Stay ConnectedStruggling with panic attacks, agoraphobia, or other anxiety problems? The Anxious Truth will educate you, empower you, encourage you, and inspire you to get your life back!
* Featured in the New York Times: “6 Podcasts to Soothe An Anxious Mind” (April 27, 2024)
* Featured in Vogue Magazine: “The 15 Best Mental Health Podcasts Recommended by Therapists” (October 2023)
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Copyright: © 2025 Drew Linsalata
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In this episode I answer listener questions about:
For full show notes on this episode, go to https://theanxioustruth.com/122
My social media and other links: https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
This week and next I will take time to answer questions submitted by by Instagram friends. I had over 130 questions sent in for this episode so lets break it into two episodes. This is part one. Part two will be next week in episode 122.Questions covered in this episode are: "I just started therapy, how do I make the most out of it to get the most out of it?" "What's the best way to deal with the urge to talk about feelings often and seek reassurance?" "I always think you need to go to A&E (the ER in the US) when you have a panic attack because you can't breathe. Any tips?" "Any advice on how to deal with pain due to a medical condition triggering anxiety?" "How do I tell the difference between anxiety and an actual medical issue?" "Benzo/antidepressant withdrawal issues." "What part do other approaches like teas, oils, crystals and inner child work play in the recovery process?" "How do I prevent or deal with setback or relapse?" "Is recovery harder when OCD is involved?"For full show notes on this episode visit https://theanxioustruth.com/121My links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksSupport 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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
Shelley Hohe has struggled with OCD for many years. Her contamination obsession and the accompanying compulsions drove her into a very dark place. Her faith was questioned and shaken, her life was getting smaller, her relationships were suffering, and she simply wasn't sure where to turn for answers or help. A chance encounter with an old friend changed everything, setting Shelley on a path of renewed faith where recovery from OCD is not only a goal, but a real work in progress. Shelley was generous enough to share her story with us in the hope that she may shine a light that others struggling with OCD can follow. Shelley has made it her mission to educate, inspire, and advocate on behalf of the OCD community, and has even taken on the role of OCD Advocate for the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation.
Find Shelley on Instagram at https://instagram.com/theocdcafe
Find the IOCDF at https://iocdf.org
My Links: https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
One of the most common topics I am asked to address is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). GAD is generally categorized with other anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD and social anxiety. Today I was lucky enough to spend 30 minutes with Dr. David Carbonell. A clinical psychologist specializing in treating anxiety disorders, Dr. Carbonell is the author of "The Worry Trick" and three other books on anxiety and phobias. We had a most excellent talk about GAD, what it is, and how it's treated.
For full show notes on this episode, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/119
Find Dr. Carbonell and his books at https://anxietycoach.com
My Links: https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
The recovery process will - unfortunately - include days where you still struggle. This is to be expected. In this episode I read lesson 5.5 from my book which discusses the struggles you will encounter. I then discuss the basics of creating a "playbook" that you can turn to on the bad days when you need an easy to follow script rather than thinking on your feet.
For full show notes on this episode including the full text of the book chapter I read, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/118
CREATING YOUR "BAD DAY PLAYBOOK"
Bad days and period of struggle often include the onset of confusion and forgetting. I see people declare that they can not remember what they are supposed to do when they find themselves faced with period of struggle in recovery. This is clearly a normal situation experienced by many. When discouraged, feeling defeated, and feeling confused and lost, having a playbook or a script that you can reference is VERY helpful.
Remember that your bad day playbook is not there to make you instantly feel better. It will not create instant sunshine and rainbows. It might, but that's now what it's there for. It exists only to keep up connected to your humanity, and to the process. It is designed to prop you up and get you back to the basics that will show you that struggle or not, you are still in control and capable of making change in your life.
My Links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links
Intro/Outro Music: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
Recovery from an anxiety disorder gets even harder when you judge the presence of fear as an immediate failure. Dr. B - Bridget Cooper - joined me today to talk about fear, and the misconception that the presence of fear indicates failure of some kind.
For full show notes on this episode go to https://theanxioustruth.com/117
The Highlights:
1. Being afraid is NOT failure. There are a few reasons you may be thinking this, most based on old self-limiting beliefs and what Dr. B calls "old contracts". Being afraid during recovery does not mean you are failing or "doing it wrong".
2. The Fear - Trust - Control model. Dr. B uses her model of fear to explain how high levels of fear and corresponding low levels of trust trigger exaggerated attempts at control. We discuss how trying to control things is expressed as our old safety, escape and avoidance behaviors.
3. Are you clinging to old self-beliefs because they are comfortable? We discuss why some people are reluctant to even try to face fear because it may mean becoming a new version of themselves. Even when the current version is suffering to some degree, what is known is comfortable, and sometimes preferred over the discomfort and uncertainty of making changes.
4. You cannot "mantra" your way out of this situation. We discuss Dr. B's concept of the inner critic and how attempting to convince your inner critic that it is safe to try hard things will never work. This is directly related to my discussion of why positive self talk and attempting to simply ignore anxiety do not work. You cannot dismiss your built-in protective mechanisms with words alone.
5. The only way to improve your fear perception and experience is to let go. Dropping all the old attempts to control (safety and comfort seeking) means passing THROUGH fear and learning through experience that you can TRUST yourself to get that job done. These are the experiences we do desperately need as a core component of recovery.
Find Dr. B online:
My Links
https://theanxioustruth.com/links
Intro/Outro Music:
"Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic)
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
One of the concepts that confuses people more than any other is understanding the difference between accepting and surrendering to anxiety, learning to be nonreactive to anxiety, or ignoring anxiety. Let's talk about that today.
There is a difference between ignoring anxiety and learning to become truly non-reactive to anxiety. This is subtle. It's reasonable for people to be confused especially in the early stages of the game. This is a thing that requires a fair amount of thought. It requires a bit of a change in mindset and approach. And it certainly does require practice!
For full show notes on this episode go to https://theanxioustruth.com/116
Highlights of this episode:
My Links:
https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
Dr. Bridget Cooper is a cage rattler. Her penchant for confronting old beliefs and challenging thought patterns is helping people to break from from old negative beliefs and ideas. Dr. B is passionate about showing you that a new way and a new life is possible.
Old Contracts
Many people want so desperately to recover from anxiety issues, but find themselves trapped by old beliefs and ideas that tell them that they are not capable of recovery. The belief that one is less than, not strong enough, not smart enough, or simply not worthy of recovery can be crippling to the process of recovery.
Dr. Bridget frames these old negative beliefs as "old contracts" that you were forced to sign well before you had the knowledge, maturity, or ability to understand them or even sign them. You've been given contracts against your will, and you've been acting in accordance with those contracts.
Here is news. You are entitled to tear up those old contracts. You didn't choose them. You didn't understand them. You didn't have the ability or opportunity to read them or object to them. You can declare your old contracts null and void. This is the first step toward shattering old beliefs and ideas that have been keeping you stuck.
For full show notes on this episode visit https://theanxioustruth.com/115
Dr. Bridget Cooper (Dr. B)
Website: http://drbridgetcooper.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbridgetcooper/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridget.cannoncooper
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Bridget-Cooper/e/B00LXT7R26
My Links
https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
Here is a paradox. So much of this anxiety complex revolves around a desperate attempt to find 100 percent iron clad certainty. The search for certainty in the face of irrationally perceived threats destroys your ability to handle uncertainty in the face of real challenges and threats. The search for safety undermines the very thing you seek ...
For Full show notes on this episode, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/114
My Links:
https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
Send in a question or comment via text.
Sarah Doan Peace is amazing. Having been born with VATER syndrome and after 35 surgeries and years of serious medical challenges, Sarah is finding her voice as a speaker and advocate for others that share her experience. Sarah's honesty and willingness to openly share her story and struggle are educational, enlightening, and inspiring.
* For full show notes on this episode, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/113
* To find Sarah online, visit https://sarahdoanpeace.com
* My links: https://theanxioustruth.com/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!
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.
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