to make the idea of change less overwhelming and intimidating by inviting the person to experiment with one or two new behaviors just to learn and observe, rather than getting into a succeed/fail paradigm. I collaborate with my client to create strategies for change.
For instance, I have a young man who avoids contact with his elderly grandparents due to social phobia. This causes guilt with reinforces avoidance. So we created a strategy whereby he asked them to call him every Friday night. He feels really good about it. They are thrilled because they really love him. Now he is using boundary strategies to socialize more often. He learned that it does not have be “all or none,” (for instance, stuck at a dinner party for hours and hours; he can set a boundary by agreeing to show up for dessert). He can determine his comfort level. For him, this change has been transformational and is leading to more changes.
And my ultimate tool in creating the channel for change is hypnosis. In hypnosis, clients can experience change within themselves, explore possibilities to exert a new orientation and then tolerate the unfamiliar feelings of self determination, boundaries or whatever the transformative process is comfortably. I provide post-hypnotic suggestion to enhance this process. Hypnosis opens the door to an internalized sense of self-management.
— Tracy Shawn, M.A., lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. Her award-winning debut novel, The Grace of Crows, is about how an anxiety-ridden woman finds happiness through the most unexpected of ways — and characters. Dubbed a “stunning debut novel” by top 50 Hall of Fame reviewer Grady Harp,The Grace of Crows has also been hailed as an accurate portrayal of generalized anxiety disorder and a healing opportunity to the readers. Click here for more information about Shawn, or click here to visit her author page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter: @TracyShawn. The opinions expressed are her own.
June 10, 2014
Why Novel Reading Reduces Anxiety
First Published in Psych Central Magazine
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.”
~James Baldwin, American author (1924-1987)
In The Power of Myth, the late scholar and famous mythologist Joseph Campbell explains that stories help give us relevance and meaning to our lives and that “… in popular novels, the main character is a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience.”
In response to Campbell’s discussion about how the hero’s journey in myth and literature is about creating a more mature — and better — version of oneself, the distinguished journalist Bill Moyers pointed out how everyday people — “who may not be heroes in the grand sense of redeeming society” — can still relate to a protagonist’s transformation, allowing even the most outwardly meek of us to embark on an inner kind of hero’s journey.
The simple act of reading a novel, then, can give us a psychological shot of courage, encouraging personal growth while reducinganxiety.
In fact, there’s even a term for this phenomenon: bibliotherapy. First coined by Presbyterian minister Samuel M. Crothers in 1916, bibliotherapy is a combination of the Greek words for therapy and books. And now author Alain de Botton has created a bibliotherapy service at his London company, The School of Life, in which bibliotherapists with PhDs in literature introduce people to books that de Botton states, “…are important to them at that moment in their life.”
The author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, a book that explains the significance of literature and how it gives insight into one’s own journey, and Status Anxiety, a nonfiction book about overcoming the universal anxiety of what others think of us, de Botton blends literary fiction and self-help through his bibliotherapy service. Dubbed a “brilliant reading prescription” by de Botton, this therapeutic approach helps encourage emotional healing by matching whatever personal challenges a person is going through with specific literature.
Of course, the concept behind bibliotherapy is nothing new. Inscribed over the door of the ancient library at Thebes was the phrase “Healing place for the soul.” And among the many examples of bibliotherapy practices over time, both Britain and the United States established patients’ libraries in hospitals during the First World War, where librarians used reading to encourage recovery for soldiers with physical as well as mental trauma.
Now, science is proving the mythologists, authors, and librarians right. A recent study at Emory University has shown that novel reading enhances connectivity in the brain as well as improving brain function. Published in the university’s eScienceCommons blog on December 17, 2013 by Carol Clark, the lead author of the study and neuroscientist, Professor Gregory Berns, is quoted as saying, “The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist.” Clark also writes that Berns notes how the neural changes weren’t just immediate reactions, but persisted the mornings after the readings as well as for five days after participants completed the novel.
Good stories, then, not only help us relate to the hero’s journey, as Joseph Campbell pointed out, but the act of reading them actually can reconfigure brain networks. This means that not only are we able to escape from our problems while reading, it also increases compassion to another’s suffering — as well as perhaps to one’s own — which can be a major aid to self-growth and healing, as well as helping to decrease anxiety and depression.
Readers have intuitively known this all along. No authors, mythologists, or scientists need to explain to the readers who responded to a question in the Social Anxiety Network (posted in March 2012) about whether reading helps anxiety and depression. As one respondent said, “For me reading lets me escape into another ‘world’ it’s like I become the protagonist,” while another reader shares, “Definitely — it takes me to another world for a while and gets my mind off of obsessing over my problems, anxieties, etc. Reading a good book is always relaxing therapy for me.”
Looking at both the scientific and anecdotal evidence, it’s apparent that researchers and readers are on the same page. So remember that a prescription for your distress may just be an arm’s length away — to your bedside table, where that novel is patiently waiting for you to step inside and embark on your own inner journey.
Author Tracy Shawn enjoys visiting local book clubs and is also available to Skype as a guest author at one of your book club gatherings. Please feel free to contact her on her website: http://www.tracyshawn.com/contact-t-shawn/ or email her at: author@tracyshawn.com.
Tracy Shawn lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. Her award-winning debut novel, The Grace of Crows , is about how an anxiety-ridden woman finds happiness through the most unexpected of ways—and characters. Hailed as a deeply moving heroine’s journey and a story that lingers in the mind long after the finish, The Grace of Crows has also been regarded as a powerful fictional read, which paints an accurate portrayal of generalized anxiety disorder and a healing opportunity to the reader.
May 12, 2014
The Everyday Writing Process by Tracy Shawn, MA
Writing Process Blog Tour for Twitter #MondayBlogs
By
Tracy Shawn, MA
Author of award-winning novel The Grace of Crows www.amazon.com/author/tracyshawn
Thank you to the wonderful writer, Michelle Robin La (www.michellerobinla.com), who invited me to be a part of this Writing Process Blog Tour. I so appreciate Michelle, as well as all the other readers and writers I’ve “met” on Twitter.
Listed below are the general questions and my specific answers for “My Writing Process Blog Tour.”
Question: What am I working on?
Answer: I’m currently working on my second novel about a woman who has just miscarried for the third time and the conflicts that ensue with her husband.
I have to say, though, that I’m spending far too much time promoting my debut novel, The Grace of Crows, right now instead of working on the second one.
Question: How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Answer: This is a good question. My work is definitely not as literary as some serious women’s fiction, yet it’s definitely not “chick-lit” either. I guess you’d call it Contemporary Fiction with a thoughtful tone.
Question: Why do I write what I do?
Answer: I write in this genre because I love telling the heroine’s journey in which the protagonist struggles—and heals—from some kind of inner torment.
What does this say about me as a writer and person? It says that yes, indeed, I’m another “tormented” artist who uses writing as her own kind of healing process, as well as wanting to reach out and help readers on their own personal journeys.
Question: How does your writing process work?
Answer: I wish I could say that I hop out of bed and write. But, it doesn’t work that way for me. In order to focus, I’ve found that I need to get most of my stuff “out of the way” first. So I clean house, exercise, and answer emails before I’m clear-headed enough to pound away on my laptop keys.
Also, when I experience the so-called writer’s block (which I believe is just a case of “I’m burned-out at the moment spell”), I’ll get up to do laundry, make a quick phone call, or fix some green tea. Inevitably, I get the answer I’m looking for and can once again move forward in my work.
As far as the physical aspect of getting words down on paper, I find that when I’m working my nonfiction articles, I work sitting at the desk and referring to my notes and printed-up documents as I write.
When I’m writing fiction, I absolutely love to lounge on the couch with my laptop perched on a pillow as I tap away. I believe this laid-back method enhances my creative flow!
Who is next to blog for May 19th? Below are some bios on amazing authors with links to their websites:
Janet Lucy, MA, is an award-winning writer and poet, and the author of Moon Mother, Moon Daughter ~ Myths and Rituals that Celebrate a Girl’s Coming of Age and The Three Sunflowers, a children’s book for all ages. Her work has been published in numerous magazines, featured in newspapers and on TV. Janet is the Founder/Director of Women’s Creative Network (WCN) in Santa Barbara, California, a consulting business emphasizing intuitive, creative and professional development through writing. Janet offers individual consulting, weekly writing groups, and international writing retreats.
Dr. Greg Marcus is a recovering workaholic who helps the chronically overworked find life balance through his book, public speaking, and personal coaching. Dr. Greg is the author of “Busting Your Corporate Idol: Self-Help for the Chronically Overworked.”
For a time Dr. Greg worked 90 hours a week, which impacted his personal health and family relationships. Then, he cut his working hours by a third, and at the same time accelerated his career. The secret? He rejected his corporate idolatry, and started putting people first.
To learn more, please visit Dr. Greg’s website idolbuster.com (linked to http://idolbuster.com)
Anoop Ahuja Judge is the author of debut novel The Rummy Club. The Rummy Club is now available on Amazon, in print & in kindle, in your local B&N, and on my website, below.
http://therummyclub-anovel.com/
“Anoop Ahuja Judge shines at scene setting, in both India and the San Francisco Bay Area, with abundant, lush details.” ForeWord Reviews
(Please note: Ms. Judge will be submitting her blog on May 26th)
May 4, 2014
Tracy Shawn: Resources, Help Are Available for Those Confronting Anxiety and Depression
(First Published on Noozhawk.com)
By Tracy Shawn M.A., Noozhawk Columnist | Published on 05.03.2014 1:30 p.m.
Alies Muskin, executive director of theAnxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), recently agreed to an interview in advance of National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week, May 4-10.
Q: As the leader in research for anxiety and related disorders, please share the variety of ways Anxiety and Depression Association of America helps improve the lives of millions of children and adults.
A: Our website offers a great variety of educational resources, all available for free. Many people who are suffering with anxiety disorders feel they are alone, unaware that millions experience similar symptoms. One of our goals is to educate those people and their loved ones about the disorders and effective treatments.
The site also has some specific information for children and teens, college students, women, older adults, and military members and their families. It also offers videos, podcasts and webinars with expert therapists. Another goal is to help people get the treatment they need. We respond to tens of thousands of email and phone requests each year about how to find a local therapist, clinical trial or support group.
Q: The facts and statistics section of your website states that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 18 percent of the U.S. population. This statistic means that a staggering 40 million American adults age 18 and older suffer from anxiety. Why do you think only one third of those 40 million people receive treatment?
A: Unlike the everyday anxiety or sadness we all feel from time to time, the physical and psychological symptoms associated with anxiety disorders and depression are often so intense that they stop people from doing the very things they want and often love to do. People with these disorders look fine, but they are embarrassed and afraid to tell people what is actually wrong or how they are feeling because it might be trivialized. Others may think they should be able to overcome this on their own. There is still a great deal of stigma around seeking treatment for mental health disorders. There are good, effective treatments available for these disorders and ADAA strives to increase awareness of these treatments and help people find the help they need to lead healthy lives.
Q: Why is it so common for someone with anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression?
A: Anxiety disorders are ubiquitous and they can exist on their own and as a complication of other disorders, such as depression. We also know that anxiety disorders are developmental disorders that appear in children and teens. Anxiety is associated with relapse and the development of multiple disorders. Early diagnosis and treatment is important.
Q: Although anxiety disorders are so prevalent, why do you believe there’s still a stigma? How does ADAA work to reduce that stigma?
A: Stigma happens for many reasons. ADAA believes that education and credible, available information is the best way to end stigma. We provide information in many formats to help all who are affected by these disorders.
Q: How treatable are anxiety disorders? Please share how ADAA helps link people to the right health-care professionals.
A: Anxiety disorders are very treatable. There are good accessible treatments for adults and children in both medications and psychotherapies. ADAA links people to health professionals who specialize in treating these disorders.
F.Y.I.
In honor of National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week (May 4-10),Cherokee McGhee Publishing will be donating a $1 to Anxiety and Depression Association of America for every e-book and paperback copy of the award-winning novel The Grace of Crows purchased on Amazon from May 4-10, 2014. The Grace of Crows, by Tracy Shawn, is the story about how an anxiety-ridden woman finds happiness through the most unexpected of ways — and characters.
— Tracy Shawn, M.A., is a local writer whose debut novel, The Grace of Crows(published by Cherokee McGhee Publishing) is available on Amazon and other online bookstores. The Grace of Crows is about what happens after an anxiety-ridden woman reconnects with a childhood friend who is now a homeless man living under a pier in Malibu. Click here for more information about Shawn, orclick here to visit her author page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter: @TracyShawn. The opinions expressed are her own.
April 7, 2014
Why a Novel About Anxiety
Tracy Shawn – Why a Novel About Anxiety?
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Years ago, I was sitting alongside other budding novelists in an ongoing writing class, rapt attention on the much-revered teacher. She asked each of us to share what our novels-in-progress were about. Trying to the keep the shakiness out of my voice, I said, “It’s about what happens when a woman with severe anxiety reconnects with a childhood friend who is now homeless.” She nodded and moved on to the next student.
When everyone had answered, she drew in an audible breath then exhaled with the kind of emphasis she reserved for her most astute of advice. “You can’t write a whole novel about anxiety,” she said, not looking at me. But I stared straight at her, wondering where my otherwise supportive teacher was coming from.
When I shuffled out with a fellow student for break, I asked her what she thought this meant. She shrugged her shoulders, saying that she’s known a lot of people who become annoyed—even hostile—when people around them are suffering from the torment of anxiety. I nodded, knowing that my friend was right. Then, instead of going back to class, I pulled my keys from my purse and zoomed out the parking lot. As soon as I got home, I went right back to work.
JESSICA DRENK “IMPLEMENT 8″
Why did this teacher’s claim that you can’t write a novel about anxiety spur me on even more than before? Because I finally got it: we’re all scared. And those people who are most irritated by other’s fears and anxieties, are the ones who may be just as fearful—if not more so—than every other human being.
Of course, the anxiety that comes with being human also comes in degrees. Some happy-go-lucky types only have to deal with worry due to real-life circumstances; others suffer from unrelenting dread, no matter what’s happening on the outside surface of their lives. But no matter the degrees, I know that as a reader, I’m able to relate to the characters in novels with wholly different—and more times than not—way bigger problems and issues than myself.
My intent in writing The Grace of Crows was to present readers with a heroines journey that would help them feel less alone with their anxieties and irrational fears, as well as let them know that there’s hope. Purposely crafting it with the goal that it would become the kind of novel I would have wanted to read when I had been stuck in the darkest years of my own anxiety, I’m pleased to say that total strangers have shared with me how they’ve related to the protagonist’s struggles.
Sure, I know that a great number of wonderful nonfiction books on anxiety have aided others as well as myself, but I’ve always known that reading fiction is also healing. By creating a sense of stepping into a hero/heroines world and taking that journey alongside him or her, a reader can feel a sense of connection and confidence. It is what is referred to as bibliotherapy, a term first coined by Presbyterian minister Samuel M. Crothers in 1916, who combined the Greek words for therapy and books. Bibliotherapy—whether it is given this title or not in practice—has been used by therapists, librarians, and nurses for many years and in many environments (for example, during the First World War, librarians and nurses used reading to encourage both physical and emotional recovery for soldiers).
And now science confirms the healing power of a good novel. In a recent study at Emory University, the lead author and neuroscientist, Professor Gregory Berns is quoted in the university’s eScienceCommons blog: “The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist.”
And there you have it. It’s not only possible for an author to write a “whole novel about anxiety,” it’s just as possible for readers to further their own healing journey by cracking open a novel.
Tracy Shawn
Tracy Shawn lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. Her educational background includes a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Her award-winning debut novel, The Grace of Crows , is about how an anxiety-ridden woman finds happiness through the most unexpected of ways—and characters. Dubbed a “stunning debut novel” by top 50 Hall of Fame reviewer, Grady Harp, The Grace of Crows has also been hailed as an accurate portrayal of generalized anxiety disorder and a healing opportunity to the reader by Anne Diamond, MS, LMFT.
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TAGS: Anxiety, Art, books, fiction, healing processes, novel
December 31, 2013
Author Interview
Below is an interview (published in the Santa Barbara Independent) in which I explain why I wrote a novel about anxiety, the inspiration for some of the characters, and the publishing process.
Books: The Grace of Crows
An Interview with Author Tracy Shawn
Monday, December 23, 2013
by DAVID STARKEY
Tracy Shawn has a Master’s degree in clinical psychology. Her first novel, set in coastal California, follows the emotional journey of a woman besieged by near-paralyzing anxiety.
Saylor Crawmore, the protagonist ofThe Grace of Crows, is deeply anxious about almost everything. Why did you find her anxiety so compelling?
I have suffered from severe anxiety myself and wanted to write a story that others could relate to, learn from, and ultimately gain perspective and a grounded kind of hope from as well.
That can be tricky—transforming your own life into fiction. What challenges did you face turning Tracy into Saylor?
I really didn’t face too many challenges in this regard because Saylor is a wholly fictional person with her own personality, history, and different kind of fears than me. Although, if she were a real-life person, we definitely would be able to commiserate about our anxiety!
A key moment in the novel comes when Saylor runs into Billy, a friend from her child who’s now homeless. Why is Billy such an important character?
Billy can be seen as a symbol of Saylor’s deep-seated and irrational fear of losing everyone she loves. And yet, he is also a survivor with a loyal heart, the positive mirror of who Saylor really is.
I gather that Billy is based on a real person?
Growing up, I did have a childhood friend who I often thought about in my adult life. One day, I found myself crying just thinking about him, and somehow intuitively knew that something had gone terribly wrong with his life. I called a friend, who still lived in my hometown, and she said that she had picked him up hitchhiking just a week or so before and that he was now homeless and deranged. Unfortunately, I never found him, and from what I know through the grapevine, he probably is dead now. What’s weird is that when I was writing The Grace of Crows, I pictured him living under a pier, and found out later, that for a time, the “real” Billy actually did.
It’s tough getting a novel published. Can you talk about the process of finding a home for The Grace of Crows?
Oh boy, is it tough! I made many mistakes along the way, including querying agents before the novel was ready. After a large number of rejections, I decided to query small, but traditional presses. Interestingly, after months of rejections, I had two that were interested. I signed with Cherokee McGhee and after a year of revisions and editing, it was published!
Can you tell me a little about Cherokee McGhee? That’s an interesting name for a publisher.
It is, isn’t it? I actually don’t know the reason behind the name, but I queried them because I liked that their homepage states that they “strive to bring excellence in literature that may be missing in the celebrity-oriented big houses of New York.”
Tracy Shawn lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. She’s worn many work hats (including waitress, floral designer, receptionist, vocational rehabilitation counselor, and core counselor at a psychiatric center for schizophrenic adults). Her educational background includes a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Tracy enjoys incorporating her educational background and eclectic work history to heighten character development in her short stories and novels. Her writing has appeared in literary journals as well as print and online newspapers and magazines. Her debut novel, “The Grace of Crows” (Amazon link: http://amzn.to/19mA6r1), is about what happens after a woman with debilitating anxiety reconnects with a childhood friend who has become homeless and living under a pier in Malibu. (Amazon Author Page Link:https://www.amazon.com/author/tracyshawn).
Why I Wrote a Novel About Anxiety
Below is an interview (published in the Santa Barbara Independent) in which I explain why I wrote a novel about anxiety, the inspiration for some of the characters, and the publishing process.
Books: The Grace of Crows
An Interview with Author Tracy Shawn
Monday, December 23, 2013
by DAVID STARKEY
Tracy Shawn has a Master’s degree in clinical psychology. Her first novel, set in coastal California, follows the emotional journey of a woman besieged by near-paralyzing anxiety.
Saylor Crawmore, the protagonist ofThe Grace of Crows, is deeply anxious about almost everything. Why did you find her anxiety so compelling?
I have suffered from severe anxiety myself and wanted to write a story that others could relate to, learn from, and ultimately gain perspective and a grounded kind of hope from as well.
That can be tricky—transforming your own life into fiction. What challenges did you face turning Tracy into Saylor?
I really didn’t face too many challenges in this regard because Saylor is a wholly fictional person with her own personality, history, and different kind of fears than me. Although, if she were a real-life person, we definitely would be able to commiserate about our anxiety!
A key moment in the novel comes when Saylor runs into Billy, a friend from her child who’s now homeless. Why is Billy such an important character?
Billy can be seen as a symbol of Saylor’s deep-seated and irrational fear of losing everyone she loves. And yet, he is also a survivor with a loyal heart, the positive mirror of who Saylor really is.
I gather that Billy is based on a real person?
Growing up, I did have a childhood friend who I often thought about in my adult life. One day, I found myself crying just thinking about him, and somehow intuitively knew that something had gone terribly wrong with his life. I called a friend, who still lived in my hometown, and she said that she had picked him up hitchhiking just a week or so before and that he was now homeless and deranged. Unfortunately, I never found him, and from what I know through the grapevine, he probably is dead now. What’s weird is that when I was writing The Grace of Crows, I pictured him living under a pier, and found out later, that for a time, the “real” Billy actually did.
It’s tough getting a novel published. Can you talk about the process of finding a home for The Grace of Crows?
Oh boy, is it tough! I made many mistakes along the way, including querying agents before the novel was ready. After a large number of rejections, I decided to query small, but traditional presses. Interestingly, after months of rejections, I had two that were interested. I signed with Cherokee McGhee and after a year of revisions and editing, it was published!
Can you tell me a little about Cherokee McGhee? That’s an interesting name for a publisher.
It is, isn’t it? I actually don’t know the reason behind the name, but I queried them because I liked that their homepage states that they “strive to bring excellence in literature that may be missing in the celebrity-oriented big houses of New York.”
Tracy Shawn lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. She’s worn many work hats (including waitress, floral designer, receptionist, vocational rehabilitation counselor, and core counselor at a psychiatric center for schizophrenic adults). Her educational background includes a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Tracy enjoys incorporating her educational background and eclectic work history to heighten character development in her short stories and novels. Her writing has appeared in literary journals as well as print and online newspapers and magazines. Her debut novel, “The Grace of Crows” (Amazon link: http://amzn.to/19mA6r1), is about what happens after a woman with debilitating anxiety reconnects with a childhood friend who has become homeless and living under a pier in Malibu. (Amazon Author Page Link:https://www.amazon.com/author/tracyshawn).
December 3, 2013
3 Ways to Reduce Anxiety & Increase Confidence
Tracy Shawn: 3 Ways to Reduce Anxiety, Increase Confidence at Holidays and Beyond
By Tracy Shawn, Noozhawk Columnist | Published on 11.26.2013 3:14 p.m.
’Tis the season when anxiety can skyrocket and self-confidence can plummet. For those 40 million-plus people in the United States who already battle ongoing anxiety, the social stresses of the holidays can often serve to increase negative, out-of-control feelings. To engage happily in social situations creates a pressure that can make anxiety-sufferers feel even worse, especially if that pressure makes people not engage at all.
Fear can make the anxiety-ridden avoid all kinds of social activities. And yet, socializing helps maintain and build self-esteem. We are social animals and spending time with others, enjoying parties, even engaging in work meetings, encourages confidence. When people experience self-doubt, they may sink further into self-isolation, and then it becomes even more difficult to connect with others. Unfortunately, this avoidance behavior only exacerbates the problem, and, thus, creates a vicious cycle. But the good news is that anxiety and self-esteem are not fixed states. The very things that seem scary and stressful to undertake — but in actuality boost self-confidence — can be conquered with the right techniques.
1. Don’t dive in, step in.
Alice Boyes, Ph.D., writes in Psychology Today that one of the methods used in cognitive behavioral therapy (called situation exposure hierarchies), can help people overcome many kinds of social challenges. Clients list the situations or things that they avoid on a scale from highest to lowest. For example, a person who is fearful of asserting herself might put asking her boss for a raise on top of her list, while at the bottom, would be asking the friendly store clerk where the frozen pizzas are.
Clients then take this list and work their way up from the least distressing to the most, taking care not to make huge jumps along the way. What this technique does is help people build a slow, but steady and secure sense of ease through their accomplishments. With time, this method also helps people with long-term confidence because they’ve cemented a strong foundation from which they can continue to work from.
2. Practice self-compassion.
In the book, The Power of Self-Compassion: Using Compassion-Focused Therapy to End Self-Criticism and Build Self-Confidence, author and clinical psychologist Mary Welford notes that one of the most powerful ways to build confidence is to practice self-compassion. Welford asserts that self-compassion increases confidence because it helps remind people to support themselves as much as they would a dear friend or relative. Also, self-compassion helps get people out of the habit of self-criticism. (When we are too self-critical of ourselves, self-confidence will nose-dive.)
But how does one learn to practice self-compassion? One of the easiest ways is simply being mindful of self-talk. When facing a stressful situation, remind yourself that everyone gets nervous and that it’s okay to make mistakes. This lowers distress, and can help you engage in social interactions that you may have avoided if you had listened to that overly judgmental voice.
Another simple, yet effective, way to increase both self-compassion and confidence is to focus on your own well being. Although it’s important to be there for your loved ones, you can still take care of yourself. Remember that the simple acts of exercising, eating right, and engaging in the things you love, as well as allowing yourself time off to relax and recharge, are some of the most basic, yet significant ways to increase overall health. Taking care of yourself fuels confidence because physical health boosts emotional health. And on a psychological level, you’re reminding yourself that you are just as important as anyone else, which nourishes self-esteem even further.
3. Surround yourself with positive people.
Google “surround yourself with positive people,” and scores of professional psychological sites, as well as individual blogs, attest to how people are positively affected by confident, optimistic friends. These are the friends you can count on to genuinely cheer you on during successes, and offer words of encouragement during challenges. When you spend more time with these positive companions, your own self-esteem can climb because they set great examples, while helping you gain a more can-do perspective.
Then, with time and effort on your part, you learn to be more of a positive person yourself, enjoying life with more solid self-confidence. And as your self-esteem increases, your capacity to be an affirming friend expands, and in turn, you’re not only helping yourself, but also those around you.
— Tracy Shawn, M.A., is a local writer whose debut novel, The Grace of Crows(published by Cherokee McGhee Publishing in October) is available on Amazonand other online bookstores. The Grace of Crows is about what happens after an anxiety-ridden woman reconnects with a childhood friend who is now a homeless man living under a pier in Malibu. Click here for more information about Shawn, or click here to visit her author page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter: @TracyShawn.
September 18, 2013
The Art Of Anxiety
(Originally posted in Psychology Tomorrow Magazine)
When I was thirteen years old, I bought a wall hanging depicting neon-yellow lemons converging into a sea of lemonade. Emblazoned across the cloth was the now-clichéd phrase: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” At the time, I thought it was one of the most profound things I had ever heard. I would stare at those words, listening to Joni Mitchell, my young, teenage self just knowing that Joni’s exquisite music would not exist without a deeper anguish beyond what her already self-revealing lyrics divulged.
[image error] “THE FIRE IN BUSINGATHA” BY JOAKIM ESKILDSEN
Though it’s been some four decades since my melancholic youth, I understand even more now that artists struggle with a higher-than-average rate of anxiety (as well as other mental and emotional issues). Our culture has even normalized the tormented artist syndrome, with drugged-out, depressed, and on-the-brink-of-nervous breakdown characterizations of musicians, painters, and writers in movies and books as a kind of anguished-soul archetype. But that torment isn’t just about the artist’s ongoing struggle of creating in a world that may or may not appreciate that person’s talent. It also stems from both the pre-existing anxiety and creativity – which can, in turn, further fuel the anxiety.
Co-founder of the Midwest Center for the Treatment of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression (StressCenter), Lucinda Bassett 
notes in her bestselling book From Panic to Power that anxiety-sufferers tend to be highly creative people with fantastic imaginations. Bassett explains that this innate creativity can also exacerbate the anxiety. By using their imaginations to create the worst — and sometimes quite irrational — fears, people who suffer from anxiety may know that they are creative, but are unaware that their talent is actually stoking their fears.
Interestingly, a study by The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy (PRWeb) released in February notes a higher propensity for anxiety amongst people who believe that they are creative in some way. Paul Howard, an anxiety specialist at the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy, surmises that creative people may be more prone to anxiety because they’re so talented in imagining quite vibrant visualizations of the “what-ifs.” Howard’s sentiments are in clear agreement with Bassett’s, with many anxiety-sufferer’s first-hand accounts in articles, blogs, and books attesting to the same finely-tuned talent in imagining the worse.
[image error] “SLEEVES” BY MICHAËL BORREMANS | DAVID ZWIRNER
The October 17th, 2012 edition of BBC News by the health editor of BBC News Online, Michelle Roberts, touches upon the question of what kind of treatment options are the most beneficial for someone who may be suffering from emotional issues and at the same time is highly creative. Roberts notes that lead researcher Dr. Simon Kyaga suggests that disorders should be viewed in a new light – with certain traits actually being beneficial or desirable. Roberts quotes Dr. Kyaga as saying, “If one takes the view that certain phenomena associated with the patient’s illness are beneficial, it opens the way for a new approach to treatment.”
With this in mind, perhaps when artists engage in their work, what is happening beyond the outward expression of creativity is an inward kind of practical self-medication. And when creative people do not actively channel their abilities, their talent can turn on them, a rush of what-if imaginings flooding their minds with anxiety. The challenge for anxiety sufferers is to be able to acknowledge their creativity, then actively use it in whatever ways they can so that their talents become a positive force rather than a negative drain. As the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell reminds us, the greatest weakness that a hero struggles with – and then overcomes – may very likely become that hero’s greatest strength.
Tracy Shawn lives and writes on the Central Coast of California. She’s worn many work hats (including waitress, floral designer, receptionist, vocational rehabilitation counselor, and core counselor at a psychiatric center for schizophrenic adults). Her educational background includes a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Tracy enjoys incorporating her educational background and eclectic work history to heighten character development in her short stories and novels. Her writing has appeared in literary journals as well as print and online newspapers and magazines. Her debut novel, “The Grace of Crows” (Amazon link: http://amzn.to/19mA6r1), is about what happens after a woman with debilitating anxiety reconnects with a childhood friend who has become homeless and living under a pier in Malibu. (Amazon Author Page Link:https://www.amazon.com/author/tracyshawn).
