Send in a question or comment via text.

The state of mental health care - at least in the west - is such that many in our community have a difficult time either locating a therapist that specializes in treating anxiety disorders, or accessing professional mental health help for economic and other reasons.  This leads many to ask, "Do I need a therapist to recover?" While the help of a trained, experienced professional is certainly helpful, we have to look at what happens when that isn't possible.  Lauren Rosen and Kelley Franke from the Purely OCD podcast join me this week to talk about this problem and to explore options, alternatives and possibly helpful strategies for when accessing professional therapy proves difficult.

Disclaimer: In this podcast episode we attempted to address a problem we all know exists and to be realistic in our assessment of what options there may be for someone that has to "do recovery" on their own.  We simply cannot provide you with a definitive answer as to if you need a therapist or not. That answer is based on so many individual variables that without knowing you there's just no way to provide black and white answers to that question.  What you read, hear, and see in this episode is meant as general guidance and for informational purposes.  Only you can judge what is right for you in the end.

For full show notes on this week's episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/246

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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.

How do you see your anxiety?  Is anxiety a monster?  Is anxiety like a storm or an invading army that comes to get you?  Are you powerless over it?  Do you feel that you can't resist, stop or control it no matter how hard you try? What if it wasn't a monster attacking from the outside?  What if instead you could recognize that you are playing a role, that you have choice, and that you have power in the process?  Abandoning the "monster" narrative can be a powerful thing that informs a shift in the way we react to anxiety and fear.

For full show notes on this week's episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/245

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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.

Do you see yourself as being OK "as long as" specific conditions are met?  Or are you learning that you can be OK "even if" those conditions are not met?  This can be a critical concept in recovery that can get us stuck in the dreaded, fragile acceptable bubble, or launched into a more complete and lasting recovery.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/244

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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.

Do you have to be a positive person to get better?  Do you have to choose positivity?  Eliminate the negative energy?  Vibrate correctly?  Manifest positive things?  Accept only positive vibes? Develop a positive mindset? 

Are these things required in anxiety recovery?

I think that developing a sense of competence and self-efficacy through action is WAY more impactful that trying to think or emote positivity.  Let's talk about that in this week's episode of the podcast.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/243

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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.

In recovery we are sometimes dealing with more than one issue beyond just your panic, agoraphobia, health anxiety, or OCD. Maybe there is another phobia or phobias involved.  Maybe you are dealing with tendencies toward perfectionism, people pleasing, or trying to control everything.  Humans are complex.  We have lots of facets!  What happens when these other issues conflict with our recovery work.  What happens when we try to serve multiple masters in recovery?

Josh Fletcher (School of Anxiety) and Kimberley Quinlan (Your Anxiety Toolkit) joined me today to talk about this. It's worth a listen.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/242

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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.

When dealing with an anxiety disorder we often talk about why excessive reassurance seeking is counterproductive and can make things worse.  But why is this?  And is there any time where seeking assurance is OK?  Let's answer these two questions, and look at ways to start breaking the cycle of reassurance seeking, in this week's podcast episode.  

For full show notes on this episode: 

https://theanxioustruth.com/241

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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.

Anxious people focused on health issues often spend lots of time being checked, tested and examined by doctors.  In recovery, I'm often asked if calling a doctor if never allowed, or if calling a doctor is wrong or indicates a setback of some kind.  The short answer is, "No.  It's not wrong."  But there's more to it than that, so let's talk about it in this week's episode of the podcast.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/240

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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.

The Same Anxiety Symptons, But Different Reactions?  

Two people can have the same anxiety symptoms but different reactions to those symptoms. There can be common thoughts, fear themes, and bodily reactions, yet wide variations on how those things are interpreted and in the reactions they trigger.  Let's talk about this, and what it can teach us about anxiety and recovery.  

For full show notes on this episode: 

https://theanxioustruth.com/239

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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.

For most people, the things they fear the most in relation to anxiety and panic fall into one of three common categories or themes.  Let's look at these three themes:  

• Death/ Physical Incapacitation 
• Loss of control / Insanity 
• Embarrassment / Shame  

Understanding these common themes can save you from digging deeply into each individual fear you have.  It can help you see that you are NOT specially broken and without hope, and it can inform productive recovery actions and choices.  

This episode of The Anxious Truth is sponsored by My Life In A Book.  My Life In A Book is a great way to preserve the stories and memories of our loved ones.  The service helps a cherished member of your family tell their story, ultimately compiling their memories and experiences in a beautiful hardbound book that can be passed down through the generations.  For more on My Life In A Book, visit mylifeinabook.com . Use discount code TAT22 for $10 off your order.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/238

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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.

Everyone wants to talk about the most common anxiety symptoms.  I get it.  Your symptoms feel important.  They're scary and you see them as dangerous.  In many many cases with it comes to anxiety disorders, the symptoms of anxiety become the source of the anxiety. Fear of fear is often based on fear of the most common anxiety symptoms - fear of your own body.  Let's talk about that this week.

This episode of The Anxious Truth is sponsored by My Life In A Book.  My Life In A Book is a great way to preserve the stories and memories of our loved ones.  The service helps a cherished member of your family tell their story, ultimately compiling their memories and experiences in a beautiful hardbound book that can be passed down through the generations.  For more on My Life In A Book, visit mylifeinabook.com . Use discount code TAT22 for $10 off your order.

For full show notes on this episode:

https://theanxioustruth.com/237

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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.