Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast

This week my guest is the wonderful Angela Scanlon, tv presenter, broadcast journalist, woman with the most stunning red hair you've ever seen, and she also hosts her own brilliant podcast called Thanks a million which is all about thankfulness and gratitude and she has some epic guests on there. On this series though, the topic of conversation is Angela's experience of anxiety and I just related...

Something I have yet to really dive into is the anxiety surrounding a break up, which is something so many of us, if not all of us, will probably experience at some point in our lives. Maybe it's a split from your first love, or maybe, as is the case for my guest, journalist and author Liadan Hynes, it's a separation from your husband or partner with whom you share children or someo...

Hello dear listener and welcome to this expert led episode of owning it the anxiety podcast with your host, author Caroline Foran. This time we are delving into our endocrine system. What role do our hormones play when it comes to anxiety? What's the job of our pituitary gland - what even is that - and why is this so important if we want to bring down our anxious symptoms? Long story short, your h...

At this point in the season, I want to explore anxiety in the gay community: particularly the anxiety surrounding coming out to family and friends, feeling 'othered' at school growing up gay. For this episode I am joined by Celebrity Masterchef winner 2020, LGBTQ+ activist, bestselling author and broadcaster Riyadh Khalaf who shares his experience with me from childhood right through to present ti...

For this episode I am so excited to be joined by a guest that i have so long wanted to feature on this series. Her name is Dr Kelly McGonigal. Her Ted Talk has inspired so much of what I do and has informed so much of my mentality and approach towards managing anxiety. In this episode we talk about exercise for anxiety and let me tell you, having recently published a new book about the neuros...

I was so excited to get some time with Ella Mills of Deliciously Ella fame to chat about anxiety. We spoke over ZOOM as with most of season, it was recorded during lockdown when social distancing was key so unfortunately it'll never be as good quality as it would have been in studio. Ella is incredibly open in sharing her story of how her career came to be and how, when faced with all of this succ...

For this expert led episode my guest is Dr Harry Barry. He has written ten books to help us manage our mental health and his latest is called Emotional Healing and it's widely available now. We have a really enlightening conversation about the difference between mental illness and emotional distress, the latter of which is what most of us are actually dealing with. Understandin...

To kick off this new series, of which there will be 15 episodes that mix world class experts on anxiety in with everyday people's anxiety stories, I am joined by the incredible Brian Pennie. I don't need to give him much of an intro because his story of overcoming adversity speaks for itself. Brian is a recovered addict, he's the author of the phenomenal memoir Bonus Time and he's now undertaking...

This is the last episode of season 3 before season 4 launches in just a few short weeks. The topic? Just as we had to adapt into lockdown and deal with all of the anxiety that brought fore, so too will it take a little bit of time to adapt back to whatever our new normal will be. There might be some social anxiety, our bodies have been conditioned to be hyper vigilant to protect us from the virus...

For this episode of Owning It I introduce a skill that has massively helped my day to day anxiety, especially as I approach anxiety-inducing life events where my amygdala wants to say 'no!' and run for the hills but my prefrontal cortex knows that maybe, this is something I should do, maybe it would be good for me. It's something I wanted to talk about now as we start to emerge from lockdown...

In another of my shorter solo episodes that make up season 3, I wanted to talk through some of the books that had the biggest impact on me when it came to my own management and understanding of anxiety, as well as changing my perspective on it and allowing me to get to a place where the idea of owning it was possible. Also within this episode I offer a simple breathing exercise utilising the Ujjay...

In this solo episode, I talk through exactly what I do when I feel anxiety rising, which happened again just last week. I talk you through my practise of taking pen to paper, exactly what kind of questions I ask myself and how I put myself back in the driving seat which helps to ease the anxiety massively. The most important thing? Employing the Assess and Address technique and asking yourself 'wh...

In this solo episode, the 6th of this season which is more geared towards helping us cope better during Covid-19, I take a look at some recent research that has emerged about how we are getting on working from home. Unfortunately, there is a huge increase in anxiety for several reasons, and that's understandable and okay but there are things we can do to put us back in the driving seat which will...

In this solo episode, alongside a therapeutic breathing exercise to help relax the mind and body as you listen, I offer 8 common misconceptions we can have about anxiety that serve only to enhance the anxiety itself. These are 8 beliefs I held that quite literally held me back from getting to a point of owning it and feeling better. I hope these will be helpful reminders for you too, especially as...

Another solo episode as part of season 3. This time I am introducing you to the concept of Comfortable Neutrality which is essential for increasing confidence and an incredibly helpful tool for down-regulating our anxiety response. It is an idea put forward in my second book The Confidence Kit (which is out now in the US/Canada but called 'You Got This') and once you wrap your head around it you c...

For this episode I am joined by financial expert and author of How to be Good with Money , Eoin McGee. Right now financial anxiety might be an issue for a lot more of us than would normally be the case, thanks to the impact of the pandemic. It's certainly something I am feeling and as such it's something I wanted advice on. Knowing how to manage financial anxiety, with practical steps, will not on...

Hi guys, in this second episode of season 3 I am drilling down into some of the content explored in my second book, The Confidence Kit. I am looking at the comfort zone model and the importance of what's called a stretch zone experience when it comes to owning our anxiety and building our confidence. I talk through the ideal scenario so that we are not feeling excessive anxiety at any point but ar...

Hello dear listener and welcome back to season 3 of Owning It The Anxiety Podcast. I am back a little sooner than planned with slightly different episodes than planned and for that we can blame the pandemic, hurrah! I know anxiety is at an all time high right now so I want to be there for people who need reassurance via the podcast. For season 3 it will be just me releasing weekly short episodes t...

While I'm in between seasons but we are in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic which is all kinds of anxiety inducing, I wanted to create this short 8 minute long coping skills episode that also plays like a meditation that will soothe your anxiety and give you practical advice to implement once you've finished listening. This is a tough time and the anxiety that goes with it is enormous. Unders...

This is the final episode of season 2 but worry not I will be back before you know it with season 3. This episode explores anxiety and pregnancy as I am currently pregnant. You don't have to be pregnant to find this helpful but if you are anxious about the prospect of having kids or becoming pregnant - especially dealing with morning sickness - you might find this useful. PRE ORDER MY NEW BOOK HER...

For this episode I am joined by fellow journalist and podcaster Aisling Keenan (her podcast is Private Education which is all about sex and relationships, she has a live event happening in Dublin soon and tickets are available here ). Aisling is a very open person but something she's never discussed openly is her experience of OCD with which she was recently diagnosed. I wanted to understand more...

In this episode I have taken the opportunity to answer as many questions as I can fit into one listening. I cover everything from where I'm at with medication, whether or not going vegan can help with anxiety (can't say that it does unless your anxiety is related to eating meat), how I cope with the fear of the fear, what I do for the physical symptoms of anxiety and much more. I will probably do...

This week it's just me for a brief solo episode to hone in on some of the less obvious drivers of anxiety. I'm focusing particularly on social comparison here and in future episodes will look at imposter syndrome, perfectionism, people pleasing and the likes, all of which can enhance our levels of anxiety without us really being aware. Here I offer my practical approach to handling social comparis...

This week I am so happy to be joined by the man who goes by one name only - Bressie. Bressie has been a major support for me through my own experience of owning it and getting my first book published and despite his hectic schedule and his own brilliant podcast - Where is my mind podcast - he took some time out to sit down with me and have a long chat about his own experience. What was happening i...

Maybe you are the anxious one and you're feeling like a burden or extra anxious because of the effect you think your anxiety will have on your partner. Maybe your partner is the one struggling with anxiety and you're not sure how best to support them and you don't really understand what they're going through. Maybe you've met someone you really like and you're not sure whether or not to broach the...