The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Among people that struggle with chronic or disordered forms of anxiety, there are a wide range of individual primary fears or concerns. When you ask a large enough number of our friends what they are afraid of, you’re going to get a pretty wide range of answers primarily because everyone experiences fear, worry, concern, and anxiety in a slightly different way. But hidden within this apparently wide range of specific and individual ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! People struggling with chronic or disordered states of anxiety often find themselves in a situation where they are hyper aware and therefore overwhelmed by sensory input. Non-anxious humans are so oblivious to what we sense that we sometimes pay to have people tell us to notice what our eyes, ears, noses, and skin are sending and perceiving. But for anxious people dealing with chronic or disordered forms of anxiety, this is not a pr...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Sometimes the toughest opponent we have in anxiety recovery is the belief we can't outrun. This episode challenges you to question the certainties that have defined your battle with anxiety. Is the intensity of our emotions a reliable compass? Is our self-knowledge as accurate as we believe? We'll explore the potential for a fleeting moment of power even amidst the storm of fear, and how reassessing our core beliefs can unlock new possib...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! DO I HAVE TO STOP BEING AFRAID TO TRULY ACCEPT ANXIETY (AND TO GET BETTER)?Good question. But this is a backwards interpretation of acceptance so let’s clarify.Acceptance is not finding a way to turn off your fearAcceptance is not figuring out some method for hating your anxiety lessAcceptance is not about creating a new state of being or feeling from an emotional or mental standpointAcceptance is an ACTION, not a feeling. Acceptan...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Anxiety Triggers: When The List Is GrowingMany members of our community will find that over time their list of anxiety triggers or panic attack triggers is growing. More and more things become triggers, which starts to get frustrating and disheartening. Let's talk about why that happens, and what it means in the recovery process.Important Timestamps:02:17 - Everything becomes an anxiety trigger when you're in an anxious state08:08 ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Let's do an old fashioned anxiety questions and answers session, shall we? Today we're answering questions from our friends on Facebook.02:24 How do I face a scary exposure?05:58 Is it normal to still have symptoms or scary thoughts in recovery?08:48 What do I do when I'm not anxious and have no symptoms or thoughts to deal with?10:40 Which comes first, scary sensations or scary thoughts?12:37 How can I be sure if it's just anxiety...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Having panic attacks does not always mean you have panic disorder. This week on The Anxious Truth we're digging into what differentiates panic attacks - even recurring panic attacks - from panic disorder.In a nutshell, the primary differentiator here is fear/avoidance. When you begin to fear panic attacks because you interpret them as dangerous or too overwhelming, then you begin to modify and restrict your lifestyle to prevent or ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Struggling with constant anxiety, recurring panic attacks, or a full blown anxiety disorder? Avoiding anxiety and panic triggers might seem like the safest path, but let's look at why this understandable and common response can be more foe than friend. In this episode we'll look at some of the mechanics of panic attacks and panic disorder, shedding light on why evading anxiety can inadvertently feed the beast, intensifying and fueling th...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! LIVING WITH ANXIETY ...I HAVE TO RECOVER SO I CAN LIVE MY LIFE AGAIN!But really, do you? Or is it better to do your best to re-engage in life so that you can recover? This week we're examining the concept of life AS recovery rather than life as something you get to do only after you've reached some magic state of "recovered". Yes, at times recovery from an anxiety disorder involves manufactured exposures and doing things that...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! HOW TO CALM DOWN FROM A PANIC ATTACK? This is one of the million dollar question in our community, so let's take a look at how to calm down from a panic attack. I know you likely want tips and tricks for how to stop a panic attack and calm down, but could the act of embracing, rather than fighting off a panic attack, be the hidden doorway to "calm"? Let's look at true acceptance, and unpack the idea that true calmness emerges not f...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! WHAT DOES A PANIC ATTACK FEEL LIKE?Let's unpack the harrowing reality of a panic attack, peeling back the layers to expose the heart-thumping, breath-stealing beast it can be. My journey as a therapist in training, fused with raw personal encounters, brings a unique perspective to the forefront. We dissect those suffocating episodes, where your own body feels like an unwieldy adversary, and thoughts of impending doom loom over you like a...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Ever wondered how to recognize a panic attack? Want to understand the physical and mental symptoms that hint towards an oncoming episode? Not sure if what you're experiencing are panic attacks or something else? This episode of The Anxious Truth is for you. Tune in as we delve into panic and panic attacks, demystifying the sensations, the thoughts, the fear, and the need to escape that often accompany these episodes.This is the fir...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Struggling to find the right anxiety therapist?Are you curious about how a therapist becomes a therapist?Let's take a look through the maze of credentials - from Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) to Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Let's shed some light on the demanding journey of training and education, from undergraduate studies...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Do you need to find a therapist that knows and follows the "Claire Weekes method"?This week we unpack the impact of Dr. Claire Weekes, shedding light on her influential role in the therapy world, specifically in the realm of anxiety disorders. Dr. Weekes' groundbreaking principles of acceptance have proven to be timeless, remaining relevant in therapy practices today. We go beyond the surface, debunking myths about her work and examining...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Anxiety recovery can be a highly individual journey. This is especially true if you have ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, or otherwise identify as neurodivergent. While there are certainly general principles we rely on, every person will find recovery to present specific and unique challenges that have to be addressed as part of the process. For neurodivergent members of our community, this is also true.This week Dr. Terri Bacow took som...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Anxiety and the recovery process do not exist in a vacuum. You are an entire person, and all the parts of you come into this process. Holistic is not a word you hear me use often, but it is a word we need to acknowledge because when dealing with chronic/disordered anxiety and the recovery process, your background, experiences, beliefs, and views of yourself and the world will enter the picture in various ways.* They will influence how yo...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! The anxiety cycle starts as a seemingly never ending loop where you get triggered, you fight through it, you calm down, then you worry and fret over the next time you might get triggered. It can become an exhausting merry-go-ground if you're new to this process and convinced that high anxiety and panic are horrible disasters that must be avoided or "managed" at all costs.But over time, you will likely begin to notice that your logical br...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! No new podcast episode this week, but we will be back next week with a new episode on September 27, 2023. Going forward, new episodes of The Anxious Truth will be produced every other week. I'm making this change based on time constraints and the fact that we are producing episodes of "Disordered" every week, and that's a really good podcast!Listen to Disordered here:https://disordered.fmOn the weeks with no new episode of The Anxious Tr...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Self-care in anxiety recovery. We hear about it all the time, but is self-care always essential oils and hot baths and candles and soothing? It certainly can by, but self-care is also giving yourself what you really need, which isn't always what you want. Sometimes self-care means challenging yourself a bit to help break the avoidance cycle. Sometimes self-care means you choose to be uncomfortable now to feel better about yourself later....

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week we answered some common - and not so common - questions about anxiety and recovery. Thanks to everyone on Instagram that submitted a question. I appreciate it!First I reviewed some basic principles you can fall back on when asking many of the questions that were asked. That's about the first 15 minutes of the episode, which will be useful if you're new to this or need a refresher to remind you of what you're dealing with.Then ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week my guest is anxiety and OCD specialist Joanna Hardis who stopped by the podcast to talk about the art of doing ... nothing.Wait ... what? Nothing? Yes. Nothing. Humans are conditioned to automatically spring into action to solve problems, and often we declare that our emotional and mental states are automatically problems that must be solved. When we experience discomfort, distress, anxiety, or any "negative" feeling we can ge...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! If this is all new to you, asking for more information is normal, expected, and healthy! Everyone needs more information and explanation to start.But if you are not new to this and you've heard me and others talk about your scariest symptom or stickiest recovery issue over and over, ask yourself what you are hoping to get when you ask us to talk more about it. After multiple books, videos, social media posts, livestreams and podcast epis...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Help! I can't get motivated to do my exposures and work on my recovery!This is a thing I hear often in this community, so this week let's address motivation and the myth surrounding it. Often we think that getting motivated means that we create a certain feeling, then we act on that feeling. This is incorrect. In fact, it's almost entirely backwards! Demanding to conjure of a feeling called "motivation" before you can act is selling you...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! EMDR. It's become an insanely popular therapy over the last few years. Originally developed as a trauma recovery tool, EMDR is often touted as being appropriate or effective in many more clinical circumstances. But ... is it? Is EMDR an anxiety disorder recovery treatment? This week I'm joined by Florida therapist Anne Thomas to talk about EMDR, what it is, what it isn't, and how it might be applied in the context of panic disorder, ag...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Just a quick update on reaching the field/clinical work phase of my masters degree and why there's no actual podcast episode this week. We'll be back with another episode of The Anxious Truth next week as usual, but in the meanwhile why not check out Disordered, the podcast I do with Josh Fletcher. Find that podcast athttps://disordered.fmOf course, you can also check out any of the 268 previous episodes of The Anxious Truth that I've re...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! It's not really what I did in my recovery that matters. Its WHY I did it.This week we're talking about why its far more useful to focus on the principles I followed in recovery than to try to mimic my recovery step by step and action by action. Don't use my recovery as a literal blueprint for yours because you are not me and I am not you. We are all different and those differences matter in terms of specific steps, actions, and instructi...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Let's talk about the dreaded social media doom scroll and the negative impact it can have in your recovery. Learning to be a bit more mindful and intentional with your social media use can go a long way toward helping you get what you need while avoiding some of the more common traps and pitfalls that default scrolling without purpose can have.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/267---My books, social, and oth...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! When you decide to start facing your fear, doing exposures, meeting challenges, and breaking your avoidance cycle, that's awesome! You're being brave and choosing to do hard things because it's help you in the long run, so take the credit for making that leap!But you may - like many do - accidentally fall into the trap of only meeting challenges, doing your exposures, and generally doing hard things only on the days when you feel "good"....

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! There is no automatic immune response that fixes an anxiety disorder while we retreat, rest, wait, and hope. This is an active process that requires that you do more than just hope and wait.This week we're trying a little experiment! I'm re-visiting episode 11 of the podcast from way back in 2015 to give it a little update, add some detail, clarify a few things, and make some much needed corrections. I hope you find this helpful in some ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Recovery from an anxiety disorder can impact not only the recovering person, but the people close to them. Sometimes our helpers wind up needing help themselves!When that happens, we may want to be supportive of them, but anxious fear may also turn this into a disaster. Anxiety may tell you that your helper reaching out for help is a nightmare and that the fear, uncertainty, and discomfort you feel about this turn of events means you mus...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! HOW CAN I ACCEPT OR ALLOW ANXIETY WITHOUT SPIRALING?This week on The Anxious Truth let's answer a common question about "spiraling". This is a term used every day in our community so lets dismantle it a bit and re-conceptualize spiraling in two parts. One spiral - the downward spiral - is based on how you feel. The other spiral - the anxiety itself - is an UPWARD spiral, which is more accurately described as a storm.Let's look at how we ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! End Stage Anxiety Recovery - What Does It Look Like?What does end stage recovery from an anxiety disorder look and feel like? How do you know when you're recovered? Is there a moment when things change? Will you automatically be happy and joyful? What will like look like as you get closer to the recovery "finish line". Lets talk about end stage anxiety recovery so you can have a bit of a road map to bring with you as yo...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! If you love anxiety success stories, you're gonna love Jon Brandon Cruz (aka "Cruz'). Cruz went from stuck in his apartment, riddled with panic and afraid to leave, to back at work on a world tour to promote the Black Adam film with Dwayne The Rock Johnson.How did he do it? Cruz is an almost textbook case of how to apply the principles of recovery in a committed, tenacious way. Grab a beverage and listen to this one. Cruz is inspiring a...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! I CAN'T STOP SCANNING FOR HOW I FEEL!!!This is a common issue for anxious people that leads to frustrating and a fear/scanning/fear cycle that seems like it never ends. This week we're talking about that cycle and answering the question, "How can I stop constantly scanning and checking how I feel?"For full show notes on this episode: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/259---My books, social, and other links: ⁠https://theanxioustruth....

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! VALUING YOURSELF MEANS MORE THAN JUST SOOTHING AND SMOOTHING...This week we're examining the idea that in recovery we must value ourselves in such a way that we go beyond the common sense of soothing and smoothing to allow ourselves to struggle for a reason. There are lessons - critical lessons - in the recovery struggle. Allowing oneself to struggle is important. We must be mindful of either devaluing ourselves or accidentally coddling ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This episode was recorded on a beach by myself in a spot where my cell/mobile phone gets no signal, where there were no people to save me if I needed to be saved, and where I was far from help. This is a place I would never have come by myself when I was struggling, but I don't even think about it now. This is part III in a series of podcasts where I'll take you to places that I was once terrified to go. I hope you find some hope or insp...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Distraction For Anxiety: Does It Work?"When I panic, I have to scroll through Instagram to distract myself!"Distraction is one of the most popular "techniques" for getting away from high anxiety, panic, and any thoughts or sensations that people hate or fear. It's talked about all the time. A quick look on social media would likely reveal many many posts about "tips for anxiety" that are based primarily on distraction techniques. D...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! I can't stop thinking, "What if it comes back?"This is one of the most common issues I hear almost daily from people traveling along the path toward anxiety recovery. This week on the podcast we look at why we often overlook a very important aspect of the recovery process that renders this question almost irrelevant. The important part is that YOU change in recovery. Anxiety doesn't change at all, and that makes your fear of it "coming b...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! When I was struggling with anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia, I was terrified to go just 3 or 4 miles from my house the the business I owned. Anxiety made it really difficult for me to go there or stay there for any length of time.This is the second in a series of podcast episodes where I'll take you to places that anxiety, panic, and agoraphobia used to tell me I should never go. This week we're at my old office where I'll share wh...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! For many in our community, addiction coexists alongside an anxiety disorder. Maybe one precluded the other, or maybe they developed concurrently. Regardless, this can often add additional shame and a sense of hopelessness. This is a topic we'll talk more about going forward so today my friend Adam Jablin stopped by to talk about his addiction story and how it related to his struggles with anxiety, both then and now. Adam speaks openly ab...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week I want to introduce you to a new anxiety and mental health resource. Disordered: Anxiety Help with me and Joshua Fletcher (aka "AnxietyJosh").Josh popped in to chat about why we started Disordered, what we hope to achieve with it, and why we think its a resource everyone should take advantage of. To learn more about Disordered, to contact us with questions or comments, and to hear all the episodes, visit us online athttps://dis...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Trauma And Anxiety. Are There Conflicting Messages In Recovery?Trauma and anxiety often co-exist. That's not news. For many in this community, the lingering effects of traumatic experiences are real, and they can impact the anxiety recovery process. Today I want to take a look at something a little out of the ordinary. I want to talk about how some of the core principles of anxiety recovery might cause confusion a...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! No new podcast this week, but we'll be back next week with episode 252. I asked my Facebook group which of the old podcast episodes they like the most and these are a few that came up often in the discussion: Episode 150: How Do I Talk TO My Anxiety Episode 51: Panic Attacks - The Critical Moment of Decision The Exposure Episodes: 13, 17, 192 and 226 Related to Exposure: Episode 116 - Are You Trying To Ignore Your Anxiety? I did...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! WHY Did I Have A Panic Attack? I NEED To Know!"Why did I have a panic attack?" is a question asked many many times every day in the community surrounding this podcast. People early on in the anxiety journey labor under the assumption that in order to get better they must uncover and decode their panic triggers and understand WHY panic attacks are happening to them repeatedly. This might make sense at face value, but it's often quit...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Afraid During A Panic Attack ... Or Afraid OF Panic Attacks?This is one of those recovery concepts what will make you tilt your head and wonder what I'm talking about. But there is a difference between being afraid during a panic attack, and being afraid of panic attacks. That difference matters because it speaks to the mechanics of issues like panic disorder and agoraphobia.TL/DR: EVERYONE is afraid during a panic attack. That's n...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Examining Body Dysmorphic DisorderBody Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a condition in which a person sees - and becomes excessively focused on - problems or "defects" in their appearance that nobody else sees. This can become overwhelming when the person with BDD starts to see themselves as completely defined by this problem that nobody else would call a problem. This week therapist, BDD and OCD specialist Robyn Stern dropped in to talk abo...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Scary And Difficult Do Not Mean IneffectiveRecovery by way of facing fear is scary and difficult. When people choose to recover by learning how to accept, tolerate, surrender to and move through anxiety panic and fear, sometimes they will declare that it doesn't work for them. They'll say that because they are afraid and they are challenged. They accidentally equate being afraid with recovery not working. They'll decide that ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Anticipatory anxiety - the anxiety you feel when you have an event or challenge coming up that you know will make you anxious and therefore fear - is a common type of anxiety that many struggle with. This week on the podcast two giants in the anxiety community, Martin Seif and Sally Winston joined me to explain in the ins-and-outs of anticipatory anxiety, worry, and what they call fear of fear of fear. This is a GREAT episode...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! The state of mental health care - at least in the west - is such that many in our community have a difficult time either locating a therapist that specializes in treating anxiety disorders, or accessing professional mental health help for economic and other reasons. This leads many to ask, "Do I need a therapist to recover?" While the help of a trained, experienced professional is certainly helpful, we have to look at what happens ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! How do you see your anxiety? Is anxiety a monster? Is anxiety like a storm or an invading army that comes to get you? Are you powerless over it? Do you feel that you can't resist, stop or control it no matter how hard you try? What if it wasn't a monster attacking from the outside? What if instead you could recognize that you are playing a role, that you have choice, and that you have power in the process?&n...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Do you see yourself as being OK "as long as" specific conditions are met? Or are you learning that you can be OK "even if" those conditions are not met? This can be a critical concept in recovery that can get us stuck in the dreaded, fragile acceptable bubble, or launched into a more complete and lasting recovery.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/244---My books, social, and other links: https://t...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Do you have to be a positive person to get better? Do you have to choose positivity? Eliminate the negative energy? Vibrate correctly? Manifest positive things? Accept only positive vibes? Develop a positive mindset? Are these things required in anxiety recovery?I think that developing a sense of competence and self-efficacy through action is WAY more impactful that trying to think or emote positivity. ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! In recovery we are sometimes dealing with more than one issue beyond just your panic, agoraphobia, health anxiety, or OCD. Maybe there is another phobia or phobias involved. Maybe you are dealing with tendencies toward perfectionism, people pleasing, or trying to control everything. Humans are complex. We have lots of facets! What happens when these other issues conflict with our recovery work. What happens ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! When dealing with an anxiety disorder we often talk about why excessive reassurance seeking is counterproductive and can make things worse. But why is this? And is there any time where seeking assurance is OK? Let's answer these two questions, and look at ways to start breaking the cycle of reassurance seeking, in this week's podcast episode. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/24...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Anxious people focused on health issues often spend lots of time being checked, tested and examined by doctors. In recovery, I'm often asked if calling a doctor if never allowed, or if calling a doctor is wrong or indicates a setback of some kind. The short answer is, "No. It's not wrong." But there's more to it than that, so let's talk about it in this week's episode of the podcast.For full show notes on this epi...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! The Same Anxiety Symptons, But Different Reactions? Two people can have the same anxiety symptoms but different reactions to those symptoms. There can be common thoughts, fear themes, and bodily reactions, yet wide variations on how those things are interpreted and in the reactions they trigger. Let's talk about this, and what it can teach us about anxiety and recovery. For full show notes on this episode: https://...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! For most people, the things they fear the most in relation to anxiety and panic fall into one of three common categories or themes. Let's look at these three themes: Death/ Physical Incapacitation Loss of control / Insanity Embarrassment / Shame Understanding these common themes can save you from digging deeply into each individual fear you have. It can help you see that you are NOT specially broken ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Everyone wants to talk about the most common anxiety symptoms. I get it. Your symptoms feel important. They're scary and you see them as dangerous. In many many cases with it comes to anxiety disorders, the symptoms of anxiety become the source of the anxiety. Fear of fear is often based on fear of the most common anxiety symptoms - fear of your own body. Let's talk about that this week.This episode of The A...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week sleep physician Daniel Erichsen stopped by to talk about insomnia and a cognitive behavioral approach to the problem. If you're struggling with your sleep ... and struggling because you're struggling ... this episode is for you. Spoiler alert: The most helpful approach to sleep issues is going to sound very familiar to you. ;-) This episode of The Anxious Truth is sponsored by My Life In A Book. My Life ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! When in the thick of the struggle, it can be easy to fall into the trap that makes anxiety a major part of your personal identity. UK psychotherapist and anxiety specialist Josh Fletcher is back this week to talk about this common problem and ways to separate yourself from anxiety so that it doesn't dominate your identity.This episode of The Anxious Truth is sponsored by My Life In A Book. My Life In A Book is a great way to ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Can anxiety be cured? I know that if you look for an answer to this question you will find a very wide range of answers. This week on the podcast we'll look at why there's such a wide range of opinions on this and where the truth - if there is even a universal truth - lies.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/234---My books, social, and other links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links Support The Anxio...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Real events that you witness or stories you see on social media or in the news show us the power of suggestion at work when it comes to triggering anxiety. Today an old friend popped in to relay his experience with being "triggered" by the death of a celebrity and how he navigated through that as mostly recovered person. It's a great chat. I can't thank my friend Jay Floyd for stopping in to share with us.For full show ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! I am often asked if hypnosis and anxiety go together. Does hypnosis or hypnotherapy "work" for anxiety? Will it make your panic attacks or scary thoughts stop? Will it calm you down? I am far from an expert on hypnotherapy so I asked my friend and qualified psychotherapist Emma Garrick to join us to talk about the role of hypnotherapy in anxiety recovery. This episode is jam packed with really useful informa...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Sleep Anxiety and Insomnia: A Success Story Sleep anxiety and insomnia are big topics in the community surrounding this podcast. My friend Ande Lyons struggled with sleep and tons of anxiety around sleep for many many years. She was gracious enough to stop by the podcast this week to talk about how learning to let go of the ritualization and distorted beliefs about her sleep changed everything. For full show notes on thi...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Anxiety Recovery Program - Is The Anxious Truth One Of Those???Is The Anxious Truth an anxiety recovery program? Does this podcast, the books I write, and all the content I create describe a program or method for recovery? Can you follow things step by step to know exactly what to do when anxious or afraid and how to feel better? This is something I am asked all the time, so is The Anxious Truth an anxiety recovery program?It...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Physical symptoms of anxiety are usually at the top of everyone's "talk about" list. Today I'm joined by my friend and anxiety therapist Jenna Overbaugh to talk about how we can learn to fear the physical sensations of anxiety and how this relates to exercise. We also chat about interoceptive exposure and how it can be useful in addressing your fear of the physical symptoms of anxiety. Jenna is always a great guest and this e...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Demanding to create positive emotional states on demand is common misguided strategy that many fall into during recovery. While often we fear emotions because they turn into fear so quickly, we can also demand that we should be able to experience positive emotional states when we want to. When we do this, we are generally trying to achieve a few basic goals: We are trying to escape the emotional state that we fear and hate by repla...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Even when we work with a therapist, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and read books, some parts of the recovery process remain completely our responsibility. There are recovery things that other people cannot do for us. We’re responsible for: Showing up and being an active participant in recovery Being consistent in the work we do Finding and displaying courage when we need to Remaining willing and open to the process and the experience...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! How Does Exposure Work For Anxiety? Habituation vs Inhibitory LearningWe know about exposure. Going toward the thing we fear rather than trying to avoid it, escape from it, or engineer life so that it is never “triggered”. We know that exposure is en effective tool when it comes to anxiety disorders. But how does it actually work? Why does it sometimes only work halfway? Why does it sometimes not last? What is habituati...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Many people dealing with anxiety disorders experience problems sleeping from time to time. Many anxious people also wind up stuck in mental loops where they obsess about sleep and worry excessively about not sleeping and not sleeping "properly". This can result in a few common themes that revolve around disastrous feared outcomes associated with sleep or sleep distrubances."If I don't sleep enough, I can't heal and will never get b...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Everyone loves a good success story. Katie's story certainly qualifies! When I first met Katie she was crippled with fear, riddled with anxiety and panic, and generally spending her time on the floor with a fan blowing trying to calm down. Now she's living her life and even traveling solo to Europe multiple times. What a difference 18-24 months can make!Go Katie!For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week I'm joined by therapist and author Jennifer Swantowski as she shares her ongoing experience with benzodiazepine withdrawal and anxiety. Jennifer is the author of "The Waiting Room" a most excellent book that anyone dealing with this challenge will find useful and inspiring.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/223---My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport The An...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week on the podcast we're talking about the difference between a survival mindset and a defiant mindset when it comes to anxiety, panic, and fear.Like it or not, we all have an anxiety mindset. We have a framework or a conceptualization of our anxiety situation. We formulate a platform that we stand on when it comes to anxiety. This influences how we interact with anxiety, fear, and discomfort. Your mindset is formed ove...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Flying AnxietyIt's a thing. This is not the same as fear of flying. In this episode of The Anxious Truth we're talking about flying anxiety - being afraid to fly because of your anxiety issues. This is a topic I've been asked to cover for quite some time, so let's get to it!For full show notes on this episode:theanxioustruth.com/221---My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport The Anxious Truth...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! I am asked all the time if it is OK to use safe people when doing exposures or facing anxiety challenges. Let's do our best to answer that question.We'll define the term "safe person" then explore situations where use of a safe person is perfectly fine. Then we'll look at situations where we must leave our safe people behind to go it alone for full and lasting recovery.For full show notes on this episode:theanxioustruth.com/220---M...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Many people in our community worry about the long term health effects of chronic anxiety. For some this is concern that pops up from time to time. For others, this can become an obsession and the primary driver of anxiety. Regardless of which situation you are in, we can acknowledge that the question is a reasonable one. This is a thing that we are justified in expressing concern about. Today we need to take...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Sometimes podcasts like this one can become soothing rituals, safety devices, and crutches in your recovery. While it might seem crazy for a podcaster to warn you against listening to his podcast, it's not in your best recovery interests to rely on crutches for too long. So stick with me, because there's a method to my madness and we examine this important concept in recovery.For full show notes on this episode:theanxioustruth.com/...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week we have ten more of the most commonly asked questions about anxiety and recovery. Tune in as we tackle the following questions and issues: Is recovery possible even if I've suffered for many years? What if I don't have panic attacks and just feel anxious all day? How can I drive during a panic attack? Its not safe What if I have a real medical condition? How do you accept anxiety or surrender to it? What exposures can...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week we're answering ten of the questions about anxiety and recovery that are most often asked in our community. Tune in as we tackle the following questions and issues: Am I fully recovered and do I experience anxiety or panic any more? Is full recovery possible? Can you recover without medication? This is all easier said than done, Drew! How can you be sure that this really is just anxiety? How can you be brave and face anxiet...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! There's no podcast episode this week but I wanted to remind everyone that every episode I've ever recorded is on my website for your consumption. Browse, listen, and read show notes for each old episode here:https://theanxioustruth.com/listenYou can also search all the old episodes by using the search tool in the menu on my website, so check it out!We're back on July 20 with new episodes. There's a ton of good stuff coming up...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Being afraid that you MIGHT harm yourself or commit suicide even though you have no desire or intention of doing that is a very common fear in our community. Today I was joined by OCD and anxiety specialist Kimberley Quinlan who stopped by the podcast to help me address this scary and sensitive topic that I know is important to many listeners.Please remember that a podcast is not therapy nor a substitute for therapy or a suitable c...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! You don’t have to recover. Nobody, including me, should force you or shame you into getting better. In the end, you have full control over the choices you make and you are free to make whatever choices you want to make based on what you think is best for you. Only you get to decide whether the things I say on this podcast are right for you, and that should always be respected.For full show notes on this episode:https://...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Accepting that you are responsible for your own recovery leads to empowerment and puts you in a position of strength. But often responsibility is confused with blame or fault, which can lead us into bad places that we don’t need to visit. Let’s talk about that in this week’s episode of The Anxious Truth.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/213---My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustr...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Spirituality. How does it factor into the recovery process? What even is it? How do we define it? How does it relate to religion and faith? How do those factor into recovery? All great questions that I have not paid enough attention to. This week on The Anxious Truth UK psychotherapist and bestselling author Joshua Fletcher stops by for a great chat about spirituality, its many forms, and the roles it can pl...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Emetophobia - fear of vomiting - is a major driver of anxiety and even panic for many in the community. Today on The Anxious Truth my old friend and collaborator Holly is back to share openly about her experience with emetophobia and what ultimately helped her get past what can be a crippling phobia.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/211---My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/li...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week I am joined by a friend and frequent collaborator, Lauren Rosen. Lauren in a licensed marriage and family therapist in California specializing in OCD treatment. In a bit of departure, we're doing a top five list! Lauren and I decided to share the top five anxiety busting recovery tips and concepts that helped us both along the path to recovery. Is it click bait? Is it helpful? It's probably both, so chec...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Are you feeling stuck? Are you struggling to make progress or overcome obstacles in your anxiety recovery journey? This is a really common situation for most members of our community from time to time. My friend and frequent collaborator Joe Ryan stopped by the podcast to talk about how he got himself un-stuck, one small step at a time. It's a great story full of lessons that you can apply in your own situation.For full show ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! “Recovery is not linear”. How many times have you heard this?There are ups and downs from day to day or even hour to hour. Some days it seems like we’re killing it. Other days we feel frustrated, impatient and discouraged. This is difficult to navigate. It confuses us. It also triggers an emotional reaction in many cases. This week on The Anxious Truth let’s take a look at how that emotional reaction c...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! “Change your thoughts, change your life!", right?NO!This is a thing we hear all the time in self-help and personal development but in all honesty, it's nonsense. Let’s talk about the fact that you cannot stop, control, or change your thoughts no matter how much you want to or how hard you try. And really, that's fine because controlling thoughts is not what will set us free.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustrut...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! "I just want my old self back!"When wrestling with an anxiety disorder, the current state of suffering can sometimes warp the accuracy of our memory. We remember being "anxiety free" before things went south, but often this is not true. There's a chance that you did have anxiety before you had anxiety! Most members of the community would look at this statement sideways, insisting that they were anxiety free before the wheels ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week I'm joined by working therapist and OCD specialist Joanna Hardis to ask the million dollar question ... "Is there a secret sauce in recovery?"The short answer is that there kinda is, and that secret sauce is overcoming your intolerance to distress!For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/205---My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport The Anxious Truth:https://theanxioustr...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week on The Anxious Truth we're talking about the concept of “white knuckling” through exposures and through anxiety and fear in general. White knuckling is the term we use to describe the act of holding on tightly and fighting through an exposure or a challenging anxiety experience just to get through it and back to safety. Imagine gripping something so hard that your knuckles turn white. That’s what we’re talking about...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This week on The Anxious Truth we're talking about what your anxiety support system looks like. We'll dismantle the common misconceptions about what support should be, and how those can be problematic in recovery.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/203---My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport The Anxious Truth:https://theanxioustruth.com/supportMusic Credit: AfterGlow ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! How does a highly respected psychologist approach panic attacks? This week on The Anxious Truth we’re going to find out as we talk to Dr. Dave Carbonell about panic, panic attacks, and the second edition of his book, The Panic Attacks Workbook.---For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/202My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport The Anxious Truth:https://theanxioustruth.com/...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Depression is a hot topic in our community. I get asked about my personal experience with depression all the time. It had taken me a while to get around to this but on this week's episode of The Anxious Truth I will share my experience with depression. Let's talk about how I handled it then, and how I handle it now.Disclaimer: I am not an expert on depression or is this a substitute for therapy. I can ...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! This is the 200th episode of The Anxious Truth podcast.When I started this podcast in 2014 all by myself, talking to myself in my living room (it was called "That Anxiety Guy") back then, I would never have imagined where it would go. The podcast was something I did just to pay things forward into the universe. I had no plan, no desired outcome, and no real interest in doing any more than that.I just hit the button on my four...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Many people get confused and worried when they cry while anxious or afraid. Let's clear this up, because this is NOT a problem.Highlights From This Episode: Is Crying Wrong? Is Crying Avoidance? Does Crying Mean I’m Not Accepting? I cry because I am upset. I am upset because I cry.---For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/199My books, social, and other links:https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport Th...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! Jen Kirkman is a comedian, author, actor, TV writer, and podcaster that has lived through anxiety and panic for large portions of her life. I was fortunate enough to have Jen on the podcast this week to talk about her path into anxiety and panic, then out the other side. I’m sure her story will sound familiar to most listeners.While talking with Jen (I was on her podcast last week), I realized that we had lived very different exper...

You can send in a question or comment via text. Try it! In today's episode of The Anxious Truth, we are going to talk about success and struggle within the anxiety recovery process and how, for many people, the two can look very similar at face value.As I have said many times, anxiety recovery is possible when we are able to sit in the discomfort of doing the hard things. Doing the things that scare us. Doing the things that purposefully put us in an anxious state so that we can learn to disa...