Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicole Cain. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nicole, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I’ve been on my own health journey since I was about 12 years old. It started out with terrible sinus congestion that snowballed into several medications and ultimately, anxiety emerging. Through the beginning of college, things got better, I was thriving. That’s when it hit. I stopped sleeping and the anxiety from my childhood returned with a vengeance. At the beginning it was just stress waking me up, that eventually led to full fledged panic and insomnia. That insomnia and anxiety was a defining moment for me both personally and professionally, I write about that experience more, here: drnicolecain.com/about-dr-cain-nd-ma/

Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For over a decade, I have been a pioneer in integrative approaches for mental and emotional wellness. With a degree in clinical psychology and a license as a Naturopathic Physician in the state of Arizona, my approach to mental health is multidisciplinary: medical, psychological, and holistic. I am a regular contributor for Psychology Today, and my work has appeared in other publications such as Salon, and Well+Good. I am the author of forthcoming book PANIC PROOF, where I teach people trauma-informed holistic solutions to be free from panic and anxiety.  In my free time, I love “treasure hunting” at consignment shops for Moroccan and Asian antiques, hiking in the Arizona desert and cuddling my cavapoo, Sheva.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’d love to share a paradigm shift from panic as the problem, to panic as the solution. What we are commonly taught growing up, is that symptoms are bad, they are a problem. Most of our healthcare industry is based off of that. It wasn’t until I started medical school at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine where that concept was challenged. To break it down, what most people typically think (and what I had been taught growing up):
Symptoms = bad
And thus:
Elimination of symptoms = good

You have a headache? Take an aspirin. You’re depressed? Use these positive affirmations and coping skills. You have a problem, we have a solution! Your symptoms are gone. Maybe.

But no one stops to ask: Why did I have that symptom to begin with? Did that symptom indicate something else was going on? What was the cause of my symptoms? What would happen if we treated the cause, instead of treating only the symptom (insomnia) itself?

What if we take the above concept and reverse the conclusion?
It might look something like this:
Symptoms = good

An important lesson to unlearn is that symptoms are bad. I invite you to look at your symptoms as blessings. As a guide to go deeper into where the source of the disease may reside and that will provide you the keys to unlocking the source for powerful, transformative, and lasting restoration.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

he name is changed for privacy purposes but let me tell you a story about a client:

Elaine was 26 years old when she came to work with me. Diagnosed with PTSD after the Boston Marathon Bombing, she wanted real relief and long term solutions. Understandably, she has stopped running since that incident because whenever her heart rate increased, it brought her back to the trauma of that day. One of the biggest problems with PTSD, is that the brain does not realize that the trauma is in the past. The brain creates a time-capsule that preserves every single painful moment, and when that time capsule is opened, whether by sound, sight, dreams, or other triggers, we feel like we’re right back in that traumatic moment.

Elaine had started an antidepressant to counteract anxiety and depression, prazosin for the night terrors, klonopin for the panic attacks, a beta blocker for the heart palpitations, Seroquel for sleep and metformin for the weight gain from the Seroquel. She was on a cocktail of medications and an even bigger number of supplements from her functional medicine doctor when she started with me.

Her origin story had been pushed to the back of her mind, because the memories were too painful. But the more she suppressed, the more the anxiety found creative ways to express itself.

Elaine got her life back. She felt better than ever, and was even able to reduce her health care costs, improve her health, sleep better and she even started to run again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drnicolecain.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnicolecain/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-nicole-cain
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/drnicolecain
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe-hcFYhi5QMmXcR_kNippQ
• Other: Professional Conference Speaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMeu3qywPwU