The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast

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“Recovery is not linear”.  How many times have you heard this?

There are ups and downs from day to day or even hour to hour.  Some days it seems like we’re killing it.  Other days we feel frustrated, impatient and discouraged. This is difficult to navigate.  It confuses us.  It also triggers an emotional reaction in many cases.  This week on The Anxious Truth let’s take a look at how that emotional reaction can create a pattern that will have you swinging from one recovery extreme to the other and back end.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/208

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My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.

“Change your thoughts, change your life!", right?

NO!

This is a thing we hear all the time in self-help and personal development but in all honesty, it's nonsense.  Let’s talk about the fact that you cannot stop, control, or change your thoughts no matter how much you want to or how hard you try. And really, that's fine because controlling thoughts is not what will set us free.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/207

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My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.

"I just want my old self back!"

When wrestling with an anxiety disorder, the current state of suffering can sometimes warp the accuracy of our memory.  We remember being "anxiety free" before things went south, but often this is not true. There's a chance that you did have anxiety before you had anxiety!  Most members of the community would look at this statement sideways, insisting that they were anxiety free before the wheels fell off.  But you likely did experience anxiety in the past.  You just experienced in a different way.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/206

---

My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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 I'm joined by working therapist and OCD specialist Joanna Hardis to ask the million dollar question ... "Is there a secret sauce in recovery?"

The short answer is that there kinda is, and that secret sauce is overcoming your intolerance to distress!

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/205

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My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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 on The Anxious Truth we're talking about the concept of “white knuckling” through exposures and through anxiety and fear in general. White knuckling is the term we use to describe the act of holding on tightly and fighting through an exposure or a challenging anxiety experience just to get through it and back to safety.  Imagine gripping something so hard that your knuckles turn white.  That’s what we’re talking about.

I’m often asked when white knuckling ends, so let's talk about that.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/204

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My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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 on The Anxious Truth we're talking about what your anxiety support system looks like.  We'll dismantle the common misconceptions about what support should be, and how those can be problematic in recovery.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/203

---

My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.

How does a highly respected psychologist approach panic attacks?  This week on The Anxious Truth we’re going to find out as we talk to Dr. Dave Carbonell about panic, panic attacks, and the second edition of his book, The Panic Attacks Workbook.

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For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/202

My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.

Depression is a hot topic in our community.  I get asked about my personal experience with depression all the time.  It had taken me a while to get around to this but on this week's episode of The Anxious Truth I will share my experience with depression.   Let's talk about how I handled it then, and how I handle it now.

Disclaimer:  I am not an expert on depression or is this a substitute for therapy.  I can only share my own experience with this topic and what I've learned both from the community and from people far smarter than me.  As always, please consult your medical and mental health care providers with questions or concerns.  Of course, if you feel that you are a danger to yourself in any way, please reach out immediately for in-person help in your area.

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For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/201

My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.

When I started this podcast in 2014 all by myself, talking to myself in my living room (it was called "That Anxiety Guy") back then, I would never have imagined where it would go.  The podcast was something I did just to pay things forward into the universe.  I had no plan, no desired outcome, and no real interest in doing any more than that.

I just hit the button on my four dollar podcasting app, and said things that I hoped would be helpful for somebody.  It was the least I could do.

Since then, and especially in the last three years or so, you have driven this thing to a place I never expected it to go.  You guys did this.  I am grateful not only for the opportunity to speak TO you, but to speak WITH you, because that has been the fuel that sustained The Anxious Truth and helped it become what it is now.

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For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/200

My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.

Many people get confused and worried when they cry while anxious or afraid.  Let's clear this up, because this is NOT a problem.

Highlights From This Episode:

• Is Crying Wrong? Is Crying Avoidance?  Does Crying Mean I’m Not Accepting?
• I cry because I am upset.
• I am upset because I cry.

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For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/199

My books, social, and other links:

https://theanxioustruth.com/links

Support The Anxious Truth:

https://theanxioustruth.com/support

Music Credit: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)

https://bendrakemusic.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!

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.