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

This is the 200th episode of The Anxious Truth podcast. 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...

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. --- For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/199 My books, social, and other links: h...

Jen Kirkman is a comedian, author, actor, TV writer, and podcaster that has lived through anxiety and panic for large portions of her life. I was fortunate enough to have Jen on the podcast this week to talk about her path into anxiety and panic, then out the other side.  I’m sure her story will sound familiar to most listeners. While talking with Jen (I was on her podcast last week), I realized t...

In today's episode of The Anxious Truth, we are going to talk about success and struggle within the anxiety recovery process and how, for many people, the two can look very similar at face value. As I have said many times, anxiety recovery is possible when we are able to sit in the discomfort of doing the hard things. Doing the things that scare us. Doing the things that purposefully put us i...

In episode 196 of The Anxious Truth, we will explore the urge to focus on the outcome in anxiety recovery rather than giving our attention to the process. Everyone wants to feel better.  Clearly, this is the outcome we are all after.  That’s fine, but this outcome is a long-term thing. Feeling better, experiencing less panic and anxiety, and having a “normal” life is something that happens over ti...

Today we will tackle the paradox of letting go in the anxiety recovery process. The concept of letting go - giving up the struggle - is a key concept in anxiety recovery.  But in the context of recovery, letting go is not a thing designed to create instant calm or tranquility.  In fact, the initial act of letting go will do quite the opposite.  It will likely increase tension and discomfort. Over...

Making up your anxiety recovery as you go along is not a good plan. An anxious person will wait to see how they feel before deciding what to do, so avoidance and taking the more comfortable way can accidentally become the default. Anxious people are also not very good at making productive decisions about what to do while anxious. Building structure and having a plan to execute without assessing ho...

So much of the anxiety and fear struggle is based on what we feel, what we think, and what we think about what we feel. What if thinking and feeling were NOT the most important things in the universe all the time?  What if you could learn to pay attention to other things instead? How would that help you in your anxiety recovery journey?  --- For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioust...

“I’m doing things, but it doesn’t seem to be working! Why?” If you feel like you’re doing all the exposures but nothing is changing, you may be doing “half exposures” without even knowing it. Let’s look at what full, effective exposures really require. Exposure is what we do when we intentionally place ourselves into situations that purposefully trigger anxiety, panic, fear and all the things that...

This week I’m joined by my friend Kimberley Quinlan to talk about responsible use of social media as it relates to mental health and anxiety recovery.  Kimberley starts from the premise that social media is neutral, but that the way we use it defines it as healthy or unhealthy.  Let’s take it from there! Kim and I went over: Taking responsibility for your mental health and social media use Recogni...

“I know what I’m supposed to do, but it’s just so hard to do it!” Am too broken or too weak? No. You are not broken or too weak. This is a difficult process. I say all the time that recovery is a simple plan, but that plan is very hard to execute. Let’s look at the two main reasons why this is such a hard road to travel. Why is recovery so damn hard? There are many reasons that all come together t...

Everyone wants to "overcome anxiety" in 2022.  Totally doable, but we do not slay this dragon in one epic swing of a sword. This is a journey of small steps that add up. Recovery is granular. It happens in small bits as the result of small changes and small individual experiences that add up over time. Recovery does not come in giant leaps and broad sweeps. Successful recovery is very mu...

The Anxious Morning is a project I've been working on for about a year.  On January 3, the first edition of The Anxious Morning will hit the street, and the airwaves! For all the ways to listen or to subscribe free to the email newsletter, visit https://theanxiousmorning.com My goal with this project is to give you a more in-depth discussion of important anxiety and recovery topics that you c...

Recovery is based so much on intentionally doing things that are scary and difficult.  This concept is often interpreted as being a “mind over matter” thing.  While I understand the spirit and intention of this interpretation, is it quite incorrect and can actually be counterproductive. In reality, recovery is the exact opposite. Recovery is about allowing MATTER (reality) to take precedence over...

When gripped by an anxiety disorder, much of life is dictated and driven by fear.  We make our choices and our decisions based on what we fear in an effort to avoid feeling the things we do not want to feel. When we work to build a new relationship with our anxiety, and we learn to no longer fear it, our lives become less about fear and more about what we truly value.  The process of recovery is i...

"Why can't I feel happiness and joy?!?!?!" This question gets asked all the time.  It's a question I am personally quite familiar with.  When we are in the middle of the recovery process, still in the grips of anxiety and fear, we often find that we are unable to experience feelings of happiness, joy, or gratitude, at least not the way we think we should be experiencing them. B...

Why on Earth am I talking about living recklessly? Most of us would agree that being reckless involves intentionally doing dangerous things and being somewhat responsible. Let’s take a few minutes to relate that to the process of anxiety recovery. And no, I am not going to teach you how to be truly reckless. It might just feel that way. When we do the hard and scary recovery things that we’re alwa...

Positive self-talk is awesome. But not in the way you may think. When I tell people that positive self-talk is bullshit, I mean that it does not belong in your arsenal in the heat of the moment when experiencing that high anxiety spike or a panic attack. Positive self-talk, mantras and affirmations are great as a setup tool BEFORE things get rough for you. Use them when calm.  Use them when gettin...

"BUT WHAT IF THERE ARE REAL HEALTH ISSUES OR LIFE CHALLENGES????" This is a question I get asked all the time.  In this week's episode, we find some inspiration and encouragement from the awesome Jessica Sidener. Jessica is an inspiring example of a real human that was forced to handle two of the most stressful events imaginable at the same time. Jessica not only managed to get thro...

Coping skills. This is a term heard every day in mental health circles when trying to get a handle on anxiety problems. But what are coping skills? What are they designed to do? Do we really want or need them? Traditionally, the most common coping skills are all targeted at helping you escape the discomfort, fear and distress of anxiety. They may try to distract you, "ground" you, or hel...

One of the more common mistakes, especially in early recovery, is trying to actually reach a recovered state before you do the recovery work. If you're trying to figure out a way to not be afraid so that you can start your recovery, you're putting the cart before the horse. If you're hoping that you'll find some magic words that will make all this hard stuff "click" s...

While you may want to ask for specific instructions on exactly what to do to feel better right now, this is not always the best approach to recovery in the long term. Asking for instructions can become a bit frustrating and overwhelming as you find yourself returning again and again for instructions based on today's thought, sensation, or specific fear.  Focusing on understanding and applying...

Everyone wants instant competence and confidence in recovery, but unfortunately it does not work that way.  Competence and confidence in recovery are things we build through doing the hard things, and the hard things are carried by courage.  So the three C's of anxiety recovery are COURAGE, COMPETENCE, AND CONFIDENCE.  Start with finding your courage, which will lead to and increased sense of...

So much of the recovery process brings us discomfort. Discomfort is woven into everything that we talk about with anxiety, panic, exposure, and recovery. Being uncomfortable is something that we unfortunately have to accept as part of the process. When it comes to doing exposures, we often feel hesitant about it. We have that anticipatory discomfort that builds up and sometimes leads to us choosin...

Therapist and author Joshua Fletcher returns to the podcast this week. In this episode, Drew and Josh talk about understanding the fear of fear, compassion and its role in exposures and recovery, and why Josh’s course is so heavy on the concepts of compassion and proper reactions. Drew and Josh also engage in a slightly spicy discussion about all the ‘dangerous’ courses out there that should be av...