Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| When OCD Comes Back w/Jess Marriner | EP 355 | 21 Oct 2026 | 00:40:39 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you have OCD, you've probably heard that it can never be cured, only managed. That can leave you wondering what happens if it comes back. This week I talk with Jess Marriner, an OCD therapist in the UK who also has OCD, about what that actually looks like and what she does when it happens. A few days before we recorded, Jess had a morning where she fell down the rabbit hole of ruminating about one of her classic themes. She's open about that because she doesn't want anyone with OCD to think they're failing when it happens to them. The way Jess sees it, when people say their OCD is back, what's really going on is they've started doing compulsions again. Looking at it that way gives you some agency, because compulsions are something you can choose to stop doing. We talk about why OCD tends to flare up during times of high stress, how to recognize when you're in the rabbit hole, and how physical sensations can be a clue that you're ruminating. OCD will try to tell you those sensations are proof that the thought matters. Jess shares her rule that no rumination is good rumination, the difference between problem solving and problem spinning, and why accepting the presence of a thought is different from accepting what it might mean. We also get into measuring recovery by impact. An hour down the rabbit hole is a very different thing from months of your life. Find Jess on Instagram at https://instagram.com/jessmarrinertherapy and at https://www.jessmarrinertherapy.com For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/355 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How To Turn Off Anxious Self-Scanning and Checking | EP 354 | 07 Oct 2026 | 00:29:16 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. "How do I stop scanning and checking myself all the time?" If you struggle with anxiety or OCD, you've probably asked some version of that question. Scanning your body for sensations. Scanning for bad thoughts. Checking whether a thought or emotion is the right one. I get asked how to make it stop almost every day. In this episode I tell you the honest answer. You can't turn it off. Even my therapist brain scans and checks. I get migraine aura, and while I've learned to carry on with my day when it happens, my fully recovered anxiety expert brain still spends hours afterward scanning for signs it might come back. I know logically that it's over. My brain scans anyway. That scanning function is normal and it serves a purpose. It's thinking that happens outside our awareness, and it naturally goes after the things that matter most to us, like safety, health, identity, and what we value. So the work in recovery is learning to recognize that process running and let it do its thing without making it the most important thing in the room. That takes practice with attention and a willingness to act courageously when your brain is telling you something is wrong. Over time, your brain may learn it doesn't need to scan as much. I also talk about why this simple strategy is so hard to put into practice, and why you aren't failing when the scanning kicks in. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/354 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety And The "Almost" Story | Ep 353 | 23 Sep 2026 | 00:29:19 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. "I almost passed out." "I almost made a scene." "I almost ruined everything." If you have an anxiety disorder or OCD, you probably recognize that sentence. The word almost shows up constantly, and treating it like a fact is one of the things that keeps the cycle going. In this episode I want to talk about what I call the almost story: the narrative anxiety and OCD write after a difficult moment to give your escape behaviors and compulsions credit for preventing a disaster that was never actually going to happen. The almost story feels completely real. The sensations were intense, the fear was overwhelming, and then you did your ritual or your avoidance and you felt better. So obviously the almost thing almost happened and your action stopped it, right? That framing is a cognitive distortion, and a costly one. Because when the almost story gets written on the back end of a triggered episode, it fuels anticipatory anxiety on the front end of the next one. The cycle repeats. You never get to see anxiety and discomfort rise and fall on their own because the almost story keeps telling you that giving it that chance would be reckless. I walk through where the almost story shows up in the cycle, why it's a story rather than a fact, what the proof of that actually is, and what it looks like to start recognizing and challenging it bit by bit. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety, OCD and the Cost of Negotiated Avoidance | EP 352 | 09 Sep 2026 | 00:23:59 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Every time you give in to an avoidance or a ritual, it seems reasonable. Skip one social event, spend a few extra minutes on a compulsion, take one "me day" instead of pushing through. In isolation, none of it feels like a big deal. What's the harm? That's the trap. Not the individual behaviors themselves, but what happens when you add them all up. In this episode I want to talk about what I call negotiated avoidance: the process by which each individual accommodation to anxiety or OCD feels justified, smart, even cautious in the moment, while the cumulative cost quietly hollows out your life. Life gets smaller. Restrictions mount. Anxiety and OCD keep moving the goalposts. And the reason you can never seem to satisfy them is that they're not reasonable. You can't negotiate with a terrorist, and that's what anxious and OCD-driven demands actually are. I talk through why each individual avoidance feels like no big deal, why that feeling is part of the trap, and what it looks like when you start asking a different question: not "what's the harm in this one thing?" but "what does all of this cost me in total?" The answer is usually more than people expect. I also talk through why change here doesn't happen overnight and what it actually looks like to chip away at this bit by bit without declaring yourself a failure when things don't click instantly. The Act Triflex Episodes: For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/352 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety and OCD: The Strategy Mismatch Issue | EP 351 | 26 Aug 2026 | 00:29:05 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Anxiety disorders and OCD are what you get when a perfectly functioning brain applies its usual problem-solving strategies to the wrong problem. Your brain is good at solving things. The trouble is it keeps trying to solve something that isn't actually the problem, and that's what keeps you stuck in the loop: trigger, fix, feel better for a while, repeat. In this episode I want to introduce the concept of strategy mismatch. The things that seem to need fixing in anxiety and OCD (the intrusive thoughts, the physical sensations, the worries about health or relationships or moral character, the uncertainty you can't seem to resolve) are not the actual problem. The actual problem is the fear and discomfort those things produce, and the endless attempts to eliminate that discomfort are what keep the disorder running. How do you know? Because when you escape, avoid, reassure yourself, or perform a compulsion and feel better for a little while, the problem isn't solved. You just bought temporary relief until the cycle starts again. The strategy doesn't match the problem in front of you. I talk through what the right strategy looks like, why it's counterintuitive, what gets in the way of applying it, and why this whole framing is actually good news. You don't have to solve your heartbeat, or the opinions of others, or the unpredictability of being alive. That was never going to work anyway. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/351 Want to talk about this episode or interact with me, Josh Fletcher, and folks that are sharing your experience and understand it? I'm hanging out on the Disordered community app: https://disordered.fm/community Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety and Avoidance Explained | EP 350 | 12 Aug 2026 | 00:22:34 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Anxiety and avoidance go hand in hand, and most people struggling with an anxiety disorder have been told that avoidance makes things worse. But there's a lot of confusion in this community about what avoidance actually means. What are you avoiding? What aren't you avoiding? And why does it feel like letting go of the scary thought is the same as ignoring the problem? In this episode I want to clear that up. The key is understanding the difference between the content of your anxiety and the process. The content is the scary thought, the intrusive image, the somatic symptom, the worry your GAD has decided is urgent today, the OCD theme that won't let go. None of that is what you're avoiding. What you're actually avoiding is the discomfort that content triggers inside of you. Avoidance is everything you do to make that discomfort stop. The reassurance seeking. The compulsive looping and arguing with thoughts. The safety behaviors, the escape, the checking, the constant attempts to prove the thought wrong or calm the body down. That's the avoidance. And the action of letting a scary thought or sensation just be there without responding to it? That is not avoidance at all. This distinction matters because it changes the whole picture of what you have to work on. I walk through how this plays out across panic disorder, OCD, health anxiety, GAD, and agoraphobia. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/350 -- Want to talk about what you heard in this episode, or interact with me, Josh Fletcher, and others that share and understand your experience? I'm hanging out in the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety Recovery Relapse Prevention - The Morning Routine | EP 349 | 29 Jul 2026 | 00:33:09 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. One of the more common mistakes people make as they progress in anxiety disorder recovery is treating recovery as something separate from the rest of their lives. You do the therapy work in one box, and everything else goes in another. That tends to backfire. In this episode I want to introduce the concept of relapse prevention, and I want to do it in the context of building a daily routine that keeps you connected to the strategies and principles that helped you make progress in the first place. -- Want to talk about what you heard in this episode? I'm hanging out in the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community -- This is not a magic morning routine. I'm not going to promise you'll be unrecognizable in six weeks or that you'll never have a setback. What I will say is that people who build consistent habits around these practices do tend to fare better when life gets hard again, and life always does. The old pathways never get deleted. They just get unused for a while. So it's worth building habits that make it harder to accidentally fall back into them. I walk through a four-pillar framework for building that kind of routine: attention and mindfulness practice, physical movement, emotional expression, and what I'm calling exploration, which is the part where you stay connected to the things that actually matter to you and feed something other than your anxiety. I also talk about the trap of feeling good, because feeling good is exactly when a lot of people start quietly abandoning the habits that got them there. And I have a word for the internet, which tends to ruin this kind of thing with aesthetics, comparison, and influencer nonsense. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/349 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How Do I Stop Obsessing Over ...? | EP 348 | 15 Jul 2026 | 00:22:50 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Everybody wants to know how to stop obsessing over whatever has them scared right now. In this episode I explain why that's the wrong question, and what to ask instead. In OCD and anxiety disorders, an obsession isn't just a strong thought or a passing worry. It functions like a threat. That's why you can't just decide to turn it off. You can't out argue it, out logic it, or replace it with a happier thought, and I'm guessing you've already tried all three. The real leverage is in the compulsion, the thing you do to try to feel safer once the obsession fires. Checking, reassurance seeking, mental rituals, researching, arguing with your own fear in your head. Those are learnable, even though resisting them is genuinely hard. I get into why the distress that shows up when you resist a compulsion doesn't mean you've made a mistake, and why stopping the obsession ends up being a side effect of working on the compulsion, not the goal itself. -- Want to talk about what you're hearing in this episode? You can interact with me on the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community -- Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| The Truth In Anxiety Recovery. There Are No "Game Changing" Moments | EP 347 | 01 Jul 2026 | 00:19:00 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. In my anxiety recovery journey, there were no game-changing moments. No mic drops, no epiphanies, no single concept or technique that suddenly moved me forward. And when I look at the people I've worked with in my therapy practice and the community I've built around this podcast, that's pretty much how it goes for everyone. You're probably searching for one, though. I get it. Everybody has a right to want to feel better quickly, and the endless scroll is very good at promising you the ONE thing that changes everything. But that search can quietly become its own problem. In this episode I share what my recovery actually looked like: slow, quiet, and mostly unnoticeable until it wasn't. The progress showed up as backward-looking realizations, not forward-looking epiphanies. I moved out of that "anxiety disorder apartment" one item at a time over a long stretch. Then one day I looked around and the place was empty and it was time to leave. So anti-climactic! I also talk about the important moments that did show up along the way, why even those weren't game changers, what the actual mistake is when you've been searching and scrolling for years, and what a genuine shift looks like when you're ready to make one. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/347 Want to talk about this episode, interact with me and Disordered co-host Josh Fletcher, and participate in a community of supportive people that are sharing your experience? I'm hanging out in the Disordered community space: https://disordered.fm/community Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Core Principles of OCD Recovery w/Kimberley Quinlan | EP 346 | 17 Jun 2026 | 00:32:53 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. In this episode, we are breaking down five core principles of OCD recovery. To help explore this topic, I am joined by Kimberley Quinlan, an anxiety and OCD specialist practicing in Los Angeles and host of the Your Anxiety Toolkit podcast. OCD recovery is often viewed as a rigid list of steps, but it is better understood through specific attributes and ingredients that you can learn to practice and strengthen over time. Here is what you need to know about the core components of OCD recovery: 1. Clarity of Vision Having a clear picture of what you want your life to look like is a powerful predictor of success. This does not mean you must have every detail mapped out perfectly, but you need a general template of the life you want to live. Recovery is not merely the absence of intrusive thoughts or anxiety; it is about deciding what your life will look like when you choose to let those thoughts exist without letting them run the show. 2. Willingness to Endure Discomfort You must be willing to let OCD come along for the ride. This means moving forward with your valued life plans whileexperiencing discomfort, intrusive thoughts, feelings, sensations, urges, and images. Whether you are practicing driving in your neighborhood or returning to school, you must learn to slow down and be in relation to actual physical discomfort. 3. Self-Compassion and Kindness Practicing while uncomfortable is difficult, and it requires kindness toward yourself. This means eliminating the critical, negative inner dialogue that tells you that you are a failure or that you should be further along in your journey. Kindness also means physically validating your own distress, acknowledging your racing heart or somatic symptoms, and making space for them rather than fighting them. 4. Attentional Awareness Attention training is your ability to intentionally choose where to direct your focus in the midst of chaos. Intrusive thoughts feel chaotic, but you have the agency to anchor your attention to a focal point in the present moment, whether that is a sound, a physical task, or a loved one's voice. This is a muscle that you strengthen through small, repetitive daily actions. 5. Focus on Response Prevention While exposure and response prevention (ERP) is the gold standard for treatment, the emphasis belongs heavily on response prevention. Identifying your compulsions and safety behaviors, and then slowing down or stopping them, is far more critical than seeking out the most intense exposures. Take an honest inventory of your compulsions and work consistently to reduce them. A Note on Consistency These attributes are not static personality traits, nor will they remain at a constant level every day. Some days your willingness will be low, or your self-compassion will wane. Recovery is messy, and consistency matters far more than intensity. Be gentle with yourself, allow space for humor when you catch your OCD trying to trick you, and keep making small, practical choices to move forwardFind Kim online: For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/346 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How Does an Anxiety Therapist NOT Get Triggered? | Ep 345 | 03 Jun 2026 | 00:24:06 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. How Does an Anxiety Therapist Talk About Anxiety All Day Without Getting Triggered? People ask me this constantly. I'm a former sufferer of panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression — and now I spend my days immersed in all of it. Therapy clients, podcasts, books, social media. Anxiety is basically my entire professional life. So how does a person like me not end up right back where they started? The answer isn't a trick or a technique. It's what recovery actually produces — and once you understand it, it reframes what you're working toward in a pretty significant way. In this episode I explain why talking about anxiety all day doesn't trigger me, what changed through my own recovery process, and why the same change is available to you. I also share a real example from the last few months involving my dog Copper, some stress-related symptoms that showed up during a difficult time, and what it looked like to have those experiences without fear driving the whole thing. We also get into my OCD history with existential thoughts — something that used to pin me down for weeks — and what that same material looks like now. Same discomfort. Completely different relationship to it. This one is old school Anxious Truth. No script, no notes. Just an honest answer to a question a lot of you have been asking, and what I think it means for where you're headed. For show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/345 Want to talk about this episode with me, Josh Fletcher, and others that are sharing your experience and know what it feels like? I'm hanging out on the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| OCD and Acceptance - How Does That Work? | Ep 344 | 20 May 2026 | 00:39:13 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Many people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) struggle to understand how the concept of acceptance applies to their recovery. While it seems straightforward in the context of panic disorder or health anxiety, where sufferers learn to accept temporary physical sensations, applying acceptance to distressing intrusive thoughts and images can feel confusing or even dangerous. In this episode of The Anxious Truth, I'm joined by OCD specialists Joanna Hardis (Cleveland) and Lauren Rosen (Los Angeles) to clarify the role of acceptance in obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment. --- Want to talk about this episode with me and others that share your experience? I'm hanging out in the Disordered Community Space https://disordered.fm/community ----- Key Takeaways
Find Joanna Hardis at https://joannahardis.com or on Instagram at https://instagram.com/joannahardis Find Lauren at https://theobsessivemind.com or on Instagram at https://instagram.com/theobsessivemind For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/344 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Neuroscience and Therapy w/Ana Lund | Ep 343 | 06 May 2026 | 00:54:19 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. This episode of The Anxious Truth dives into the messy intersection of neuroscience and psychotherapy. I’m joined by Ana Lund, a UK-based psychotherapist specializing in the link between brain science and clinical practice, to discuss how we actually use research to help you recover. -- Want to discuss what you heard today? I'm hanging out on the Disordered Community Space https://disordered.fm/community -- We often hear about "evidence-based practice," but translating a laboratory study into a therapy session is a significant challenge. Ana and I discuss the reality of staying current with research, the limitations of single studies, and why "neuro-nonsense" often takes the place of actual science in social media mental health content. Key Topics Covered:
Our goal is to demystify how science informs recovery. Understanding that your brain isn't "broken" but is instead following natural, albeit difficult, processes can empower you to take the small, practical steps necessary for long-term change. Find Ana on her Substack: https://neuroscienceandpsy.substack.com/ or on her website: https://www.neuroscienceandpsychotherapy.com/ For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/343 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Blood Pressure Anxiety. How To Stop Checking and Start Living | EP 342 | 22 Apr 2026 | 00:25:26 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you recognize the sound of a Velcro rip and your heart starts to pound the minute you hear that familiar hum, we need to talk. You likely bought a home blood pressure monitor to feel safer and healthier, but now you might feel like a slave to a rubber tube and a plastic screen. In this episode, we are looking at how a responsible health habit turns into a psychological nightmare in the form of fixation and obsessive fear. We discuss why blood pressure anxiety happens, often in the complete absence of an actual medical issue. Let's talk about how you can start living your life again without being tethered to a machine. --- Want to talk about this episode? I'm hanging out in the Disordered Community space: https://disordered.fm/community ------ What we covered in this episode:
Recovery from blood pressure anxiety is not about reaching a perfect, guaranteed number. It is about changing your relationship with your physiology so you can move your energy back toward the things that actually matter in your life. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/342 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Regular Emotions ... or Anxiety Recovery Problem? | EP 341 | 08 Apr 2026 | 00:25:45 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Want to talk about what you heard today? Interact with me and others that understand your experience on the Disordered Community app. https://disordered.fm/community ---- In this episode, we tackle a common trap: viewing every uncomfortable emotion through the lens of anxiety recovery. When you spend months practicing desensitization, acceptance, tolerance, and exposure, it is easy to mislabel normal human stress as a setback, a relapse, or a recovery problem. Disordered vs. Non-Disordered Anxiety
The Recovery Trap Many people "hijack" normal human emotions and try to apply recovery techniques to them. Trying to use willful tolerance, acceptance, or principles of exposure on a situation that requires practical action or just feeling emotions only keeps you stuck. We often do this because the recovery framework feels more familiar and safe than facing complex life problems. Moving Forward
For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/341 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety and OCD Are Like Cult Leaders In Your Head! | EP 340 | 25 Mar 2026 | 00:21:38 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Want to talk about what you heard today? I'm hanging out on the Disordered Community space. https://disordered.fm/community ---- Living with an anxiety disorder or OCD often feels less like a medical condition and more like being trapped in a dysfunctional, predatory relationship. In this episode, we explore the metaphor of the "cult leader in your head" to explain why you keep getting tricked by your thoughts—even when you logically know they aren't true. We discuss five specific ways anxiety and OCD mirror the tactics used by cults and gangs to maintain control:
Recovery is operationally very similar to leaving a cult. It’s difficult, it feels incredibly risky, and it requires you to rebuild your life outside of a rigid, fear-based framework. Recognizing these tactics can help you lean into your exposures and realize that while the "leader" is loud, it is also lying. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety Recovery Questions & Answers | Ep 339 | 11 Mar 2026 | 00:23:42 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Want to discuss what you heard today with Drew, Josh Fletcher, and others that share your struggle and experience? https://disordered.fm/community ---- Overcoming an anxiety disorder comes with a TON of questions, so let's answer some! Questions Answered in This Episode
Full Show Notes: https://theanxioustruth.com/339 Resources Mentioned: Disordered Podcast - https://disordered.fm Why Does Exercise Make My Anxiety Worse (Past Episodes) https://theanxioustruth.com/panic-anxiety-and-the-exercise-problem-part-i-tag019/ https://theanxioustruth.com/panic-anxiety-exercise-problem-part-2/ Interoceptive Exposure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sigXTV5QXik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygAi4MidIhM&t=5s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2byXYrlDkZs Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Negative Self Beliefs in Anxiety Recovery | Ep 338 | 25 Feb 2026 | 00:28:52 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Want to discuss this episode with me and others that share your experience? https://disordered.fm/community ------- In this episode of The Anxious Truth, we look at why the lessons of floating, mindful acceptance, and exposure can feel out of reach. While the principles of recovery are simple, they are difficult to execute because they are counterintuitive and require facing the things you fear most. Beyond the initial fear, deeper obstacles rooted in background, culture, and personal experience often stop people from embracing a mindful approach. I discuss two primary belief systems that keep people stuck in control-based strategies:
If you hold these beliefs, you may be trapped in an endless cycle of trying to control your internal state because you feel that being "impacted" or "impaired" is not allowed. We talk about how to recognize these invisible rules and why recovery requires more than mechanical exposure—it requires challenging these long-held beliefs about your value and your responsibility for others' happiness. Recovery takes time to work through these layers. If you have been struggling to "get it," this episode explains why. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/338 Listen to Disordered every Friday: Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Understanding Mental Compulsions in OCD and Anxiety | EP 337 | 11 Feb 2026 | 00:39:46 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Questions about what you've heard today? Want to interact with Drew and other listeners of this podcast? Check out the Disordered Community space. ----- When compulsions are behavioral, like hand washing or door checking, they are easy to identify. But when they are mental in nature, things get much fuzzier. In this episode, I’m joined by OCD specialist Lauren Rosen to take the mystery out of mental compulsions and explain why your "problem-solving" brain is actually keeping you stuck. We break down the critical difference between having an intrusive thought (the obsession) and what you intentionally dowith that thought (the compulsion). Whether you are struggling with OCD, panic disorder, or health anxiety, learning to recognize internal behaviors like mental review, rumination, and self-flagellation is a vital step toward psychological flexibility. What We Discuss:
About Lauren Rosen: Lauren is a licensed psychotherapist and the Director of The Center for the Obsessive Mind. She is the author of The Mental Compulsions Workbook for OCD and co-host of the Purely OCD podcast. Recovery is a journey of small, brave leaps of faith. You feel real fear, but you are not in real danger. Let’s get into it. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/337 The Mental Compulsions Workbook for OCD Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety And The Bad Weather Trap | EP 336 | 29 Jan 2026 | 00:19:11 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. When a blizzard or thunderstorm is in the forecast, do you find your anxiety levels spiking long before the first snowflakes or raindrops fall? You aren’t alone. Many people struggling with anxiety disorders or chronic states of anxiety find themselves extra triggered by significant weather events. In this episode, we’re looking at why anxiety and weather often go hand-in-hand and why it isn't actually the snow or rain that is the problem. We dive into the two underlying processes that create the "bad weather trap." First, we explore the "trapped" or isolated feeling that arises when a storm might prevent help from reaching you—or you from reaching help. Second, we discuss how any major stressor, like an unprecedented storm, can quickly morph into an internal experience of fear and panic for an anxious person. I’ll explain why building metacognitive awareness is a critical part of the recovery process and how you can use these weather events as opportunities to watch the "anxiety machine" at work. Key Topics Covered:
For full notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/336 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety and Fear: Anxiety Disorders Are Just ONE Fear | EP 335 | 14 Jan 2026 | 00:20:09 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. When you have an anxiety disorder, it can feel like your list of fears and triggers just keeps getting longer. You might have started being afraid of one or two things, but now it seems like everything sets you off. Driving, being home alone, intrusive thoughts, physical sensations, even opening a new bottle of medication. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/335 The Disordered Podcast (weekly with me and Josh Fletcher) Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Mental Health Misinformation: Why is Online Anxiety "Science" So Confusing? | EP 334 | 31 Dec 2025 | 00:44:27 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you've been searching online for ways to deal with your anxiety, you've probably noticed there's an avalanche of information claiming to be "science-based" or "evidence-based." But here's the problem. That isn't always true. Useful Links: Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Stoicism, Anxiety, and and Marcus Aurelius ... Gone Wrong? | EP 333 | 17 Dec 2025 | 00:30:31 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you're struggling with panic disorder, health anxiety, OCD, GAD, or other anxiety issues you've may have encountered online content that references Stoicism, warrior philosophy, and Marcus Aurelius. The message: master your emotions, be tough, control your fear through discipline and suffering. --- The Disordered Guide to Health Anxiety is here --- For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/333 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| When Coping Skills for Anxiety Go Wrong | EP 332 | 03 Dec 2025 | 00:26:19 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Anxious people love coping skills and coping strategies. Everybody loves to cope. But today we're going to talk about how coping can go off the rails and become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/332 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Kids, OCD, Anxiety, and Implications for Adult Recovery | EP 331 | 19 Nov 2025 | 00:30:52 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Children with OCD and anxiety disorders have the same diagnoses as adults, but their experience looks and feels different in important ways. In this episode, I sit down with child anxiety and OCD specialist Natasha Daniels to explore those differences and what they reveal about the fundamental nature of these disorders. https://atparentingcommunity.com/ https://theanxioustruth.com/331 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| When Life Naturally Makes You Anxious | EP 330 | 05 Nov 2025 | 00:21:15 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Sometimes life throws real challenges at us—loss, relationship changes, health concerns, financial struggles—that naturally trigger anxiety. But when you're dealing with an anxiety disorder, these moments become especially confusing. How do you tell the difference between "normal" anxiety and disordered anxiety? And what do you do when recovery concepts don't seem to apply? https://theanxioustruth.com/330 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxious Parenting? Learning to do LESS with Joanna Hardis | EP 329 | 22 Oct 2025 | 00:38:32 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Anxious parenting can feel overwhelming, especially when your own anxiety drives you to do more - more rescuing, more protecting, more intervening. But what if the path to better parenting actually requires learning to do less? In this episode, I'm joined by anxiety/OCD specialist Joanna Hardis to talk about how anxious parenting patterns keep us stuck and what we can really do about them. Joanna just released her new book "Just Do Nothing (For Parents): Parenting Better by Doing Less". Joanna brings training, experience, and insight into why anxious parenting makes us want to swoop in and fix everything our kids feel. We discuss:
If you struggle with anxious parenting, whether you have toddlers, teenagers, or adult children, this conversation will give you a new framework for understanding why you do what you do and how to make different choices that serve both you and your kids better. ABOUT JOANNA HARDIS Joanna is an anxiety and OCD specialist practicing in Cleveland with extensive experience working with families and training in SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions). Find her at joannahardis.com RESOURCES Find show notes and links at theanxioustruth.com/329 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Questions and Answers About Anxiety And Recovery | EP 328 | 15 Oct 2025 | 00:42:20 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. This week we're doing a special "no frills" edition of The Anxious Truth (just like the old days). I asked my Instagram audience for questions, and I'm here to do my best to answer them. If you're dealing with panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, health anxiety, or generalized anxiety disorder, you've probably asked yourself many of these same questions. I cover the most common questions about anxiety symptoms—heart palpitations, dizziness, nausea, breathing difficulties—and explain why treating them as individual problems to solve actually keeps you stuck. We also tackle common questions about intrusive thoughts, including fears about insanity, self-harm, death, and never recovering. One of the biggest categories of questions revolves around control: How do I stop feeling this way? How do I quiet my mind? How do I prevent panic attacks? I explain the fundamental difference between acceptance-based approaches and control strategies, and why the frantic attempt to control your internal experiences is part of what creates the disordered state. I also address:
This episode clarifies why most common questions about anxiety point to the same answer: you don't need special instructions for your specific symptom or thought. Recovery is about building a new relationship with your own body and mind. Resources mentioned:
Remember: Small changes and experiments add up over time. Any move in the right direction counts, no matter how small. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/328 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How Anxiety Is Constructed In The Brain | Ep 327 | 08 Oct 2025 | 00:49:10 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Anxiety that you cannot control, that keeps coming back, that you don't understand and are terrified of, will trick you into believing that something is really wrong. But what if that intense fear you experience—while absolutely real—is based on a prediction your brain is making that isn't actually true? In this episode, I speak with Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, neuroscientist and author of How Emotions Are Made and 7 1/2 Lessons About The Brain about how anxiety is constructed in the brain. Dr. Barrett explains the theory of constructed emotions and how your brain uses predictive processing to create your internal experience of fear and anxiety. In this conversation, we explore:
This conversation gets technical at times, but offers valuable insights into why anxiety feels so real and compelling, even when you're not actually in danger. Understanding how anxiety is constructed in the brain has important implications for how we approach recovery from panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and other anxiety disorders. Resources mentioned:
For Show Notes On This Episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/327 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How To Calm Your Anxious Feelings | Ep 326 | 24 Sep 2025 | 00:30:53 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you're struggling with anxiety and searching for ways of calming your feelings, this episode is for you. I break down why the most popular strategies for calming your feelings - like using logic to talk yourself out of anxiety, trying to replace negative emotions with positive ones, attempting to control your body's responses, or avoiding triggers - often backfire when you're dealing with anxiety disorders. Drawing from mindfulness principles and acceptance-based therapy approaches, I explain a counterintuitive truth: calming your feelings often happens when you learn to be with difficult emotions rather than fighting them. Using the metaphor of a loving parent comforting a crying child, I explore how harsh judgment and control attempts often increase distress, while kind acknowledgment and acceptance can lead to genuine relief. You'll learn why calm follows capacity rather than control, and how developing the ability to tolerate and navigate through difficult internal experiences can reduce the fear of your own thoughts and feelings. I address the reality that this approach is challenging to implement when you're triggered, while offering practical insights into building emotional capacity over time. This episode focuses on working with the reality of being human rather than fighting against uncomfortable emotions - an approach that may help you discover how to move through anxiety and distressing feelings in a more adaptive way. Topics covered:
Perfect for anyone dealing with panic disorder, generalized anxiety, OCD, health anxiety, or agoraphobia who wants to move beyond quick fixes toward lasting change. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/326 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety Recovery: Feeling Good About Feeling Bad? | Ep 325 | 10 Sep 2025 | 00:35:06 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. There's whole industry built around helping people feel good about feeling bad, and while validation has its place, this endless cycle of anxiety content might actually be keeping you stuck. In this episode, we explore how consuming validation-focused content can become a form of modern reassurance-seeking that maintains anxiety disorders rather than promoting recovery. We'll discuss the research showing that excessive reassurance-seeking provides immediate relief but leads to increased anxiety over time. You'll learn the difference between helpful validation and the validation trap, and why automatically turning to anxiety content when you feel uncomfortable might be functioning as a safety behavior. This episode covers the distinction between feeling understood and actually moving forward in recovery, how social media consumption patterns affect anxiety levels, and practical guidelines for consuming mental health content in ways that support rather than sabotage your progress. If you've been consuming anxiety content for months or years but still feel stuck, this episode will help you examine whether feeling good about feeling bad has become another way to avoid the discomfort that comes with real change. Topics covered:
Recovery isn't about feeling good about your anxiety. It's about learning that you don't need to feel good about it in order to build a life worth living. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/325 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety Recovery: Mindset, Belief, and Motivation? | EP 324 | 27 Aug 2025 | 00:30:10 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you're struggling with anxiety disorders and constantly being told you need a positive mindset, stronger beliefs, and better motivation to recover, this episode is for you. I'm breaking down why these three concepts are tragically misunderstood and misapplied in anxiety recovery—and why they might actually be keeping you stuck. What You'll Learn:
Episode Timestamps: [0:00 - 3:30] Introduction and why belief, mindset, and motivation advice often backfires [3:30 - 6:00] The fantasy that words will fix us and why we want to avoid difficult action [6:00 - 9:30] Where bad advice comes from and why helpers sometimes rely on oversimplified approaches [9:30 - 12:30] Why you can't manufacture beliefs, mindset, or motivation on demand [12:30 - 16:30] The reality: action comes before belief change, not after [16:30 - 19:00] The only mindset that matters: awareness over positivity [19:00 - 23:00] Why it's normal and okay to have negative beliefs and lack motivation [23:00 - 27:00] Challenging helpers who rely on "you just need to want it more" [27:00 - 29:30] Final thoughts and permission to be where you are right now
You don't need to wake up believing you're a warrior who can vanquish anxiety. You don't need a positive mindset or perfect motivation. What you need is willingness to take small risks and experiment with new behaviors, even when everything inside you is saying "don't do that." Recovery happens when you act anyway—despite doubt, fear, and negative beliefs. Remember: if you're struggling to "just think positive" or get motivated, that's not a character flaw. You're encountering advice that doesn't match how humans actually change and recover from anxiety disorders. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/324 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Exposure For Anxiety: Common Misconceptions and Mistakes | Ep 323 | 13 Aug 2025 | 00:30:22 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Exposure for anxiety is the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders, but most people get it wrong, especially when trying to use exposure without professional help. In this episode, we're breaking down why so many people struggle with exposure for anxiety and how to avoid the common traps that lead to frustration and giving up. If you've ever tried exposure therapy for panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, social anxiety, or health anxiety and felt like it wasn't working, this episode is for you. Learn the real science behind exposure, why it's supposed to be scary, and how to apply these principles correctly in your anxiety recovery journey. Key Topics & Timestamps:
Perfect for listeners dealing with:
Resources mentioned: Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Agoraphobia to Astrophotography: A Recovery Story | EP 322 | 30 Jul 2025 | 00:24:19 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. For 25 years of my life, I struggled with panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression. I was so anxious that I couldn't leave my house or be alone for more than a few minutes at a time. But last week, I finally did something I've wanted to do since I was 9 years old. In this episode, I share a personal story - not as a blueprint for your recovery, but as encouragement that anxiety recovery is possible. When I was in elementary school, a trip to the planetarium showed me what the night sky really looks like without light pollution. For decades, I dreamed of seeing that sky for real, but anxiety, fear, and often just being "too busy" (this is dumb) kept from doing that. Last week, I drove seven hours from Long Island to an international dark sky site in Pennsylvania. For someone who once couldn't drive 60 seconds without having a panic attack, this was significant. I went into the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone service, to finally see what I'd been dreaming about since childhood. This episode explores what anxiety recovery actually looks like - not learning that you're "okay," but learning you never needed to ask that if you're OK in the first place. If you're struggling right now and feel like you'll never get better, I want you to know that I felt the same way - and I was wrong. People do get better from anxiety disorders. Maybe you just need to hear a story like this one today. So here it is. I hope it helps. Resources mentioned: Free book "An Anxiety Story" available: https://theanxioustruth.com/an-anxiety-story/ YouTube version with photos and video footage The Disordered Podcast (co-hosted weekly show) The Anxious Truth is a podcast focused on evidence-based anxiety recovery using acceptance and mindfulness-based approaches. New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe, rate, and review to help others find the show! Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| When Your Mind Becomes Its Own Worst Enemy | EP 321 | 16 Jul 2025 | 00:21:48 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. This week on The Anxious Truth, we're talking about what happens when a problem solving mind sees itself as a problem to solve.
Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Medication for Anxiety: Why We're Not Talking About It | Ep 320 | 01 Jul 2025 | 00:23:19 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. I get asked about medication every single day. Can you get better without it? Is it necessary? What's the best one? Is it cheating to take medication? Today I'm explaining why I don't answer these questions - and why you should be cautious about content creators who do. In this episode, I cover:
The reality is this: There are too many personal, medical, cultural, and lifestyle factors that go into medication decisions for any podcaster, YouTuber, or social media creator to give you meaningful advice. Even as a therapist specializing in anxiety disorders, there are clear boundaries I must respect. This doesn't mean your questions aren't valid - they absolutely are. It means you deserve qualified, ongoing professional support for these important decisions, not one-size-fits-all answers from someone who doesn't know your specific situation. Whether you use medication or not, the principles of anxiety recovery remain the same. You can't make a wrong choice because you can always change course as you learn and grow. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/320 My medication story: https://theanxioustruth.com/145 https://theanxioustruth.com/146 https://theanxioustruth.com/147 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How Do We Use Mindfulness In Anxiety Therapy? (Part 2) | EP 319 | 18 Jun 2025 | 00:33:53 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. How do real anxiety therapists apply mindfulness principles when working with real anxiety clients in real therapy sessions? Let's check out part two of my chat with therapists Lauren Rosen and Joanna Hardis. We all make heavy use of the principles of mindfulness in our practices, and in our daily lives. What you'll learn in this episode:
Key takeaways:
If you missed part one (episode 318), go back and listen to that first for the complete conversation. This episode offers a practical, no-nonsense look at how mindfulness actually works in anxiety recovery - not the soft-focus version you might expect, but the real-world application that helps people move forward in their recovery journey. Resources mentioned:
Remember: there are no small moves in recovery, only valuable ones. Keep at it - you can do this. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Mindfulness in Anxiety Treatment (Part 1) | EP 318 | 04 Jun 2025 | 00:40:06 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. What happens when three anxiety specialists get together to talk practically about how they use mindfulness in anxiety treatment? This week on The Anxious Truth, we find out. I'm joined by Lauren Rosen, who practices in Los Angeles specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders, and Joanna Hardis from Cleveland, also an expert in treating OCD, anxiety, and anxiety disorders. Together, we break down how mindfulness in anxiety treatment actually works in real therapy sessions - not the Instagram version, but the practical, sometimes messy reality of applying these principles with actual anxious clients. We tackle the biggest misconceptions about mindfulness (spoiler: it's not about achieving a quiet mind), discuss why it's often the "hardest sell" in therapy despite being incredibly effective, and demonstrate real techniques through live role-play. You'll hear us work through the difference between being "neck up" versus "neck down," learn about the labeling practice that creates a "speed bump" between sensation and catastrophe, and understand why non-judgmental awareness is a skill that requires genuine practice. Lauren and Joanna take different approaches to applying mindfulness in anxiety treatment, and you'll hear both perspectives as we explore everything from the campfire analogy (anxiety doesn't have to become a wildfire) to the practical challenge of teaching clients to observe their thoughts without getting dragged along by them. Whether you're dealing with panic attacks, social anxiety, OCD, or generalized anxiety, the principles we discuss apply across all anxiety presentations. This isn't about quick fixes or magic solutions - it's about developing psychological flexibility and learning to relate differently to your internal experiences. Fair warning: we got so deep into this conversation that we had to split it into two parts. This is part one, and part two drops in episode 319. If you're tired of surface-level advice about mindfulness and want to understand how it actually works in anxiety recovery, this episode delivers the real deal from three therapists who use these techniques every day with anxious clients. Resources mentioned:
For Full Show Notes On This Episode: theanxioustruth.com/318 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| OMG! Nothing Works For My Anxiety!!! | EP 317 | 21 May 2025 | 00:23:47 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. If you've reached the point of declaring "I've tried everything and nothing works for my anxiety," this episode is specifically for you. Many anxiety sufferers fall into this trap and conclude they're uniquely broken or have a special form of anxiety that's resistant to recovery. As both a therapist and someone who personally recovered from panic disorder and agoraphobia, I'll explain why this frustrating experience happens. You'll discover why commonly-tried control and avoidance strategies can provide temporary relief but ultimately strengthen anxiety's grip on your life. I'll break down the fundamental flaw in these approaches using a simple sailing metaphor: if you're trying to reach London from New York by sailing west, the problem isn't your sailing technique—it's your direction. This episode offers a shift in perspective about what actually gives you a fighting chance at lasting recovery. Instead of searching for more control techniques, learn why changing your entire approach might be the key you've been missing. No quick fixes or miracle cures here—just straight talk about why certain approaches fail and what direction might actually lead to meaningful change. Small steps in a new direction still count as progress, and recognizing what doesn't work is valuable learning on the path to reclaiming your life from anxiety. Links and resources mentioned in this episode:
Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety and Fearing Emotions: Becoming More Emotionally Allowable | EP 316 | 07 May 2025 | 00:41:41 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Do you find yourself running from difficult emotions or trying desperately to control them? Many people with anxiety disorders develop a deep fear of their own emotions, believing they're too intense or unbearable to experience fully. In this episode of The Anxious Truth, Drew is joined by therapist Joanna Hardis to explore the concept of "emotional allowability" – learning to coexist with our emotions rather than fighting against them. They discuss why trying to control emotions is ultimately futile, how the stories we tell ourselves about emotions cause more suffering than the emotions themselves, and practical steps for becoming more comfortable with the full range of emotional experiences. Whether you struggle with panic, anxiety, OCD, or simply find yourself fearing emotions, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on what it means to be human and how to free yourself from the exhausting cycle of emotional resistance. No quick fixes or magic solutions here—just honest conversation about the reality of emotional experiences and how to move toward greater psychological flexibility. If you've ever wondered why your emotions feel so threatening or what might happen if you actually allowed yourself to feel them, this episode is for you. Learn more about Joanna and her work at joannahardis.com For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/316 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Driving Anxiety and Driving Exposure | EP 315 | 09 Apr 2025 | 00:30:39 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Navigating driving anxiety with exposure therapy—but not how you might think. In this episode, Drew Linsalata (therapist, author, and former anxiety sufferer) challenges common misconceptions about addressing driving anxiety. Learn why the feeling is the exposure, not the driving itself, and discover how interoceptive and imaginal exposures can help without ever starting your car. Drew explains why pulling over or listening to music isn't avoidance if you're still experiencing anxiety, clarifies what true avoidance looks like, and emphasizes that recovery is about learning from each experience, not just driving farther. Whether you experience anxiety holding your keys, sitting in your driveway, or on the highway, this episode offers a practical, acceptance-based approach to driving anxiety that breaks down exactly what exposure therapy means in this context. You'll learn why small steps count, what constitutes real progress, and how to shift your focus from controlling anxiety to building a different relationship with uncomfortable feelings while driving. Based on empirically supported approaches to treating anxiety and anxiety disorders, this episode provides realistic strategies for living alongside anxiety rather than attempting to eliminate it. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/315 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Anxiety Recovery: Acceptance Is Better Than Control | EP 314 | 26 Mar 2025 | 00:29:49 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. When struggling with chronic anxiety or anxiety disorders, our instinct is often to search for ways to control, manage, or eliminate our symptoms. But what if that approach is actually keeping us stuck? This week we're looking at the fundamental difference between acceptance-based strategies and control/management-based approaches to anxiety recovery. Drawing from both research evidence and real-world experiences of anxiety sufferers, we'll explain why acceptance consistently produces better long-term outcomes than trying to control our internal experiences. You'll learn:
Whether you're tired of collecting coping techniques that only provide temporary relief or you're curious about a different approach to anxiety recovery, this episode offers practical insights into a more sustainable path forward—one that doesn't depend on trying to manually control your thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations. Remember: there are no wrong experiences in anxiety recovery, only wins or learning opportunities. Whatever small step you take today toward facing rather than retreating from your fears counts. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/314 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Common Questions About Anxiety From ... You! | EP 313 | 12 Mar 2025 | 00:36:46 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. In this no-frills episode of The Anxious Truth, I'm tackling common questions about anxiety sent in by you, the listeners. No fancy production today - just real talk about real anxiety concerns. We're diving into: 00:00 - Introduction 00:58 - Emetophobia (fear of vomiting) - what it is and how it's typically addressed 06:12 - Nocturnal panic attacks - why they're jarring and how to handle them 11:24 - Is focusing on breathing a distraction or helpful technique? 14:45 - The meta-problem of ruminating about rumination 18:20 - External sources of anxiety in our tumultuous world 22:06 - The fear of becoming suicidal against your will - a surprisingly common anxiety concern 27:40 - Why focusing on specific anxious thoughts misses the bigger picture As someone who lived through panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression, I'm sharing both professional and personal perspectives on these challenging issues. Remember - recovery isn't about eliminating specific fears but changing your relationship with your internal experiences altogether. There are no magic solutions or quick fixes here, just practical guidance for the long-term journey of anxiety recovery. All sensations, thoughts, and emotions are permissible - even when they're uncomfortable. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/313 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Your Anxiety Is Not Special (This Is Good News) | EP 312 | 26 Feb 2025 | 00:24:26 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. This week we're looking at why the anxious fear that bothers you most is NOT special - and why that's actually good news for your recovery. After receiving countless messages asking me to address specific fears (passing out, heart attacks, going insane), I've noticed a pattern: everyone thinks their particular anxiety is unique, more dangerous, or requires special treatment. Here's the reality: while your fear feels incredibly real and disturbing, all anxiety disorders follow similar patterns. Your anxiety isn't special because:
What makes anxiety "irrational" isn't that these fears are impossible - many feared events do happen in real life. It's how the fear is applied: persistently, disproportionately, and in ways that disrupt your daily functioning. Recognizing that your anxiety isn't special is empowering. It means you can learn from others who've recovered and apply proven principles instead of searching for specialized techniques for your "unique" situation. You don't have to fully believe this yet - just consider the possibility. That small opening is your first step toward recovery. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/312 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How To Accept Anxiety: Do What Matters (Part 3 of 3) | Ep 311 | 12 Feb 2025 | 00:20:51 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. When anxiety hits, how do you know what to do? This week on The Anxious Truth we're exploring how your personal values can guide your choices in anxious moments. Tune in to learn practical ways to identify and connect with your values. This can inform more productive responses when anxiety gets triggered. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/311 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| How To Accept Anxiety: Open Up! (Part 2 of 3) | Ep 310 | 29 Jan 2025 | 00:15:29 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. How to Accept Anxiety: Opening Up to New Options In this episode, we explore the second component of the ACT Triflex framework for anxiety acceptance: opening up to new possibilities. Learn why considering options when triggered—even without knowing what to do next—is a crucial step in recovery.
Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| The Art of Accepting Anxiety: Getting Present (Part 1 of 3) | EP 309 | 15 Jan 2025 | 00:28:11 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. HOW DO I ACCEPT ANXIETY?!?!?!?! KEY POINTS:
QUOTES FROM THE EPISODE:
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
UPCOMING COURSE: Join Drew's 6-week Practical Mindfulness Skills group starting soon. Limited to 10 participants. Learn more at learn.theanxioustruth.com Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Taking Time Off Because of Anxiety - Help or Harm? | EP 308 | 01 Jan 2025 | 00:20:42 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. In this episode of The Anxious Truth, we tackle a question that comes up constantly in anxiety recovery: Should you take time off from work or school because of anxiety? We explore why this seemingly simple question has a complex answer, and why what feels intuitively right might not always serve your recovery. Key Topics Covered:
For full show notes on this episode: Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| The Truth About Rewiring An Anxious Brain | Ep 307 | 18 Dec 2024 | 00:23:32 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Are you tired of trying countless techniques to "rewire" your anxious brain, only to find yourself still stuck in the same patterns? In this eye-opening episode, we're diving deep into the science of neuroplasticity and anxiety recovery to reveal why popular brain rewiring methods might actually be reinforcing your anxiety. You'll learn why your brain doesn't have a delete button (and why that's actually good news), what real recovery looks like, and how to build new neural pathways that give you options when anxiety shows up. Whether you're dealing with panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, or chronic anxiety, this episode provides a fresh perspective on recovery that goes beyond simple coping techniques. This isn't about learning to stay calm - it's about discovering how to live fully even when anxiety is present. If you're ready for a different approach to anxiety recovery, one that's based on neuroscience rather than quick fixes, this episode is for you.
Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||
| Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy w/Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis | Ep 306 | 04 Dec 2024 | 00:45:28 | |
Send in a question or comment via text. Want to know more about Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and how it might be applied in your situation? Join us this week for insights from the world-renowned therapist Dr. Debbie Joffe-Ellis as she guides us through the origins, core concepts, and application of REBT. Discover how this pioneering cognitive behavioral approach can help you reshape your perceptions and beliefs, offering a path to recovery from anxiety disorders like panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). With Dr. Debbie’s expert guidance, we explore how understanding that our beliefs—not circumstances—drive our emotions can lead to profound personal change. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! | |||