Unpacking Truths

Anxiety and Mental Health Issues: Special Guest Jessica Zaucha, LCSW

LOC Church Season 1 Episode 28

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What if the alarming surge in youth mental health issues isn't just about increased awareness? Join us as we sit down with Jessica Zautja, a clinical social worker and co-owner of BZA Behavioral Health, to dissect the 150% rise in mental health symptoms among Gen Z since 2008. We'll uncover the multifaceted influences driving this trend, from the incessant information flow through smartphones to shifts in parenting styles and community engagement. Jessica provides an eye-opening analysis of how these contemporary changes are shaping the mental landscape for today's youth.

Throughout our discussion, we’ll unpack the societal changes that have left Gen Z more vulnerable to anxiety and depression. With the arrival of smartphones around 2008 and the subsequent flood of information, we explore how constant connectivity has altered our mental health. Jessica will also delve into evolving parenting styles, highlighting how increased caution and a decline in face-to-face community interactions are impacting children’s abilities to handle real-life challenges. By juxtaposing the past and present environments, we pinpoint the crucial role of community and mindfulness in fostering emotional well-being.

To wrap up, Jessica shares actionable strategies for building resilience and promoting mental health in daily life. From the benefits of physical activity and achieving a sense of accomplishment to the importance of community connections, you'll walk away with practical tips to enhance your mental well-being. We also delve into the powerful role of spiritual or religious communities like Light of Christ in providing resilience through purpose and altruism. This episode is packed with insights and advice that will not only inform but inspire you to take steps toward better mental health.

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Speaker 1:

Well, welcome to today's episode of Unpacking Truths. I'm excited to have a guest with me. Jessica Zautja is here. One of the questions that comes up oftentimes as a pastor and as I'm listening to people is just questions around emotional health, mental health, and people have just been asking me you know what's going on. I seem to be hearing so much more of that. Why is that? And so I thought let me bring in someone who deals with this day by day and helps lead an important practice in our community. I'm Pastor Kendall and I'm Pastor Mo. Welcome to Unpacking Truths, where we dive deep into God's timeless truths for our lives today.

Speaker 3:

Grab your coffee. Open your hearts and your minds. Come take this journey with us, as we unpack God's truths.

Speaker 1:

And so, jessica, it's great to have you a part of this episode of Unpacking Truths, so welcome.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you. I've been really excited to come and just sit with you and have a good conversation today about such an important topic.

Speaker 1:

It is such an important topic and so let's dig in. But before we dig into the topic, let's just dig into just a little bit about you. Can you just say sort of what your work is today and sort of the practice that you have in this community?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so you don't want to hear about like walks on the beach or my special no, no, no.

Speaker 1:

We want to hear about what you do that relate to mental health and that, no, I've been a social worker clinical social worker for about 20 years.

Speaker 2:

I am a co-owner of BZA Behavioral Health, which is a local practice. We have three locations here in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. We're actually the second largest behavioral health practice in the northwest suburbs of Chicago outside of Chicago proper.

Speaker 1:

Way to go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it grew, I think, really relevant to this topic. It grew very quickly and unexpectedly, I think partly because of the topic you're bringing up today. The need is just very, very. There's just a huge need right now in so many largest, at the largest community mental health center until about 2012, when, unfortunately, due to budget restraints, that agency had to very suddenly close its doors, and so I partnered up with a longtime friend of mine, jeff Bondora, who was a friend from graduate school, and we co-founded BZA, and it was just the two of us.

Speaker 2:

We had grand aspirations to provide something that was pretty comprehensive and integrative in terms of really trying to put a number of different mental health services under one roof, and really we both came from backgrounds in youth mental health that was prior to BZA. I had worked in all youth programming. I was the program developer sorry, program manager at family service and community mental health prior to that, and so so the adolescent mental health has just always been something I've been really proud of and really involved in, and so we knew that was going to be kind of the cornerstone of our business, and since then it's, it's, it's maintained. So we have about about 50% of our, of our clients who are seen at BZA are under the age of 22. So kind of consider that like extended youth and man, they benefit from the services, they're passionate about it and so we're excited to serve them. We have three locations here One in our local, one is here at the corner of Algonquin and Randall Road, and yeah, that's probably about it for me. So, unless you have, any specific questions?

Speaker 1:

No, I think that's good, and let me just ask you is we're hearing more about mental health issues with youth? Is it because we're more sensitive to it that it's more being talked about, or is there dynamics that are causing it to be more of a challenge for youth these days, keeping a groundedness in healthy ways mentally and emotionally? Can you give us some perspective on that?

Speaker 2:

I would say yes and yes, I think there's a little bit of all of it. I would love to say that the reason that we are talking about this more is because we're talking about this more is because there's more people that are learning about it. We're more educated, we're certainly able to get information out in a more meaningful way, and so I think that you know, naturally, when we start to experience things that we recognize aren't comfortable or aren't feeling good, we are, we are, we are identifying them and and we're reaching out for help more. I think that's very true and I think that's the good news.

Speaker 2:

I think the not as good news is that also, there is, independent of that, there are increases in not just awareness of mental health and people identifying with mental health concerns that maybe before they might have felt stigmatized by, but we see rates of suicide increasing exponentially, we see symptoms rising and we also see things like self-injury and hospitalizations also going up significantly, specifically since about 2008 is when we really saw you know there was an increase before then, but a you know that line just started to skyrocket.

Speaker 2:

So it's real and it is being led by youth. It has been, sadly, in this case, it's being led by youth, our Gen Zs, who were born after 1995, they've seen about a 150% increase in their mental health symptoms since 2008, where we're seeing about double the rates for millennials and as we get older we're actually seeing that those rates are more stable. So, folks, the Gen Xs of us were a little bit more moderately impacted and actually baby boomers were not. We are actually seeing that their rates actually slightly declined since 2008. So we definitely see youth being impacted more than any other population during this time.

Speaker 1:

That's fascinating. So to me, being the guy who always tries to understand how the world works, do we have any beginning answers of the why of we think that is happening? We're also, by the way, we're also going to engage the question audience of how do we do, what do we do to help present it, prevent this and to keep ourselves strong and in a healthy way. So we're going to get to those topics too. But let me just ask sort of the why. I'm sure there's a lot of debate, discussion on that. Do they have a sense of the why?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think this is a good time to reference. I think in the description of this particular podcast or YouTube, you guys are going to reference these two sources that I'm not going to specifically refer to, but I'll just say like I'm borrowing a lot from those two sources. So, if you want to check out the anxious generation, uh is a is a very recently written book really speaks to this topic. Um, almost, you know, when you mentioned it, I was, I was had just started. When you invited me here, I had just started reading that book and I'm like, oh God knew, you know, to put that in my hand. So I would highly recommend that. It's not it can be read by professionals, but it's really intended to be for anybody to be able to.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely, Parents. You know people who themselves are struggling. And then another one is Rewire your Anxious Brain, which is very much more of the how-to book, although both have a very hopeful and proactive message to this. So I would agree with the author of the Ancient Generation that I think there are a lot of different sources, everything from changes in the way that kids and that we as adults are engaging in society. I think it's very easy to point at just the timeline and to say, okay, what was going on in 2008?

Speaker 2:

Well, about 2008 is when most of us got our first smartphones in our hands, and it was a whole new youth whose brains are still developing. We just know we're impacted differently. They were more engaged in it because their brains are ripe, they're sponges. At that time we as adults didn't know how to protect them yet, because it was a new frontier for us. So I think that's a big factor. It's not that the smartphones or cell phones are the enemy. It's the whole change in society that was happening even before that Our exposure as adults and as youth to news sources.

Speaker 2:

When I was a kid, you had two opportunities to watch news and to consume news, and then the rest of the time you were out doing your life. Now we have constant feedback about what's going on in our society, and this is more of a reference to the rewire, your anxious brain. Our brains were not really designed for a 2024 or even really a 2004 environment. They are still kind of evolutionarily, you know, more like our ancestors. They're meant to be out there, living in the here and now, dealing with real-life threats, not threats from across the globe that we hear about but can't necessarily take action on.

Speaker 2:

So we know that there's a number of different issues that come along with that that probably had a lot to do with that. Also, the sense of in-person community has diminished quite a lot, and so you know when we get later on to what we can do about some of these, you know these concerns for our kids, for ourselves. Community is one of the best things we can do is stay involved in your community in person, in real life, be in the here and now. You know it's important to know what's coming, or to try to know what's coming. It's important to reflect on the past, but we need to be here and present, and there's so many things that take us away from that right now that I think are a big reason why our mental health is declining. So that's a very in spite of my long-windedness, that's a pretty succinct answer to something that, if you're interested the anxious generation is a good one to really dig into that topic.

Speaker 1:

No, I think that was very on point. You know one of the things my back in high school, one of my world history teachers said if you don't learn anything else from this class, learn this. He said learn multiple causation. Everyone will want to tell you it's one thing that causes that. It's usually multiple factors and you know, I held up my cell phone when you said what happened in 2008. And, yeah, smartphones, but there were. It was also the Internet before that that was inundating us with more and more access to information. But are we able to process that and how do we filter that out? And, as well as you, as you said, a declining sense of connection and community in people. That it is probably multiple causes. It's not just one evil thing, it's just factors of our environment changing and we're not able to adjust quick enough.

Speaker 2:

We're meant to struggle. Humans are meant to struggle. We're meant to take on challenges. We're meant to be uncomfortable. But when we don't feel like we have any way to deal with the things, that we're being presented with the challenges we're being presented with the challenges we're being presented with, that's where anxiety thrives.

Speaker 2:

That's where hopelessness and depression can really take hold is because we know the problems are there and yet we don't feel like we have a nucleus of control to do anything about it. And I think that you know another thing that was happening during that time, and I know, you know we constantly are, you know, joking around about this, but you know this. But if you were to go into a group of multi-generational folks and you look at anyone from our teenagers through our folks who are in their 60s and 70s and you ask when was the first time that you were allowed to go ride your bike alone, that age range has consistently ticked up to the point where I have a daughter who's going to be 13 and she's got friends whose, you know, parents are very, you know, cautious about even letting their kids walk down the block unattended. Yet we live in a safer place today.

Speaker 2:

For kids and adolescents, it is safer across almost every measure other than online. That's about the one place that they face more threats. They're, you know child kidnappings and abductions are down. You know pedestrian accidents are down, interesting. But are they prepared? Do they feel like they can handle it? And if they don't feel like they can handle walking down the street to their friend's house without a threat happening? How are they going to feel all of a sudden like they're in high school or college, or even to adulthood, and handle the bigger threat? So I think, like I said, it's not just the devices that was happening far before the smartphone that took hold, where we started to see a change, a fear-based change in parenting that said that parents have to protect kids at all costs, and I think that was not probably to the benefit of our mental health.

Speaker 1:

So in some ways and again, this is a conversation where I'm learning, but I'm also bringing my experience of observing, just in my role- and as a parent role and as a parent.

Speaker 1:

Well, and as a parent exactly, with 320-somethings who, by the grace of God, have gotten them healthy to past the 20th birthday, which is by the grace of God. But that sense of and I guess I also want to say to those listening, to those watching there is nothing in this where we are trying to judge anyone for doing this or that or the other thing. We're trying to learn together and this all hit us all real quickly and we're all still trying to catch up. But you know, when you say fear-based parenting, some of that is what I think. In the other way that it's framed is sometimes the helicopter parenting, where you're just always monitoring, always managing, always protecting, but sometimes that doesn't. Is the danger there that you're not allowing? You referred to the autonomy of the young person to figure out who they are or to explore their environment, or what is it about that fear-based or that helicopter, and is that a correct?

Speaker 2:

name yeah, very correct term to use, and I love that you said it's not about judgment, because you know I have a child who struggles with anxiety. I know that there have been times where I have, you know, fear-based parented her because we have anxiety. As parents, we desperately want to give our children everything and yet there's nothing worse we could do than to not let them struggle. You know they need to struggle because they need to learn that they can struggle and get through hard things, and so, whether it's our well-intended, you know, going in and trying to fight a battle for them, or protecting them by not allowing them to do things that seem a little bit risky, you know they all come from a really good place in us and on the surface it is protective. They all come from a really good place in us and on the surface it is protective. But what we're now learning, and to that point like it's taken a decade or two to look back and say, okay, now we can see that this is not it's protecting, that maybe they're not getting as many broken arms at the park or that you know that we feel more secure, that we know they got to their friend's house. You know in one piece, but it's not letting them feel like they can handle hard things. And that's, I think, a message that even you know, jumping ahead a little bit, like when you think about how do we parent a little bit differently, like I even have to watch this with my own daughter when she says, well, I'm really worried about X, y or Z happening, it's so natural to just want to provide reassurance You're going to be fine. You know you want to provide reassurance You're going to be fine. You know you're going to ace that test, or like that's not going to happen. Or don't worry. You know like you're going to have so many more loves after this. Or you know so many more friends. You know those are all very normal and natural things to say to our kids.

Speaker 2:

And yet what they really need to hear is you know what, maybe it will, maybe it won't, but you'll handle it. You know, maybe you aren't going to do as well on that test as you think, but we'll deal with it. You'll deal with it. You can get through it. You'll figure it out afterwards. You don't need to take that on right now. You can't really take that on right now, but it's a very subtly different message of instead of don't worry, you'll be okay, it's whether, regardless, you'll be okay because you'll work through it and you have a community of people to help you work through it. So I think it's a subtle change that we need to get used to. You know, parenting A part of that is letting them struggle, letting them even fail sometimes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, and yeah, and because a parental love is so deep and so instinctual and so powerful that over-protectiveness is just flows naturally that it's almost. We have to guard against that. And and I am struck by what you came back to say is that the that while most families in communities around where we are, those kids are safer than they have ever been, the one place they are less safe is the one place we sort of have not put any controls over and just let them go and that's on screens, and that online is the one more dangerous place. That going to the park, going to you know, that whole sense of, yeah, getting up and riding your bike down two miles to a friend's house is almost unheard of these days for anyone under 16. But maybe that's actually safer than some of the things that we think are not some of the challenge places.

Speaker 2:

Even the real, scary threats we think about, like you know, human trafficking and things that, of course, are a real threat online. I think you know understanding that the developers of most of our apps, most of our technology on a smartphone or a device are built to create addiction. I mean, it's behavioral scientists got behind these. You know these developers and said okay by putting in an endless scroll, by allowing for you know only some of the things that they're seeing to be interested by having a for you page or having likes and immediate feedback. These are things that we know are hitting on and to get a little, a little little sciencey.

Speaker 2:

it's the dopamine center of our brain, and the dopamine center never is really happy. It's always seeking pleasure, and when it gets a dose of pleasure it wants more. So that is very much addiction and uh and. And so our, we are all. We all have a little bit of that. I I do, you know. I know I will sit down sometimes and say I'm going to watch a couple of videos because I love myself a funny cat video or something, and I'll fall down a rabbit hole of that and all of a sudden 45 minutes has gone by and I wanted to be there for 10.

Speaker 2:

So adults are susceptible to it too. But we have our breaks are fully in place. That's what we didn't really understand at the time that these came. Our adolescents, they don't have breaks in place to know when to stop at all, and this is very it feels very satisfying in the moment. So it is a risky place to be and yet it's. You know you're kind of standing alone sometimes as a parent if you're strongly regulating that with your middle school or your high school or even your grade school, or because a lot of parents are very much, you know they don't want their kids to fall behind. They don't want them not to have the social opportunities. So even we, as parents, getting off Instagram or Facebook, well, I miss out.

Speaker 1:

So it's a little FOMO for everyone. So, jessica, let me shift this a little bit, because there's so much we could talk about in this topic. I want to go back to you gave a little bit of a definition of anxiety and anxiousness, and I just want to circle back to that because I think that word gets thrown out a lot these days and I would just, I would be helped by hearing how you define it, how you understand that, so that we're in sort of what are some of the causes of that generalized anxiety that we hear talk about?

Speaker 2:

So fear and anxiety are connected, but they're not one and the same. Fear is something that is happening and my body is responding to it. Anxiety is the physical and the mental response to a fear that might happen. It's an imagined fear, or it's a potential fear, you know, or a potential situation. So you know, when we think about you know, you know if you're about to get on stage or do something like this and you start to feel your body activate, your heart rate a little bit of, you know, yeah, you know, that's, that's a little bit of a fear response and that's a. That's an. That's a healthy thing to have it. You know, um, when our anxiety system takes over, it's pummeling us with a lot of imagery and the what-ifs, and the problem is our brain can take on an insurmountable number of what-ifs and go through all of them and then we kind of become paralyzed.

Speaker 2:

So the clinical definition of anxiety is twofold. It's a set of symptoms that usually involves both physical symptoms, basically your body activating. So these things would be really helpful if you were running away from a rival tribe or a woolly mammoth or fighting against something. You know your heart rate increasing, your perspiration coming up, your, you know your stomach trying to, you know, empty its contents so it can preserve and send energy to where it needs to, would all be really helpful. When we are sitting and having a feeling like panic because of something that might happen, I might walk into a social situation and screw up. You know that our kids might go and fail a test that day.

Speaker 2:

You know that that that then gives us those symptoms prematurely and then it also affects our brains. Our brains, you know, start we have racing thoughts, very fast, thoughts that again bring on all of these. You know worst case scenarios and it can be incredibly physically uncomfortably, physically uncomfortable, and it really can be. It can induce a sense of like paralysis, honestly.

Speaker 2:

So the common symptoms that come out of that will often be, or functionally will start to avoid situations that make us uncomfortable, whether that's a social situation or you know, if you have a phobia you know a spider phobia you'll do everything you can to avoid interacting with a spider and even though there's almost no way to do that, and then you become kind of hyper, fixated on that. Or sometimes it can also be things like obsessive and compulsive cycles, that you can obsessively think about something and do things kind of compulsively to set that off. So that's kind of a general definition of anxiety. There's a lot of different diagnoses that fall under that and then depression is kind of the opposite of that. If you think of anxiety as a heightened emotion, depression is kind of a slowed emotional response and we're struggling to kind of activate our systems or feel good and feel like we can really get ourselves going.

Speaker 1:

Okay, well, jessica, I just got the little signal here that we're I saw it. We're coming towards the end.

Speaker 2:

I thought it's been five minutes. I know exactly.

Speaker 1:

So I'm going to shift it again because this has been so important. But we've been diagnosing some of the challenges, the whys behind it. Let's talk about some of the positives. What are some of the things that we can do as people, as adults, as parents, whatever to help, if not fully inoculate ourselves, build up a strong foundation to withstand some of these new challenges that are coming at us as a society.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I like how you said that. Because it's not you know, we are not. There is no cure, you know. And it's not because you know this is a terminal illness. It's because you know pursuit of happiness, pursuit of peace is something we have to actively practice every single day. And so you know, rather than and sometimes when we feel like we can't inoculate something, it becomes overwhelming. But if every day we wake up and think of what are the things I can do to kind of balance, you know, if I'm feeling on the depressed side, I know it's going to be hard to get my system going. So what are the sources around me that can really activate and keep me going? And if I'm anxious, what are the things that I can do to kind of promote better mental health? And so you know a couple of things.

Speaker 2:

And one thing I do want to just kind of mention is how important, you know, a religious or spiritual community, how important Light of Christ is for our community. When we think about the places and the activities that are really going to promote mental health. We want places that are going to give us a sense of connection, a sense of purpose, a sense of altruism. Of that I'm doing something for the greater good, you know, of knowing that there is a common belief system. These are things that you know. Across all religions we see that it's a resilience factor is to be involved in your community, whatever community means. So I'm very proud of being part of Light of Christ that there is such a strong community here. There's so much, you know you guys do so much for the mental health community. The eye care, you know. The whole program that you guys have here is a wonderful way of also kind of reaching out and promoting mental health. But on an individual level, you know, I always kind of think of you know the acronym BASE, but with a C is a great way to think about how do we support our mental health every day, finding activities that activate our body, that get our body moving or that calm our body if we have some anxiety, but basically tuning into our bodies.

Speaker 2:

What does our body need? A healthy mind requires a healthy body. What do we do? That gives us a sense of? It's supposed to be one A. I'm going to add three. The actual A is accomplishment, but I add achievement, accomplishment, adventure, what are things that kind of get us looking forward to something Again, kind of that sense of purpose.

Speaker 2:

What are activities and things that we do that make us feel connected, connected to God, connected to nature, connected to our family, connected to our inner selves? Meditation can be a good source of connection. And then what do we do for enjoyment? You know, kind of going back to the phones. You know a lot of times when we're scrolling, we're numbing, we're not. Yeah, maybe there's a little bit of enjoyment, but it's more that we're getting through that moment instead of really engaging enjoyably in a moment. So really stepping back and finding those enjoyable activities. So I would say the combination of that and plus, you know, good, taking care of your sleep.

Speaker 2:

If you're a parent, you know it's never too late to have good conversations with your kids, not just about this is. You know you're not allowed to have your phone because you violated this or you did this wrong. You know I had a conversation with my daughter about why, while she's in my, under my roof, she will never have a phone in her bedroom. After dark, like after it's nighttime, like it. Just it's not going to be anything I ever take away Cause. I believe it's just a, and she knows why that there's a. There's a reason I'm protecting your sleep and protecting your peace. So have conversations, you know. Be slow to give those those those incremental steps into the adult world of social media and technology. Um, and give our kids and ourselves a chance to play, a chance to adventure, a chance to be autonomous. I said it earlier, but communicating instead of it'll be okay, it'll be, it's, you know. Regardless, we'll get through it, you'll handle it. You know we want to build a sense of resilience, not security all the time, because the world isn't secure.

Speaker 1:

I love that resilience versus security and you know and maybe this is where I'll just wrap it up a little bit, though I would love this conversation to go another hour what you just said, jessica, there is no security in this world. As a pastor, as a theologian, there's no guarantee of tomorrow. I mean Scripture again and again says. I mean Jesus said do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have enough worries for itself.

Speaker 1:

How do we learn to trust God with today and be present to today and the gifts that God gives us, the challenges that are in front of us, that we're going to have to figure out and solve, that are going to then lead us to a sense of achievement, but also the enjoyment of that and the enjoyment of other things, that it is a world where we're prayer, going to God and surrendering our future. When we try to think we can control our future, we can't. That's, to me, part of the power of faith is we get to turn over and say God, I'm trusting my future to you and you've given me today. So what do I do with today and when I can entrust that to God in the future, I don't have to get caught up in the anxious and worries. I have to do some planning for that, but I don't have to get overwhelmed in the worry and it is, and just so many scriptures are coming to mind.

Speaker 1:

Maybe we'll put some underneath that, but this is such an important topic and so many of us wrestle with this in different ways ourselves or people in our families and so thanks for what you've shared here. We may have to come back to this topic again, jessica. We may have to come back to this topic again, jessica. We may have to revisit this, but thanks for taking the time. Go again and check out those resources below in the description. Thanks for lifting those up, thanks for being a part of this and thanks for listening in, and we'll catch you next time on unpacking truthscom, next time on unpacking truths.

Speaker 4:

The Holy Spirit's worked in a whole lot of different ways 100%, and I think that's why I have such a heart for either the unchurched or the people who don't feel they belong in church, because I'm like no, no, no, we all belong here and we don't have to. Of course, we all want to change and be our best selves for Christ, but I'm still Jewish you know what I mean and so that has been refreshing to feel like I don't have to give up that piece of myself. I don't feel that God is calling me to give up that piece of myself. If anything, it makes my experience even richer, and even with working with the PATH students, I've been able to bring up things to them like anti-Semitism my favorite subject my wildly twisted relationship with Martin Luther.

Speaker 1:

Yep, yep. Well, we wanted to go there, I was going to say you've heard a lot about that one yeah.

Speaker 3:

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Unpacking Truths. If anything that we discussed sparked any ideas or you have any questions, we would love for you to go to unpackingting Truths. If anything that we discussed sparked any ideas or you have any questions, we would love for you to go to unpackingtruthscom, or you can also email us at unpackingtruths at locchurchcom.

Speaker 1:

And don't forget to like, share or subscribe to the podcast, because you doing that allows other people to connect to this content and grow with God as well.

Speaker 3:

Until next time, we hope you know that you are loved.

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