It's 'Just' Anxiety

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published April 21, 2017 at 9:38 AM PDT

Terri A. Jury is a Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret), where she was a career intelligence officer for over 21 years. She is wracked by the pains of health anxiety, scurrying about always reading about symptoms of this and that and thinking she has all the diseases she reads about maybe even terminal, and making appointments with every type of doctor imaginable.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV + Thursday, June 30 at 10 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Watch on YouTube

"Susan is able to tell this story like no other director. Engaging, personal and hopeful all at once."—John Decker, KPBS Director of Programming

"It's "Just" Anxiety" is a revealing documentary that introduces a dozen people from diverse backgrounds who describe their personal struggles with this mental health condition. Filmed over a period of five years, the documentary follows several individuals with anxiety symptoms ranging from excessive worry and fear to more extreme manifestations such as compulsive behavior and torturous panic attacks.

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June Moss, for instance, a retired staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, thrived in the real life or death scenarios of war, but upon returning home has been facing the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

June C. Moss, Jr., Ret. Staff Sergeant, US Army, who was stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, has suffered for years from post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).

Similarly, Scott Stossel, editor of the monthly magazine "The Atlantic" and author of “My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind,” has been grappling with his generalized anxiety and various therapies for years. Throughout the documentary he shares his personal history as both researcher and patient.

Scott Stossel, is the editor of The Atlantic Magazine, and has been associated with The Atlantic Magazine since 1992. He has struggled his entire lifetime from the age of two years old, starting with separation anxiety and graduating into continuous and debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. Scott published the gripping autobiography of his struggles in January 2014, "My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind."

Another individual, Jamie Blyth, found that the more he avoided his anxiety, the worse his symptoms got. He began a career in sales and signed on for the first season of "The Bachelorette" in order to face his social anxiety, an experience he reveals in the film.

We also meet Lori Daniels, who has been swallowed up in a battle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and confines herself to a single armchair in her living room. When she comes in contact with any person or object, she must run to the bathroom and aggressively wash her hands. However, by the end of the film, Lori is in therapy and poignantly thriving – shaking hands, petting cats, accepting hugs, and working as a teacher.

Lori Daniels has been stymied for years by phobias and rituals such as handwashing numerous times per day.

With more than 40 million Americans suffering from anxiety, the one-hour documentary aims to destigmatize and humanize this debilitating yet treatable mental health issue. The inspiring real-life stories presented in the program demonstrate how those who suffer from this mental health issue can begin the path to recovery.

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Pictured: An anxiety support group. "It's "Just" Anxiety" is a revealing documentary that introduces a dozen people from diverse backgrounds who describe their personal struggles with this mental health condition.

Watch the film below or on YouTube

It's Just Anxiety Documentary by Susan Polis Schutz (56 min)

Credits:

Produced by IronZeal Films, d/b/a Iron Zeal, LLC. Distributed by American Public Television. Directed and Produced by Susan Polis Schutz. Edited by Bret Granato. Associate Producer Karen Bidgood. Opening audio by Torre Catalano for The Mighty. Creative and technical consultant: Stephen Schutz.

It's 'Just' Anxiety

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