When anxious, stressed, or afraid, the gut and GI tract are almost instantly impacted. This is true for a huge number of people, anxious or not. This week Josh and Drew are joined by health psychologist Dr. Sula Windgassen to talk about anxiety and IBS. Dr. Sula specializes in a cognitive behavioral approach to supporting people struggling with IBS, Crohn's, colitis, other GI issues, and other chronic illnesses.

In this episode we're talking about:

Find Dr. Sula online:

Instagram (@the_health_psychologist_)

All Dr. Sula's Links

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew,⁠⁠ check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost⁠⁠

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

Extreme sensitivity to sound and misophonia (yes, it has a name) is a topic that doesn't get nearly enough attention in the mental health community so this week on Disordered we were lucky enough to have Dr. Jane Gregory stop by to talk about this often under-represented challenge.

Dr. Jane has struggled with misophonia since childhood so not only is she academically and professionally well-versed in the topic, she's lived this experience herself. Dr. Jane has immersed herself in misophonia research which is revealing some amazing insights into this issue and how it can be addressed by clinicians, and has even written a book on the topic ("Sounds Like Misophonia").

Today's discussion touches on not just anxiety triggered by sound, but also on the emotional, social, familial, and cultural impacts of this issue. People struggling with misophonia can often find themselves feeling isolated, and questioning themselves when triggered. Misophonia sufferers may find themselves confused as to why it feels like there are misophonia and non-misophonia versions of themselves.

Even if you do not struggle with misophonia or extreme sound sensitivity, this episode is worth a listen because it is chock-full of great information applicable across many of the topics we cover on Disordered.

Oh, and apologies for the fact that Josh was out rubbing elbows on celebrity podcasts rather than recording, and for the absence of the now traditional screaming American eagle sound effect in this one. I'm sure he'll bring it back next week. ;-)

Find Dr. Jane Gregory online:

https://instagram.com/drjanegregory

https://instagram.com/soundslikemiso

https://soundslikemisophonia.com

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew,⁠⁠ check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost⁠⁠

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

"How can I maintain momentum in recovery when I have a setback or I don't feel motivated?"

This is a very common question asked in our community so this week on Disordered we're addressing the topic of momentum in the anxiety recovery process. We relay some of our own experiences with recovery momentum and what it looked like for us, and we touch on some common issues related to momentum and motivation in recovery:

As always we have a couple of "did it anyways" and we answer a question about anxiety that comes in "waves".

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew,⁠ check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost⁠

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

This week we're taking a look at social anxiety, which is the anxiety disorder that belongs in that classification, but also kinda doesn't because it can often be more complex than related forms of chronic and disordered anxiety.

Social anxiety is often misunderstood as "extreme shyness" or "fear of being judged", but there can be much more to it so join us as we explore some of the more common broad-brush themes associated with social anxiety. We can't crack the code of everyone's social anxiety in a podcast episode, but if you struggle in situations where you have to be around others or interact with others, this episode can be helpful in explaining what may be happening "under the hood" of your anxious response.

This episode also references two episodes of Drew's podcast, "The Anxious Truth". You can find them here:

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew, check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost

-----

Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

This week on Disordered we examine the somatic trauma narrative in relation to anxiety disorders.

This is a tricky topic. We ALWAYS want to validate and support our friends who are struggling to work through trauma. That struggle is real and cannot be minimized or dismissed. In the right context for someone working through trauma, somatic conceptualizations can be highly impactful in a really positive way. No doubt!

At the same time, we must also acknowledge that while somatic conceptualizations of trauma applied to anxiety disorders can be informative and empowering, they just shouldn't be seen as universally applicable, especially when interacting with highly suggestible and vulnerable individuals in a sensitized state for whom those narratives simply may not apply.

Trauma survivors are deserving of representation and advocacy in the mental health community, but so are members of the anxiety disorder community who are sometimes harmed by misapplied and overgeneralized somatics narratives. This week we've done our best to provide a balanced look at this issue that we hope sheds some light on the topic for anyone confused by this issue.

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew, check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

This week Josh and Drew tackle "monophobia" - the fear of being alone. This is VERY common among people with panic disorder and agoraphobia. It presents most often as an intense fear and avoidance of being left home alone without safe people nearby or as always needing safe people with you before you can do exposures or go into areas where your anxiety might be triggered.

This fear is not a special or "another" fear that you have to overcome. Monophobia is what we call it when you are sure that you cannot tolerate or handle the experience of anxiety while alone and will need to be rescued or saved from that experience. It's another expression of the same fear .... the fear of fear.

In this episode, we talk about the fear of being alone (monophobia) and discuss ways to address it as part of your overall recovery strategy.

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew, check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

I'm having problems with my sleep and I'm super anxious about it. HELP!

Anxiety focused on sleep and sleep problems is one of the most common complaints in the Disordered community. Often, anxious people experience sleep disturbances or even periods of insomnia and wind up extremely anxious and afraid over this issue. Lack of sleep gets attached to fears about being even more anxious, never being able to recover, not being strong enough to resist anxious thoughts, or doing some actual physical or mental damage.

This week on Disordered, Josh and Drew explore sleep and sleep-focused anxiety to ease some common misconceptions about sleep anxiety. The guys examine the usual suspects (resistance, avoidance, and compulsive problem-solving) as keys when approaching sleep-related anxiety.

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew, check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost

-----

Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

This week we have our first official guest on Disordered! Our friend and highly respected anxiety/OCD expert Kimberley Quinlan is here to help us explore and understand the role of self-compassion in the anxiety recovery process.

Kim literally wrote the book on self-compassion when it comes to OCD recovery. There's nobody we know that speaks more knowledgeably and eloquently on this topic. Give this one a listen. There's a ton of good stuff in here you can use in your journey.

Find Kimberley online at:

https://kimberleyquinlan-lmft.com

https://cbtschool.com

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew, check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost

-----

Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

Are you a worrier? Overthinker? Can't stop ruminating? Do you use thinking as your go-to problem-solving and protection tool, then hate that you can't stop thinking? This week Josh and Drew tackle worry, overthinking, and rumination. This is a topic near and dear to many anxious people in our community so it's high time we talk about it.

We'll talk about what overthinking, worry and rumination really are, why it seems like you should overthink or worry, and why this is just an anxious, frightened mind demanding that you problem-solve to stay safe. In the end, does thinking actually do anything but fool us into thinking that we're doing something? Tune in to find out!

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew, check out Disordered Boost at https://disordered.fm/boost

-----

Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.

This week Josh and Drew do a deep dive into this million dollar question:

"What would non-anxious you do?"

The concept of "non-anxious you" and connecting to the way you would live your life if you were not accommodating the fear of fear is powerful. Josh talks about this all the time, and for good reason! Today we take a look at why acting like non-anxious you might act (even when you're clearly anxious) is so helpful.

The guys also chat about how the idea of "non-anxious you" can lead you down the path that re-connects you with yourself, even when you feel like you're not even sure who you are and what you like any more.

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If you love Disordered and think you might benefit from spending 30 full days in an everyday intensive small group recovery support group led by Josh and Drew,⁠ check out Disordered Boost:

https://disordered.fm/boost⁠

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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast?

Visit us on the web at ⁠⁠https://disordered.fm⁠⁠

Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts 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.