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

This is a topic that people have been asking me to talk about  lately. In the last six months, I've developed much more an interest in health anxiety. If you had asked me a year ago about it, I would have told you, "I don't want to get into that!" But actually, I do want to get into that!  So let's look at health anxiety.  What it is, what it isn't, and how the princi...

I'm asked all the time ... "Does this recovery method apply to GAD?" The short answer is that it does, but there are extra wrinkles with GAD that we must be aware of.  We must learn to relate in a new way to anxiety and the symptoms and thoughts that come with it.  This is the same way we approach the other anxiety disorders.  However, we also must be aware of the meta beliefs and t...

I used Paxil between 1996 and 2005. This is part 3 of a 3 part series detailing my experience. My experience with SSRI withdrawal was difficult, to say the least. I’ve been asked to tell this story, so I did for those that want to hear it. Spoiler alert: I survived and it turned out OK! My experience with antidepressants and anxiety is mine. Yours may be different.  Please keep this in mind. For f...

In this episode I finally discuss an issue so many people have been asking me to discuss for so long.  My experience with anxiety medications.  I used Paxil between 1996 and 2005. This is part 2 of a 3 part series detailing my experience.  My experience on Paxil for 9 years was not a good one overall. In retrospect, the medication did its job, but there was a price to pay for that. My experience w...

In this episode I finally discuss an issue so many people have been asking me to discuss for so long.  My experience with anxiety medications.  I used Paxil between 1996 and 2005.  This is part 1 of a 3 part series detailing my experience.  Today I talk about my position on medications, why I chose to use medication in 1996, what my and what my initial experience was. My experience with antidepres...

On this episode I was able to spend 30 minutes or so chatting with Joshua Fletcher.  Josh is a working therapist in the UK that runs a practice specializing in anxiety disorders.  Josh is also the host of The Panic Pod podcast.  We covered therapy issues, recovery in general, and we managed to tell a few joke along the way. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/144 Thank...

We often talk about starting recovery by taking small steps, but did you know that those small steps can often be taken right inside your "safe zone"?  It's true!  Odds are your home base - your safe zone - is chock full of hidden avoidance and anxiety inducing gems that you can uncover and use to start building the foundation of your recovery. For full show notes on this episode: h...

Donna grew up surrounded by discussion of cardiac health and blood pressure.  When she started experiencing panic attacks, and the blood pressure spikes that naturally come with them, her struggle with health anxiety and an obsession with her blood pressure was ignited.  For full show notes on this episode, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/142 Donna worked herself into a position where she was ob...

In the field of anxiety disorders and the treatment of anxiety disorders, you will not find anyone with more street cred than Dr. Winston.  Dr. Sally Winston knows what she's talking about. Today I had the privilege of spending 25 minutes chatting with her about recovery, the obsessive need for certainty and comfort that drives many disorders, and why reassurance and soothing is decidedly NOT...

I am often asked an important question. "How do I learn to float and accept when one person makes me anxious?"  This question is asked by people that will often explain that they experience anxiety or even panic when in the presence of a specific person or group of people.  Often, there is a history of abuse, or there is ongoing abuse of varying types (mental, emotional, or even physical...

Building your own personal recovery from an anxiety disorder means using ALL the resources you have available to you.  In this podcast episode I talk about combining books, podcasts, social media streams, online support groups, hard work and professional help into a powerful recovery toolkit. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/139 My books, podcast, and social media l...

Today Dr. Bridget Cooper (Dr. B) and I talk about gender issues in mental health and anxiety recovery.  There are clearly differences between men and women and how we talk about mental health, think about mental health, and approach solving mental health problems like the anxiety disorders we're talking about all the time. The way we define our roles as men and women and the way we are social...

Everyone loves a good anxiety success story and today we have one from our friend, and someone you hear all the time if you're a regular listener, Ben Drake. Ben spent his days for quite a long time just trying to endure anxiety and panic.  Bracing, fighting, and "white knuckling" his way through life as a working musician.  Things changed for the better when he learned a new way to...

When you interact with the number anxiety disorders that I do, you have the opportunity to see patterns emerge in a crowd.  Over years of doing this thing I do, and interacting with the large number of people that I have, I can see that when it comes to recovery from an anxiety disorder, there are clear "stages" of recovery that most people progress through.  None of these are absolutely...

One of the more common bits of advice passed around for the last zillion years or so is ... "trust your gut".  Regardless of the the circumstance or problem to be solved, if you ask enough people for advice the odds are high that you will have someone ask you what your "gut" is telling you to do, or just telling you to "trust your gut".  Sometimes this is good advice....

So, here’s some great news if you deal with emetophobia. Bet you didn’t think you’d ever hear that, did you? Well, Drew’s guest on this week’s episode is here to spread some great news, and her energy is absolutely infectious! Christia was emetophobic for decades, and she ran from any sort of incidents or fear of incidents so often...until she got tired of it and decided to make a change. Now, she...

When Faster Than Normal author and podcast host Peter Shankman was officially diagnosed with ADHD, he decided that it wasn't a liability, but rather a bit of a superpower.  Peter took action to maximize the things he's really good at, while outsourcing and minimizing the negative impacts of the things he's traditionally not been so good at.  This is a lesson on how to find the silve...

"I've been seeing my therapist for years and she never explained this the way you do!""How can it be that all the different counselors and doctors I've seen have never talked about my anxiety this way?""I've been through countless therapists over the years.  None of them explained this problem the way you do!"These are statements and questions I encount...

Kyrsty spent 12 years in her house, trapped by agoraphobia and panic.  That's all changing now. In this podcast episode Kyrsty shares with us how she's been taking the core concepts of recovery and putting them into practice on a daily basis.  Her progress thus far has been faster than she expected, and with a growing number of victories under her belt and an amazing recovery mindset, th...

Ask yourself a question.  Is your anxiety your enemy, or is it your teacher?  Most of you are going to immediately tell me that you see anxiety as an enemy.  It lurks in the shadows, stalking you day and and day out, always ready to attack.  Your anxiety drives you to do things you do not want to do.  It drives you to eliminate and avoid parts of your life that desperately want back.  Anxiety is c...

This is common misconception for many, and it's keeping some folks stuck!  When we talk about accepting anxiety as the path to recovery, and when we talk about surrendering to anxiety, we are not saying that you have to LIKE or LOVE your anxiety.  You do not.  If you've been struggling to find a way to like your anxiety because you think accepting and liking are the same thing, then this...

Is your worst-case scenario being forced to sit quietly with your own thoughts and sensations?  Are you one of the many that declares that they are "OK" so long as they are up and about and occupied?  Learning to sit quietly with oneself is a challenge for many people, with or without anxiety.  For those recovering from an anxiety disorder, this presents a serious challenge, but a challe...

For many, having to undergo a surgical or major medical procedure is "worst nightmare" territory anxiety-wise.  There are quite a few fears at play here.  Fear of being out of control.  Fear of being away from safe places and people.  Fear of sedation and anesthesia.  Fear of complication or problems cause by the procedure in question.  It can add up to an almost tragic level of avoidanc...

I often here people saying that recovery becomes harder - or even impossible - if you've suffered too long with your anxiety problems.  This is simply not true.  In this podcast episode let's take a look at why this is a misconception that you're going to have to leave behind. There are three main reasons why you can recover no matter how long you've suffered.1. Anxiety disorde...

Holly is back in this episode, sharing her long experience using benzos as part of her anxiety management strategy.  Holly shares how she started on benzos, what her doctor told her, and how she actually did use them.  We talk about "as needed" use, daily use, dependency (addiction), effectiveness, and how the use of benzos interferes with learning recovery lessons.  Holly shares her rec...