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introverts

Buddy Bench for introverted adults with social anxiety, shyness and feelings of overwhelm?

July 26, 2019 By Trudy Scott 6 Comments

buddy-bench

Buddy Benches or Friendship Benches are being used in many countries around the world in schools to help children who feel lonely or are shy or anxious. I propose we do something similar for introverted adults with social anxiety, shyness and feelings of overwhelm or intimidation when they attend conferences.

This BBC article, How ‘Buddy Benches’ are making playtime less lonely shares this about how they are helping children fit in more:

The school playground can be a lonely place for a child if they haven’t got anyone to play with. But a special type of bench is helping pupils make friends.

The idea is simple – if a child feels lonely, they can go to the bench as a signal that they need someone to play with. Another child will see them, go and talk to them and include them in their games.

Also from the BBC article, we learn that Buddy Bench Ireland is taking it a step further and trying to do something different with them, using the bench to engender empathy and as

a reminder for children of things like communication, mutual support and opening up about feelings

Other objectives of these Buddy Benches in schools is:

  • reducing social isolation
  • improving mental wellbeing
  • end bullying

I propose we take these Buddy Benches – that work so well with children – to another level and set them up at conferences for adults too. I believe they could work very well for introverts (who make up around 50% of the population) with social anxiety and/or anyone feeling overwhelmed and/or intimidated and/or shy.

I get kickback when I talk about introverts feeling socially anxious but it’s common as you can see by these comments from introverted individuals

  • It isn’t always a comfortable place to be when I must be in a crowd.
  • The hardest aspect of living life as in introvert is we all live in an extroverted world. School pushes kids to do group projects, that are just awkward and when you don’t do well in it you’re doing something wrong or something is wrong with you. The moment I step out of the door I am no longer me, I am a character that has to put on a show in order to succeed in the work place.
  • Sometimes I can communicate with friends well and sometimes I fake it really badly. I always wonder if people can see past my half smile and fake laugh. It’s painful to be honest. But there are times when I don’t mind so much.

One big question is this: would adults use one or would they feel more self-conscious than children? Would they worry more about what others will think if they sit down at an empty bench waiting for someone to join them, essentially saying “I’m shy” or “I’m anxious” or “I’m an introvert” or “I feel intimidated”?

In the BBC article they address this stigma and worry aspect:

But do children actually use the bench? And are they worried about how it makes them look?

“They don’t see it as stigmatised,” says Sinead McGilloway, director of the Centre for Mental Health and Community Research at Maynooth University, who led a study of 117 pupils at three schools which have benches.

Forty per cent of the children she questioned said they had used the bench, and 90% said if they saw someone else sitting on it they would talk to them.

I have these questions for you about using a Buddy Bench at a business or health conference:

1) How likely are you to use a Buddy Bench as an adult diagnosed with social anxiety and/or know you have the social anxiety condition called pyroluria and you’re working to address your symptoms with nutrients but are not quite there yet.

2) How likely are you to use a Buddy Bench as an adult who identifies with being an introvert and are easily overwhelmed at the networking and mingling aspects that comes when you attend a conference?

3) How likely are you to use a Buddy Bench as an adult who feels shy and/or easily overwhelmed and/or intimidated in new settings with large groups of people you don’t know?

4) How likely are you to be the “Big Buddy” (I just made this term up because it makes me think of Big Brother or Big Sister) and go up to someone sitting on a designated Buddy Bench in order to offer moral support, conversation, connection, encouragement and kindness?

Of course, I love the idea of these Buddy Benches and would have used one for support and connection in the past. I have pyroluria and used to have dreadful social anxiety (and considered myself an introvert). But now that I’m on the pyroluria protocol I feel like a social butterfly and I am very relaxed at big group events. I would definitely go and buddy-up with someone looking for support.

And let’s not forget that Buddy Benches are just one part of the solution – for both children and adults – and we don’t want to forget food, nutrients and functional medicine:

  • While you’re figuring out the role of diet, gut health, adrenal/thyroid health, toxin exposure etc, a good place to start is to assess for and address low GABA and low serotonin with the amino acids GABA and tryptophan. This  provides quick nutritional support for worry, fear, anxiety, tension, overwhelm, lack of confidence and feelings of intimidation.
  • My next step would be to assess for and address pyroluria with zinc and B6 (and other key nutrients) to help ease and often eliminate the social anxiety completely.  Believe it or not, there is a strong connection between pyroluria and introversion and many of my clients and folks in my community no longer feel introverted when they address their pyroluria. I write about this in another blog: Am I an anxious introvert because of low zinc and vitamin B6? 

Feel free to comment and let us know what you think about Buddy Benches for adults. Do you have other ideas as to where these adult Buddy Benches could be used?

Let us know if you’ve seen these Buddy Benches work successfully with children and what ideas we could take away to get similar results for adults using them.

And do share if a nutritional approach or if addressing pyroluria has eased your social anxiety, and maybe got you wondering if you are an introvert after all.

Feel free to post your questions too.

 

Filed Under: Mental health Tagged With: adults, anxious, Buddy Benches, children, intimidated, introverts, lonely, mental health, overwhelmed, pyroluria, shy, social anxiety

Pyroluria and focal musician’s dystonia or musician’s cramp

February 6, 2015 By Trudy Scott 38 Comments

Pyroluria and focal musician’s dystonia

In May 2014 a gentleman named Jay asked this question on my Pyroluria Questionnaire blog: “have you come across a connection between pyroluria and focal musician’s dystonia (musician’s cramp)?

I responded saying “I have not and until I looked it up I was not aware of this condition. I’m curious why you’re asking? Do you or someone you know have symptoms of pyroluria and focal musician’s dystonia?”

I’m a very curious person and always turn to the research and like to look for connections. I started to dig and came across the The Dystonia Society, a UK based organization that provides support, advocacy and information for anyone affected by the neurological movement condition known as dystonia. They have this definition on the About Dystonia page:

Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder. Faulty signals from the brain cause muscles to spasm and pull on the body incorrectly. This forces the body into twisting, repetitive movements or abnormal postures.

The various types of dystonia are listed and they discuss managing symptoms and say:

Remission from symptoms does sometimes occur but is rare – occurring in around 5-10% of cases.

I posted some feedback, starting a dialogue (both in the comments and via email) that led to me learning a whole lot more about dystonia and the finding out there does seem to be a connection to pyroluria, a social anxiety condition that is not well-recognized in the medical or mental health community. Symptoms include inner tension and discomfort in big groups. Many introverts relate to the symptoms of pyroluria too.

In the process Jay saw wonderful results, we heard from Dave and his success. And we’re getting to share this information in the hope of helping others like him and Dave.

Much of the information is buried in comments on various blogs so I’ve decided it needs a separate blog post – with the connections and research I discovered and some of the inspiring feedback from Jay and Dave.

This is most of what I originally posted (with a few slight revisions).

I do see some overlaps with dystonia and mood so it’s possible there is a connection between pyroluria and musician’s dystonia:

(1) The Dystonia Society is a wealth of information and has this on their mental health page: “it is now thought that people affected by dystonia are more likely to experience mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and OCD even before the physical symptoms of dystonia appear. It is not known why this is – but it appears that whatever causes dystonia may also affect mood and behaviour in some way.”  Now I wonder how common social anxiety is for those with dystonia?

(2) “An additional relation between dystonia and mental health conditions is that some drugs used to treat psychoses can cause tardive dystonia / dyskinesia. With the new generation of these drugs (called dopamine receptor blockers) this is much less likely than it used to be – but unfortunately a small risk remains.” (this is also from the above dystonia page)

(3) The drug treatments they recommend are also often used for anxiety and depression. I’d suggest assessing for low GABA, low serotonin and low catecholamines first (using the amino acid questionnaire and determining if targeted individual amino acids may give the same relief. I would avoid benzodiazapines – Dr. Catherine Pittman shared the many side-effects and withdrawal effects during the Anxiety Summit.

(4) If you have pyroluria, you’ll also have low levels of zinc and vitamin B6, key co-factors in making serotonin and GABA and other neurotransmitters which affect anxiety and depression.

(5) Depression, anxiety, pyroluria and dystonia have a possible autoimmune/gluten/diet connection. This paper “Movement disorders in autoimmune diseases” discusses how “Tremors, dystonia, chorea, ballism, myoclonus, parkinsonism, and ataxia may be the initial and even the only presentation of these autoimmune diseases.” And here is a case study where the dystonia resolved on a gluten-free diet: “She had complete resolution of her neurological symptoms with introduction of a gluten-free diet.” We know gluten can damage the gut and lead to low levels of nutrients such as zinc and also cause low serotonin.

(6) Wilson’s disease (a serious condition of high copper/low zinc) can have symptoms of dystonia. This 2012 paper states: “The clinical manifestations of neurologic Wilson’s disease include variable combinations of dysarthria, dystonia, tremor, parkinsonism, ataxia, and choreoathetosis.”

I’m so pleased Jay asked this question. I learned a lot by looking in to this initially and since then have learned a great deal more.

And take a look at the fabulous results Jay and Dave saw when they implemented only the pyroluria protocol (the starting dose I use with clients is 100mg vitamin B6 and 30mg zinc and 1300mg Evening Primrose Oil):

From Jay in June 2014

I started taking B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) 120mg and Zinc USP 60mg 2 weeks ago and do find some relief already. As you may have guessed, I have had dystonia for a long time and had to put a professional musician’s career on hold, and when I read your site, I found that I have a large number of symptoms from your list – I am hopeful.

From Jay in September 2014

I think it is, at this point, safe to say that the pyroluria treatment is, at least in my case, the cure for pyroluria and dystonia. 90%+ of my symptoms have disappeared, I am working extensively on repertoire and I am thinking about getting back into performing.

Dave in September 2014

just writing here to say that i too have battled focal dystonia over the past 8+ years.  actually started as writer’s cramp and then worked it’s way into my guitar playing.  about  3 years ago i noticed symptoms lessened based on different things i ate and shortly after came across pyroluria.  in all questionairs i answer yes to most if not all questions.  

anyway,  for the past 2 years i’ve been on zinc and b6 and have had vast improvements.  for me, the muscle disorders don’t go away without retraining, but the b6 and especially zinc make retraining much more successful.   however, sometimes i do hit the jackpot and my hands work almost normal without the efforts of retraining.  my dose fluctuates between 25-60 mg zinc and 50-100 mg b6 which i seem to have more trouble taking.  i also experimented with methyl b12 but that led to a very painful rash.

the funny thing about all of this is that i feel nowadays that focal dystonia was only the canary in the coal mine for other symptoms that paid little or no attention to because i was only focused on being a musician.  as a result of taking supplements most of those other symptoms are much better and i’m soooooo close now to having proper movement in my fingers.

it’s really great to see what you and jay have posted here because it really validates what i’ve been doing.  i too believe there are many that can be helped by this.

Jay in October 2014

I am so happy to read this dystonia related success story! After my own experience, I still say an experience akin to rebirth as a musician and also as a person, this was the reason for me to post on this blog – to help get this out to musicians who are victims of dystonia and inadequate medical treatment.

We’re hoping we can generate some interest from various dystonia organizations/groups/forums and help more musicians find symptom resolution – certainly more than the 5-10% the Dystonia Society reports. The more people reporting success, the more likely approaches like this will be studied, accepted by the mainstream medical community and included on sites like the Dystonia Society.

If you relate to any of this please do comment and let us know what your results have been.

If you know someone with musician’s dystonia (or another form of dystonia) and pyroluria/social anxiety please do share this with them.

Filed Under: Introversion, Music, Pyroluria Tagged With: anxiety, depression, dystonia, gluten, introverts, musiciaian's dystonia, pyroluria, vitamin B6

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