The 18 Minutes

You've heard that exercise is good for stress a hundred times, but did you know that exercise and fear feel almost identical in our bodies?? In this episode I get into how movement is beneficial for anxious people, how I started with the tiniest bits of movement when I could barely leave the house, and how to tell when exercise has tipped from self-care into a safety behavior. Enjoy!

SOURCES:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12926410/ (Structured exercise used as exposure treatment; effects shown to last.) 

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We've all done it. Waking up anxious at 2am and pulling up ChatGPT to ask it our burning questions. Are we ok? What can we do to calm down? How do we keep this from happening again? 
Today I'm talking about my own AI use and what I learned from it. I cover the limitations and risks of using chatbots as therapists, and how we can use it thoughtfully to help us grow. Enjoy! 

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

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If you struggle with the fear of dizziness, this episode is for you! Today I talk about why it's such a common fear among sufferers of disordered anxiety, what the causes are, and what we can do to overcome it. Enjoy! 

SOURCES: 

https://birchgrovementalhealth.com/would-anxiety-cause-dizziness/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/6422-dizziness

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

Instagram: @heyamandaklay

YouTube: @heyamandaklay

Email: [email protected] 

Today's episode is all about my favorite fear trap: avoidance. It feels like coping, but isn't actually helping us the way we think it is. In this episode I walk through six ways avoidance can be keeping you stuck (often without your realizing it). Enjoy! 

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

Instagram: @heyamandaklay

YouTube: @heyamandaklay

Email: [email protected] 

This week we're flipping the script on fear. Fear is not just the enemy we've been treating it as for years. In this episode of The 18 Minutes podcast I walk through the reframes that helped me come to love this work, including how fear builds your tolerance for discomfort, what it actually takes to move through fear (instead of around it), and how fear shows us what really matters to us. Plus a quick update on how the very first RECLAIM cohort is going (spoiler: incredible). Enjoy! 

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

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This episode is the heart of everything I talk about on the show: the path from fear to freedom. I share some of my own story and then walk you through the four shifts that made all the difference for me: learning that we can actually change, that we are more capable than we've been told, what real bravery actually looks like, and how confidence and feeling empowered get built. If you've been peering around every corner and prioritizing comfort and you want a change, this one's for you.  

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

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If you're doing the work and feel like your exposure practice isn't paying off, this one's for you! I walk through what I think are some of the most reasons facing your fears might not be moving you forward. Plus a couple of reminders most of us need to hear (recovery is measured by what you're doing with your life, not by how anxious you feel doing it!). Most "stuck" exposure routines just need a small adjustment, and this is where to start. Plus: sign-ups are open for the RECLAIM cohort kicking off July 1st!


SOURCES:
-Craske, M.G., Treanor, M., Conway, C.C., Zbozinek, T., & Vervliet, B. (2014). Maximizing exposure therapy: an inhibitory learning approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 58, 10-23. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4114726/ (The inhibitory learning framework behind doing exposure right, including expectancy violation, consistency, and varied context.)

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

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Email: [email protected] 

Some of the most common "healthy" habits in the wellness and anxiety recovery world (breathing exercises, grounding techniques, meditation) can actually be the thing keeping you stuck. In this episode I walk through five of them, the genuine pros of each one, the trap each one falls into when it turns into a safety behavior, and the simple way to tell whether a habit is helping you or holding you in place. The line is almost never the habit itself, it's your intention. 

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

Instagram: @heyamandaklay

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Email: [email protected] 

What's left when the anxiety finally subsides? In this episode I talk about a part of recovery I LOVE: when anxiety has been part of you for years, you get to actually rediscover who you are without it. I share how anxiety became the center of my own identity, why losing it can feel disorienting, and the practical work of reclaiming the person underneath the fear. Plus - a few things I discovered I love on the other side of the fear. If you've ever wondered who you'd be without anxiety making your decisions, this one's for you!

SOURCES: 
-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25547522/ (ACT is effective across anxiety, depression, and other problems, and is roughly comparable to established treatments like CBT.)
-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11837766/ (Valued action and psychological flexibility are linked to better wellbeing.)
-https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X15001062 (The role of values and committed action in ACT.)

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

Instagram: @heyamandaklay

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Email: [email protected] 

What do you actually do when anxiety comes back after you thought you'd put it behind you? In this episode I talk about why recovery was never a straight line to zero, and why I measured my own recovery by "widening the gaps" between panic attacks instead. I get into why a single anxious moment usually isn't the "setback" you think it is (and what a real setback actually is), the science of why anxiety can resurface even years later, and a story from a trip well into my recovery when panic showed up at the worst possible moment. Plus the exact response that keeps a hard day from snowballing, and why taking care of your basics is maintenance, not a safety behavior. If you've ever thought "I'm right back where I started," this one's for you!

SOURCES:
-Reinstatement of extinguished fear by an unextinguished conditional stimulus. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3343277/
-Enhancing Inhibitory Learning: The Utility of Variability in Exposure. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6884337/ (Why practicing across varied situations helps the new learning generalize and stick.)
-Delayed Extinction Attenuates Conditioned Fear Renewal and Spontaneous Recovery in Humans. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2749460/ (Repeated, spaced practice reduces the return of fear over time.) 

Get your FREE Fear to Freedom Guide here! 

 TikTok: @heyamandaklay

Instagram: @heyamandaklay

YouTube: @heyamandaklay

Email: [email protected]