PODCAST EPISODE ONE

Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore there may be some minor grammatical errors.

Dougie Jackson
As you probably guessed by now, this is tickety boo, the podcast that aims to be very candid about the anxieties and traumas that we all experience the podcast that says it’s okay not to feel okay. My name is Dougie Jackson, and I’ll be putting your questions to this man. 

Andy Griffiths
So for those that don’t know me, my name is Andy Griffiths. And throughout my life, I’ve done a number of things I did a bit with a military. I’ve had a number of businesses I’ve worked in telecommunications. And latterly, in life, I’ve been heavily involved in mental health and wellbeing. 

Dougie Jackson
So we are going to be talking about mental health. And how lots of us, especially at the moment, are struggling to cope with many aspects of our lives. The message from Andy is, though, you’re not alone,

Andy Griffiths
sometimes we can end up feeling quite isolated. And I know working with clients, when I’ve told them about some of the stuff that my brain used to do they go, Oh, so I’m not completely mad.

No. Actually, a lot of the stuff that you’re going through is normal. You are just too tuned into it.

Dougie Jackson
And if you think that sounds like the voice of personal experience, you’re dead, right? So when and how did Andy’s own therapy journey begin

Andy Griffiths
back in 1995. I ended up in hospital had really bad chest pains. And it had been going on for a couple of weeks. And it  turned out I had a blood clot right on the entrance to my heart. So you know i was rushed in and they did all the things that they did several days later I was lying in the hospital. And you know, when you’re waiting for the doctor to come around to do his visit, I was expecting to go home that day. And I was absolutely fine. And he said you’re good to go. We’re happy and all the rest of it. But you’re a lucky boy. And I’m like, What do you mean, I’m a lucky boy. Well if that blood clot had reached your heart, it could have been a different story.

What I didn’t realise at that time is that had lit the flame of anxiety. So that sent me off on a bit of a journey I had a massive battle with anxiety for over 10 years.

I had Olympian level panic attacks, but this fuelled my knowledge, because all the medications that I got from my GP and things like that were not working. The only way I could calm myself down at times was a drink

Dougie Jackson
self medicating with alcohol while suffering from anxiety is not a good idea. We’ll discuss the exact whys and wherefores later on.

For the moment though, let’s find out a little bit more about Andy’s journey. 

Andy Griffiths
By mid 90s I really started to read a lot of self help, you know, Anthony Robbins and stuff like that trying to sort of educate myself.  And then in 2004, that was really my first step into it. I actually went and trained with Anthony Robbins.

And then I really kind of got into in 2008 I started to learn the basics of hypnotherapy and neuro linguistic programming. And then from 2004 in Scotland, I was running my events company.

But in 2013, I started to help people on an informal basis and people I happened to bump into through work.

And then in 2015, I did a very quiet launch of my therapy business Piece of Mind.

Dougie Jackson
right let me just backtrack a little bit here to clarify a few points. You were running an events business to pay the bills whilst educating yourself in the sort of therapy techniques that would help you and others deal with anxiety isn’t running an outside events company, one of the most stressful ways there is to make a living? 

Andy Griffiths
in one way you’ve got to think on your feet fly by the seat of your pants, high pressure, lots of uncertainty, very fickle industry. And there you are with your anxiety.

Dougie Jackson
And he did between 2004 and lockdown in March 2020 Andy ran one of the most successful audio production companies in Scotland. Anyway, back to the Piece of Mind therapy business. And a question that was concerning him at the time of that soft launch.

Andy Griffiths
What would the world say about Andy the events guy now dealing with anxiety because in the events world, I hid my anxiety, no one knew, you know, it’s the show Must Go on, and normally to the detriment of your mental health. You know, you’re standing there riddled with anxiety struggling with depression, but it’s all smiles keep the show going.

I launched my therapy business in 2015,  and it rapidly became a success. You know, I tend to work more with anxiety and depression been doing other stuff as well.

2017 I started to teach therapy based on all my personal experiences. So I’m a teacher with the Manchester College of coaching and hypnotherapy. And in 2019, I launched my own hypnotherapy Training College

Dougie Jackson
not to put too fine a point on things that was a journey with many twists and turns.

Andy Griffiths
Yeah, and not one that I intentionally set out on life has this strange way of nudging you on paths. And weirdly, my anxiety was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But strangely, today, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I am now able to take my personal experiences and help people with their issues.

Dougie Jackson
Can you tell me why even with all the awareness campaigns that we’ve had over the past few years, people are still reluctant to talk about mental health,

Andy Griffiths
we have this mentality of something’s wrong. Brush under the rug, keep going. don’t admit weakness. If you broke your leg, would you keep walking on it, but with mental health, what do we do?

We push and we push and we push. And you know, it’s a pressure cooker. At some point, that valve is gonna blow. 

Dougie Jackson
Okay, let’s talk about anxiety. If we went into the dictionary, and asked for a definition of that word, or even a description of what it felt like, I’m guessing a lot of people would answer racing heartbeat, feeling energy, and maybe something about blowing into a paper bag to counter them. But it’s not like that is it? 

Andy Griffiths
We fall into this one size fits all mentality with anxiety. Some people have full blown panic attacks, some people don’t get there. There are lots of sort of different traits of anxieties, a general anxiety disorder where your higher functioning anxiety or you just going through your day, and  can do stuff where you’re aware, you’re anxious, then you can have full blown panic attack from no way you’re driving the car down the motorway. And this anxiety attack fires off, you can get social anxiety afraid to go into meetings with your colleagues or you know, go out and meet friends for a drink.

Dougie Jackson
So the big question is, how does it start? What makes someone someone who’s never suffered from any form of anxiety in the past, become anxious.

Andy Griffiths
When people are highly emotional, we can pick up new fears and behaviour patterns, somebody suddenly gets agoraphobia, and they don’t want to leave the house, but they never had it before. So it’s new. It’s almost like this a new, bit of software that’s been dropped into the brain. And that’s the one thing I became fascinated by is like, why is it when we’re full of fear? We’re very anxious, we pick up these new traits. It’s like we become open and very programmable when our emotions are very high. 

Dougie Jackson
Okay, can you explain what general anxiety feels like, or at the very least what it felt like for you?

Andy Griffiths
You know, when you’ve been stood in the queue to go on the roller coaster, and you can definitely feel your anxiety levels are up because you’re about to do something that’s a bit scary. Imagine having that all through the day, having your breakfast when you’re on the way to the office, going to do your shopping that level of fear.

Now, when you’re about to go on a roller coaster, there’s a perceived danger, you know, this is this is a bit scary. Excitement, anticipation, anxiety all feel exactly the same to bizarre, but it’s just the other way that our brain perceives the threat.

Dougie Jackson
And of course, the problem here is that you can easily miss or possibly even dismiss these early warning signs, because everything is still very subtle at this stage isn’t it.

Andy Griffiths
We just get an idea that we’re not feeling quite right. But we can go and we push on, we’ve got to go out and pay the bills and make sure the mortgage is paid and do the whole adult thing.

The problem is the incling stage slowly starts to build until it gets to what I call the take hold stage. That’s where you’re firmly in the grips of it now. And that will either manifest in panic attacks, Agoraphobia, social anxiety, but that hasn’t just suddenly turned up that has been building and building and building.

And just like the pressure cooker analogy we were talking about, that’s when that valve is rattling and it’s ready to blow.

Dougie Jackson
And if it does blow and you end up having a full tilt, panic attack, where it happens can have an impact on how you respond to situations later on.

Andy Griffiths
You end up having a panic attack in the car, guess what happens then you then get a fear of being in the car. When we’ve got heightened anxiety. This is how we pick up I can’t go out the house. I don’t want to be in a social environment. I need to wash my hands and switch things off when we get OCD D tendencies. This is why it’s really important to get across that everybody’s anxiety is their anxiety. The underlying issue is that their anxiety levels are too high.

But the way it plays out in you, and the way that it plays out for me will be different. And that’s why a one size fits all mentality for anxiety just doesn’t work. 

Dougie Jackson
Absolutely fascinating. Hopefully you found that interesting. And that is where we’re going to have to leave it for this episode. Next time on Ticketyboo though,

Andy Griffiths
I work with loads of anxiety clients 1000s over the years, I didn’t take their anxiety away. I show them how to take their anxiety away because it’s their anxiety and they are creating the anxiety. Yes, stuff in the outside world may have manifested it,

Dougie Jackson
but it’s only them who can stop feeding it. If you have any questions, suggestions, stories or helpful information. Or if you have a media request, please contact us by email on hello@ticketyboopodcast.co.uk