The Anxious Truth &#8211; A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast

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Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

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!
Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.
Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

EP 195 - The Paradox of Letting Go: Short Term vs Long Term Anxiety Relief Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/195

Today we will tackle the paradox of letting go in the anxiety recovery process.

The concept of letting go - giving up the struggle - is a key concept in anxiety recovery. But in the context of recovery, letting go is not a thing designed to create instant calm or tranquility. In fact, the initial act of letting go will do quite the opposite. It will likely increase tension and discomfort. Over time we find a reduction in tension. As we progress, we do find increased contentment and calm. This is achieved through the repeated, long-term practice of letting go, even when letting go may increase discomfort at any given moment.

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Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

EP 194 - Making Up Anxiety Recovery As You Go Along Is A Bad Idea Feb 09, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/194

Making up your anxiety recovery as you go along is not a good plan. An anxious person will wait to see how they feel before deciding what to do, so avoidance and taking the more comfortable way can accidentally become the default. Anxious people are also not very good at making productive decisions about what to do while anxious. Building structure and having a plan to execute without assessing how one feels or having to think about it is a very useful tool in recovery.

In today’s podcast episode we’re going to discuss three reasons why it’s important to make an anxiety recovery plan.

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Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

EP 193 - Paying Attention: Anxious Thinking Is Not The Only Thing Happening Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/193

So much of the anxiety and fear struggle is based on what we feel, what we think, and what we think about what we feel. What if thinking and feeling were NOT the most important things in the universe all the time? What if you could learn to pay attention to other things instead? How would that help you in your anxiety recovery journey?

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Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

EP 192 - Exposure Therapy Is More Than Just Doing Things Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/192

“I’m doing things, but it doesn’t seem to be working! Why?”

If you feel like you’re doing all the exposures but nothing is changing, you may be doing “half exposures” without even knowing it. Let’s look at what full, effective exposures really require.

Exposure is what we do when we intentionally place ourselves into situations that purposefully trigger anxiety, panic, fear and all the things that come with them. We do this in order to learn a new way to relate to anxiety and fear so that we no longer fear it.

Successful and effective exposures require two primary ingredients:

Willingness: You must work to get to the point where you are willing to intentionally do these scary and challenging things consistently to get better. This does not mean you’re happy about doing them consistently, just that you are fully willing.

Acceptance: You must be fully accepting of the fact that doing scary and challenging things will - in fact - be scary and challenging. You must accept that this is the whole point. You must accept that you have to do your best to navigate through the scary and challenging stuff rather than trying to save yourself from it, stop it from happening, or otherwise “side by it sideways”.

The most common issues that result in “I’m doing exposure but it’s not working” involve being only partially willing (inconsistency) and lacking acceptance (trying to find ways to do scary things without being scared).

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Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

EP 191 - Social Media, Mental Health, and Anxiety Recovery W/Kimberley Quinlan, LMFT Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/191

This week I’m joined by my friend Kimberley Quinlan to talk about responsible use of social media as it relates to mental health and anxiety recovery. Kimberley starts from the premise that social media is neutral, but that the way we use it defines it as healthy or unhealthy. Let’s take it from there!

Kim and I went over:

Taking responsibility for your mental health and social media use
Recognizing the limits and pitfalls of social media
Knowing the difference between psychoeducation and behavioral change
Why the ability to find everything on the Internet can be a bad thing
And more!

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For full show notes on this episode:

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Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

Additional Music Credit In This Episode:

Local Forecast Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

EP 190 - Why Is Anxiety Recovery So Damn Hard? Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/190

“I know what I’m supposed to do, but it’s just so hard to do it!” Am too broken or too weak?

No. You are not broken or too weak. This is a difficult process. I say all the time that recovery is a simple plan, but that plan is very hard to execute. Let’s look at the two main reasons why this is such a hard road to travel.

Why is recovery so damn hard?

There are many reasons that all come together to make the process of recovery from an anxiety issue as hard as it is. In this episode, let's focus on what I think are the big two. These are the primary reasons why recovery can be so challenging.

1. Humans HATE Fear and Discomfort

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know here. The bad news is that recovery requires that we intentionally and repeatedly move into a state of fear and discomfort.

2. Recovery Experiences Are NOT Conducive To Forming Good Habits

When we compare experiences that help build strong habits, and experiences that help us toward recovery, they are polar opposites. Recovery experiences - being afraid and uncomfortable on purpose - are more well suited to the inhibition or blocking of good habit forming. We don’t like to have negative experiences (see reason one above), and we sure as hell don’t want to repeat them when we have them. So there's almost nothing about intentionally creating panic or near panic that sounds encouraging in terms of forming productive recovery habits.

FOR FULL SHOW NOTES ON THIS EPISODE:

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MUSIC CREDIT:

AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

EP 189 - How To Slay Your Anxiety Dragon in 2022 (In 27,000 small steps) Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

https://theanxioustruth.com/189

Everyone wants to "overcome anxiety" in 2022. Totally doable, but we do not slay this dragon in one epic swing of a sword. This is a journey of small steps that add up.

Recovery is granular. It happens in small bits as the result of small changes and small individual experiences that add up over time. Recovery does not come in giant leaps and broad sweeps. Successful recovery is very much about starting small, being incremental and being consistent. Really, recovery is about developing strong recovery HABITS.

Let’s look at five small anxiety recovery habits you can work on to start the new year.

For full show notes on this episode:

My books, social media, and other links:

Music Credit:

AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

EP 188 - The Anxious Morning Podcast/Newsletter Launches Jan 3, 2022! Dec 29, 2021

Show notes

The Anxious Morning is a project I've been working on for about a year. On January 3, the first edition of The Anxious Morning will hit the street, and the airwaves!

For all the ways to listen or to subscribe free to the email newsletter, visit https://theanxiousmorning.com

My goal with this project is to give you a more in-depth discussion of important anxiety and recovery topics that you can consume outside the chaos and algorithm madness that is the endless social media scroll. Subscribe free to The Anxious Morning email newsletter and have everything dropped in your inbox each weekday morning. Follow The Anxious Morning podcast on your favorite podcast app and listen to each episode as you start your day.

These will be little 300-500 word newsletters and 3-5 minute podcast episodes that you can consume when in a quiet time, reflect on, then hopefully use as you go forward in your day. I'll share some of my own stories, we'll go over recovery tips and techniques, I'll give you things to think about and work in, and I'll do my best to educate, encourage and empower you on your journey.

I've always wanted to do a little morning "show" this way, and I love to write, so this is the best of both worlds, and hopefully a win/win for you and me.

Join me in launching The Anxious Morning and making it a success.

Thank you as always for your continued support and enthusiasm for my work.

EP 187 - MATTER over MIND in Anxiety Recovery Dec 22, 2021

Show notes