Mental Health

From Personal Health Scare to a Passion for Healing: Dr. Calvin Fitch's Journey to Psychology

Hi, this is Dr. Calvin Fitch, a social anxiety doctor, clinical psychologist here. The question is, what drew you to a career in psychology? So I'm always pretty honest about this. So in college, I actually had an HIV scare. And this was back in the days when you had to wait like three months in order to get tested. So of course during this period, I'm anxious as hell, googling the chances that I might have it, what the symptoms are, and I kept coming across that your lymph nodes would be chronically swollen and that you would get the worst flu of your life. All of those things were happening for me. My lymph nodes were always swollen, I was sick every week, and I was actually losing weight. So when the three months were up, I went and got tested, and thankfully the test came back negative. But I still couldn't explain at the time why I was having all of these symptoms. And the answer was stress. So I ended up studying health psychology, which really emphasizes the mind-body connection, and got my PhD and decided to pursue psychology because I never wanted anyone to have to endure the level of stress that I did to where it manifests in physical symptoms and have to do that alone. So that was a primary motivation for me. And I really appreciate that question, and I give an honest answer for two reasons. One, to emphasize that as psychologists, we are not squeaky clean and everything hasn't gone perfect for us. We've struggled as well. And two, for anybody who might want to get into a career like this, really embrace those aspects of yourself that kind of make you vulnerable or things that you've been through because that's going to make you a better psychologist and able to relate to more people and help more people.

I pursued psychology after having an HIV scare in college which was caused by stress. I wanted to help people who might be going through similar experiences, so I studied health psychology and got my PhD.

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What drew me to a career in psychology? Well, during college, I experienced an HIV scare that caused a lot of anxiety. I spent three months anxiously waiting to get tested and during that time, I researched the symptoms and constantly worried. Strangely enough, I started experiencing symptoms like chronic swollen lymph nodes, frequent illness, and weight loss. Thankfully, the test came back negative, but it made me realize that stress was the cause of these physical manifestations. This experience led me to study health psychology, which focuses on the mind-body connection. I pursued my PhD in psychology because I never wanted anyone to go through the level of stress I did or have to face it alone with physical symptoms. This personal motivation is what drove me towards this career path. I appreciate this question because it allows me to be honest and transparent about my own struggles. It's important for people to know that psychologists aren't perfect and have faced challenges too. Furthermore, for those considering a career in psychology, embracing your vulnerabilities and personal experiences can make you a better psychologist who can relate to and help more people.

What is dialectical behavior therapy and how does it help individuals with mood disorders?

DBT: Practical Skills for Managing Mood Disorders

Hi, Dr. Calvin Fitch here, social anxiety doctor. The question is, what is dialectical behavior therapy and how does it help with mood disorders? So in short, dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT for short, helps people who feel emotions more intensely or for a longer duration of time than other people. So if you think about mood disorders, depression, people feel sadness at a higher intensity and for a longer duration than others. There are tons of skills in DBT, but they cluster into four areas. First, you'll learn mindfulness skills, which are designed to help you get present focused in a nonjudgmental way, because in mood disorders, we're everywhere but the present in a very judgmental way. Second, DBT will teach you emotion regulation skills to help you identify the emotions you're feeling, change the emotions you don't want and decrease your emotional vulnerability in the first place. Third, you'll learn distress tolerance techniques that are designed to help you withstand extremely painful emotions without resorting to self-destructive behaviors. And lastly, you'll learn interpersonal effectiveness skills that are designed to help you get the support to regulate your emotions, but also end destructive relationships that might be impairing your ability to regulate your emotions. If you're a person that likes therapy that contains really practical skills, you might wanna check DBT out. And I discuss elements of it on my Instagram, which is linked and my TikTok channel, The Social Anxiety Doctor.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based therapy for people who feel emotions more intensely than others. It includes four clusters of skills: mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills are designed to help people regulate their emotions and improve their relationships.

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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a therapeutic approach that helps individuals with mood disorders who experience intense emotions or prolonged emotional states. In mood disorders like depression, people often feel sadness at a higher intensity and for a longer duration than others.

DBT consists of various skills that fall into four main areas. First, mindfulness skills are taught to help individuals focus on the present moment without judgment. This is important because mood disorders often cause individuals to be mentally scattered and judgmental. 

Second, emotion regulation skills are taught to help individuals identify their emotions, modify unwanted emotions, and reduce emotional vulnerability. These skills aim to provide individuals with greater control over their emotional experiences.

Third, distress tolerance techniques are taught to help individuals cope with extremely painful emotions without resorting to self-destructive behaviors. These techniques help individuals build resilience and withstand emotional distress.

Lastly, interpersonal effectiveness skills are taught to help individuals seek support for regulating their emotions and to navigate and end destructive relationships that may hinder emotional regulation.

DBT is known for its practical approach, offering tangible skills that individuals can apply in their daily lives. If you prefer therapy that provides practical skills, DBT may be worth exploring. Dr. Calvin Fitch discusses elements of DBT on his Instagram and TikTok channels, which are linked for further information.

What is your advice for good mental health?

Unlocking the Key to Good Mental Health: Living in Alignment with Values

Hi, Dr. Calvin Fitch, social anxiety doctor here. The question is, what is your advice for good mental health? So I'm not going to give you advice for good mental health, I'm going to give you advice for the best mental health. And so that's going to involve, firstly, living a life that is consistent with your values. So identifying your values and living your life consistent with those values. So in order to do this, I always like to ask people if it was your 99th birthday and somebody was giving a toast about you and everything that you've done in your life, someone you really love, and what would you want them to say about you in the areas of relationships, career, and just kind of knowledge, spirituality, health. If you answer those questions, it might give you some insight into what your values are. And from there, you can start to think about, okay, what are my goals in the next three months, in the next year, to reach kind of alignment with those values. And from there, you can start to schedule in activities in your week that are going to bring you closer to those goals and therefore closer to your values. The second piece of advice is to be like a Florida palm tree. So what I mean by that is you need to be able to be flexible with the winds of life. If you've ever seen a palm tree in a hurricane, what are they doing? Swaying back and forth, but they're not snapping. Why? Because they're willing to be flexible and acknowledge reality. So there may be a time when you cannot completely, you know, fulfill a value, either temporarily or permanently, you know, in the case of many chronic illnesses. You have to be able to adjust and accept that the way that you envisioned that value being filled may have to look a little bit different. And so being able to adjust with the winds of life as life throws you different gusts in different directions is going to be key to sort of preserving your energy and vitality and your happiness. So let your values drive you towards the person that you want to be. And let your Florida palm mentality allow you to course correct when life inevitably throws you roadblocks.

To have good mental health, live a life that is consistent with your values and be flexible with the winds of life.

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For the best mental health, my advice is to live a life consistent with your values. Identify your values and strive to align your actions and choices accordingly. To gain insight into your values, imagine someone giving a toast about you on your 99th birthday, highlighting your achievements in relationships, career, knowledge, spirituality, and health. From there, set goals for the next three months or year that bring you closer to aligning with those values. Schedule activities that support these goals and reinforce your values.

Another important piece of advice is to be flexible like a Florida palm tree. Just like a palm tree sways in a hurricane without snapping, be willing to adapt and acknowledge reality. There may be times when you cannot fully fulfill a value temporarily or permanently due to circumstances like chronic illness. Adjusting and accepting that the path to fulfilling a value might look different is crucial. Flexibility allows you to preserve energy, vitality, and happiness despite the challenges life throws at you.

Let your values guide you towards becoming the person you aspire to be, while maintaining a Florida palm mentality that allows you to course-correct when faced with roadblocks.

Are there any specific interventions or techniques you use to address performance anxiety in athletes or performers?

Mastering Performance Anxiety: Practice, Mindfulness, Visualization

social anxiety doctor here. The question is, are there any specific interventions or techniques you use to address performance anxiety in athletes or performers? Absolutely. And this is, these are people that I've worked with a number of times. So the first skill I often use is practice, practice, practice. I know that probably sounds like your coach or whoever trained you, but a lot of people with anxiety will tend to avoid practice or when they're practicing, they won't kind of be all there. So we learned different techniques for being able to practice mindfully, which calls in the specific skill, which is the second skill, mindfulness. So mindfulness involves paying attention on purpose to the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. So the way that we usually teach this is by starting out with something completely mundane, like paying attention to cars on the road, right? And being able to observe the car in the present and describe it, not thinking about where the car's been or where it's going, just what's happening in the present moment. Sounds totally stupid, I know, but take that into something like an Olympic trial, right? You are going to need to concentrate on the task at hand while also being able to have these thoughts in your head of what's going to happen if I qualify or I don't qualify, what are the mistakes I've made in the past and all of these other things. So being in a mindful place involves letting those things be there and you can focus on the task at hand. And so by practicing in those more mundane situations, you can bring it to a high pressure situation like an Olympic trial. And the last technique that I like to use is a lot of visualization and imagery. So visualizing yourself doing what needs to be done in excruciating detail. So I'm thinking about a time that I worked with someone who was a competitive swimmer. And so we would actually, we were working on a butterfly stroke and a really important race and we would write out and record what needed to be done from the largest muscles that needed to be engaged to the smallest muscles in excruciating detail. And they would listen to that over and over and kind of do a mental rehearsal and visualize themselves doing it. So that type of mental rehearsal kind of preps you for your big event or whatever you might be doing. So those are a few techniques I like.

I use techniques such as practice, mindfulness and visualisation to help athletes and performers with performance anxiety.

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As a social anxiety doctor, I often use specific interventions and techniques to address performance anxiety in athletes or performers. The first important skill is consistent practice. Many individuals with anxiety tend to avoid practice or not fully engage during it. So we work on techniques for practicing mindfully, which leads to the second skill: mindfulness. Mindfulness involves purposefully paying nonjudgmental attention to the present moment. We start with simple exercises like observing cars on the road, describing them without dwelling on their past or future. This may seem mundane, but it helps individuals learn to concentrate on the task at hand while acknowledging thoughts about potential outcomes or past mistakes. By practicing mindfulness in less stressful situations, it becomes easier to apply in high-pressure scenarios like Olympic trials.

Another technique I utilize is visualization and imagery. This involves vividly picturing oneself performing the necessary actions in great detail. For example, I worked with a competitive swimmer who needed to improve their butterfly stroke for an important race. We would write out and record every aspect of the stroke, from engaging large muscles to the smallest ones, and they would listen to this recording repeatedly while mentally rehearsing and visualizing themselves executing it flawlessly. This type of mental rehearsal helps prepare individuals for their big events.

In summary, practicing consistently, incorporating mindfulness techniques, and utilizing visualization and imagery are some of the interventions I employ to address performance anxiety in athletes or performers.

Are there any specific techniques or exercises that can help someone improve their overall well-being and quality of life?

Discover Your Values: A Path to Well-Being and Quality of Life

Hi, Dr. Calvin Fitch here, Social Anxiety Doctor. Here's a tip that will help you increase your overall well-being and quality of life. The best way to have good quality of life is to be living a life that's consistent with your values, but not a lot of people know what their values actually are. So right now, I want you to imagine that it's your 100th birthday, and you're having a party, everyone you love is there, and somebody gets up to do a toast about you, someone who you really love. Think about what you would want them to say about you. Those are your values. So I might want somebody to say that I made an impact by sharing information about mental health. Now, think about a goal that you'd like to achieve in the next three months that's related to that value. So for me, I'd like to do one mental health post per day for the next 90 days. And now think about activities that you can put into your week that are in alignment with that goal. So maybe at 6 p.m. every day, I want to do one mental health post. So do this for each one of your values, and you'll slowly start to build the life that you want to live, and that will increase your overall well-being and happiness.

To increase your well-being, identify your values by thinking of what you'd want someone to say about you at your 100th birthday party. Then set goals related to each value and plan activities for each week that help you achieve these goals.

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To improve overall well-being and quality of life, here's a technique that can be helpful. Start by identifying your values, as many people may not be aware of what their values truly are. Imagine it's your 100th birthday, and loved ones are giving a toast about you. Consider what you would want them to say about you. These are your values.

Next, set a goal related to one of your values that you'd like to achieve within the next three months. For example, if you value making an impact through sharing information about mental health, a goal could be to do one mental health post per day for the next 90 days.

Finally, think about specific activities you can incorporate into your weekly routine that align with your goal. For instance, you could schedule a daily mental health post at 6 p.m.

By repeating this process for each of your values, you can gradually build a life that aligns with what you truly want, leading to increased overall well-being and happiness.

How do you find work-life balance? Any tips?

Expert advice: Finding work-life balance in 3 steps

Hi, Dr. Calvin Fitch, clinical psychologist and social anxiety doctor here. The question is, how do you find work-life balance? Any tips? Wow, this is something that I'm doing right now. I guess I'm doing it constantly, but I think one of the most important things that you have to do is be in touch and identify your values and your goals and your work should fit in with that. The more that you have a huge separation between maybe like work or even life and your values, it's gonna take you a lot of energy to switch back and forth between, you know, it's gonna sap your energy. So you wanna make sure that the work you're doing is kind of in line with your values and that way, even when you're working, you are kind of contributing to that life aspect of the work-life balance. Secondly, you have to accept that there is no perfect work-life balance. You need to think of yourself as a palm tree, able to be flexible in the wind because the moment that you are this rigid tree adhering to your vision of a perfect work-life balance, not willing to put work first when it needs to be or life first when it needs to be, you are going to snap in the winds of life. And the last tip that I have is to say no effectively, especially at work. So you wanna, to say no effectively, you wanna think of a few questions, answering these questions. So are you required by law or by moral code to say yes? Two is saying yes in line with your goals or priorities that you have for yourself. Three, do you have to say yes because you kind of owe them a favor? And four, long-term, are you going to regret saying no? And the more questions to which you answer no, the stronger you should think about saying no. I have a post about this on my Instagram, Social Anxiety Doctor One Word might help you out with that.

To find work-life balance, identify your values and goals and make sure that your work fits in with them. Accept that there is no perfect work-life balance and be flexible like a palm tree in the wind. Lastly, say no effectively at work by asking yourself a few questions.

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Finding work-life balance is an ongoing journey, and as a clinical psychologist, I can offer some tips. Firstly, it's crucial to connect with your values and goals. Aligning your work with your values can help integrate it into your overall life, reducing the energy required to switch between different aspects. Additionally, accept that there is no perfect work-life balance. Be flexible like a palm tree in the wind, able to prioritize work or life when necessary without rigid expectations. Lastly, learn to say no effectively, particularly at work. Consider questions such as whether saying yes is legally or morally obligatory, if it aligns with your priorities, if you owe someone a favor, and if you'll regret saying no in the long run. Answering no to these questions empowers you to confidently decline certain tasks or requests. I have a post on this topic on my Instagram page @SocialAnxietyDoctor that may provide further assistance.

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Dr. Calvin Fitch is a clinical psychologist based at Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital. His ambition, drive, and quiet confidence have launched him from humble beginnings of being unstably housed to being on faculty at the top academic institutions in the world including Harvard Medical School and Fenway Health, the largest LGBT healthcare and research institution in the world.
 
Dr. Fitch  operates a private practice as “The Social Anxiety Doctor” in both Massachusetts and Florida. Dr. Fitch recognizes that much of human distress is driven by living in a world that is not the most validating of our unique individual identities or experiences. He leverages his own experiences overcoming social anxiety caused by racism and heterosexism and combines this with his world-class Psychology training to teach and model ways for others to find joy in a sometimes invalidating world

Neither AnyQuestion nor its Experts provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment or otherwise provide professional healthcare services.

Calvin Fitch, PhD