Struggling to find the right anxiety therapist? Are you curious about how a therapist becomes a therapist? Let's take a look through the maze of credentials - from Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) to Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), and Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Let's shed some light on the demanding journey of training and education, from undergraduate studies to intensive graduate training and clinical experience. Understanding how a therapist becomes a therapist, and what that means to you, can go a long way toward untangling confusion that comes with finding qualified mental health assistance. Wondering about the difference between a master's level therapist and a doctoral level psychologist? I've got you covered! I'll also cover the role of psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners in the mental health field and explain how to determine which therapist is right when struggling with anxiety disorders. Join me on a stroll through the world of mental health professionals. You might pick up a few things that you can use in your recovery journey. xx For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/278 ----- For all the resources I offer related to anxiety, anxiety disorders, and recovery visit my website: https://theanxioustruth.com

Do you need to find a therapist that knows and follows the "Claire Weekes method"? This week we unpack the impact of Dr. Claire Weekes, shedding light on her influential role in the therapy world, specifically in the realm of anxiety disorders. Dr. Weekes' groundbreaking principles of acceptance have proven to be timeless, remaining relevant in therapy practices today. We go beyond the surface, debunking myths about her work and examining the current relevance of her methods in therapy. It's a bonus if your therapist is familiar, but its definitely not a deal breaker if they aren't. Dr. Weekes' methods, although foundational, are not the be-all and end-all. We discuss how therapies like ACT or mindfulness-based CBT or metacognitive therapy have broadened and deepened the roots she established. Even if your therapist isn't familiar with Dr. Weekes, there's no cause for alarm - I promise it's not absolutely necessary. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/278 ----- For all the resources I offer related to anxiety, anxiety disorders, and recovery visit my website: https://theanxioustruth.com

Anxiety recovery can be a highly individual journey. This is especially true if you have ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, or otherwise identify as neurodivergent. While there are certainly general principles we rely on, every person will find recovery to present specific and unique challenges that have to be addressed as part of the process. For neurodivergent members of our community, this is also true. This week Dr. Terri Bacow took some time to chat with me about the intersection of anxiety, recovery, and neurodivergence. Terri is experienced, well trained and qualified in these areas, and does a great job of presenting an accessible, kind, compassionate view of how recovery strategies can be adapted and tailored for neurodivergent folks working on overcoming chronic/disordered anxiety. Find Dr. Terri Bacow: https://instagram.com/drterribacow https://drterribacow.com For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/277 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

Anxiety and the recovery process do not exist in a vacuum. You are an entire person, and all the parts of you come into this process. Holistic is not a word you hear me use often, but it is a word we need to acknowledge because when dealing with chronic/disordered anxiety and the recovery process, your background, experiences, beliefs, and views of yourself and the world will enter the picture in various ways. * They will influence how you conceptualize your anxiety. * They will influence how you embrace and approach the recovery process. * They will influence the parts of recovery you "get" and the parts you may need to adjust here and there. * They will cause you to confront emotions, situations, and challenges that aren't always about anxiety, but may be indicative of other parts of you and other parts of your life. Forgetting this - forgetting that anxiety and recovery do not exist in a vacuum - can lead you into a trap where you're judging yourself negatively, giving up, or seeing your situation as hopeless when you don't have to see it that way. As always, comments and questions are welcomed. I hope you find this episode helpful in some way. For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/276 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

The anxiety cycle starts as a seemingly never ending loop where you get triggered, you fight through it, you calm down, then you worry and fret over the next time you might get triggered. It can become an exhausting merry-go-ground if you're new to this process and convinced that high anxiety and panic are horrible disasters that must be avoided or "managed" at all costs. But over time, you will likely begin to notice that your logical brain will question that assertion, and you will start to see that you are not just being triggered into an anxious state, but that you are being TRICKED by that anxious state. When you begin to see the trickery involved in internally focused disordered anxiety, things can begin to change. When you can nail a "tricked" point to the circle, that can become the point at which you start to peel off the circle on a tangent toward recovery. Noticing and understanding that anxiety is tricking you into behaving as if you are in danger creates a fork in an otherwise endless circular road. It gives you a point at which you can choose a new path and ultimately break the cycle that has trapped you up to this point. For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/275 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

No new podcast episode this week, but we will be back next week with a new episode on September 27, 2023. Going forward, new episodes of The Anxious Truth will be produced every other week. I'm making this change based on time constraints and the fact that we are producing episodes of "Disordered" every week, and that's a really good podcast! Listen to Disordered here: https://disordered.fm On the weeks with no new episode of The Anxious Truth, you can catch my "Recovery Monday" livestreams on YouTube (either live or via replay any time): https://youtube.com/@TheAnxiousTruth See you next week, and thank you for all your support!

Self-care in anxiety recovery. We hear about it all the time, but is self-care always essential oils and hot baths and candles and soothing? It certainly can by, but self-care is also giving yourself what you really need, which isn't always what you want. Sometimes self-care means challenging yourself a bit to help break the avoidance cycle. Sometimes self-care means you choose to be uncomfortable now to feel better about yourself later. Let's take a closer look at self-care in a way that might not all that obvious. For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/274 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

This week we answered some common - and not so common - questions about anxiety and recovery. Thanks to everyone on Instagram that submitted a question. I appreciate it! First I reviewed some basic principles you can fall back on when asking many of the questions that were asked. That's about the first 15 minutes of the episode, which will be useful if you're new to this or need a refresher to remind you of what you're dealing with. Then we moved on to some specific questions. AFTER THE CRISIS HAS PASSED, DO YOU STILL NEED THERAPY? DO YOU STILL HAVE TO WORK ON YOURSELF? WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OCD AND GAD OR PANIC DISORDER AND HEALTH ANXIETY? HOW CAN YOU BE SURE THIS IS JUST ANXIETY? WHEN AM I ALLOWED TO REST? HOW DOES MINDFULNESS FIT INTO RECOVERY? ARE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS OK? HOW DO I ACCEPT ...? WHAT ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS OF SELF-REGULATING WHEN ANXIOUS? WHAT ABOUT THIS KIND OF ANXIETY? For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/273 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

This week my guest is anxiety and OCD specialist Joanna Hardis who stopped by the podcast to talk about the art of doing ... nothing. Wait ... what? Nothing? Yes. Nothing. Humans are conditioned to automatically spring into action to solve problems, and often we declare that our emotional and mental states are automatically problems that must be solved. When we experience discomfort, distress, anxiety, or any "negative" feeling we can get trapped into automatically trying to do something .... anything ... to solve that problem and make it disappear. The thing is, this is often paradoxically harmful in that it can keep us trapped in the very state we're trying to escape. Learning that it is possible to do nothing about negative internal experiences - learning to ride through them without hitting the panic button - can go a long way toward getting us closer to where we want to be both in anxiety recovery and in life. And as it turns out, if we look at what Joanna wrote about in her book "Just Do Nothing", we see that even as we struggle with recovery from an anxiety disorder, we're not all that different from all the other humans walking the planet. The issues are often the same, just experienced at a different degree in our community. This is good news, because we're afraid and unsure, but not defective and not broken. For more information about Joanna and her book: https://joannahardis.com For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/270 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

If this is all new to you, asking for more information is normal, expected, and healthy! Everyone needs more information and explanation to start. But if you are not new to this and you've heard me and others talk about your scariest symptom or stickiest recovery issue over and over, ask yourself what you are hoping to get when you ask us to talk more about it. After multiple books, videos, social media posts, livestreams and podcast episodes on a given topic, it can be helpful to stop and consider what more you think you need to hear, and why you need to hear it. Consider that asking for encouragement or cheerleading is likely more productive than getting stuck in the "tell me more" cycle, which can lead to judging yourself negatively because you can't seem to move forward. For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/271 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

Help! I can't get motivated to do my exposures and work on my recovery! This is a thing I hear often in this community, so this week let's address motivation and the myth surrounding it. Often we think that getting motivated means that we create a certain feeling, then we act on that feeling. This is incorrect. In fact, it's almost entirely backwards! Demanding to conjure of a feeling called "motivation" before you can act is selling yourself short and can accidentally lead harsh self-judgment that doesn't have to be there. In this episode we talk about the myth of "feeling motivated", how feeling does not have to precede action, values and goals in relation to motivation and how to tap into self-compassion and smaller steps to build momentum and feelings of motivation through action. For full show notes on this episode: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/270 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠⁠

EMDR. It's become an insanely popular therapy over the last few years. Originally developed as a trauma recovery tool, EMDR is often touted as being appropriate or effective in many more clinical circumstances. But ... is it? Is EMDR an anxiety disorder recovery treatment? This week I'm joined by Florida therapist Anne Thomas to talk about EMDR, what it is, what it isn't, and how it might be applied in the context of panic disorder, agoraphobia, and other anxiety disorders. The takeaway here is that EMDR is not going to magically fix your anxiety problem simply by moving your eyes back and forth. There's still real-world work to do as usual. But there may be instances where EMDR can be useful in addressing some of the negative beliefs about yourself and about past events that can be real obstacles in recovery. Expectations and a clear sense of what EMDR can and can't do, are always going to be important as they would be with any type of therapy. In this episode we mentioned EMDRIA, which is the organization that trained Anne and trains other EMDR therapists. https://emdria.org To find Anne on Instagram: https://instagram.com/sitwithanne For full show notes on this episode: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/269 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠

Just a quick update on reaching the field/clinical work phase of my masters degree and why there's no actual podcast episode this week. We'll be back with another episode of The Anxious Truth next week as usual, but in the meanwhile why not check out Disordered, the podcast I do with Josh Fletcher. Find that podcast at https://disordered.fm Of course, you can also check out any of the 268 previous episodes of The Anxious Truth that I've recorded over the last 8 years or so. They're all free on your favorite podcast platform and on my YouTube channel. I'll see you next week! :-)

It's not really what I did in my recovery that matters. Its WHY I did it. This week we're talking about why its far more useful to focus on the principles I followed in recovery than to try to mimic my recovery step by step and action by action. Don't use my recovery as a literal blueprint for yours because you are not me and I am not you. We are all different and those differences matter in terms of specific steps, actions, and instructions to follow in recovery. Instead, connect to the principles I'm discussing and do your best to apply those principles within your specific situation. If you find a helper that just keeps going back to what they did and uses they own personal experience as the basis for much of what they say, be mindful of that and beware of the traps that lie in that approach. You can accidentally wind up feeling more confused, frustrated, and upset with yourself than you need to be. For full show notes on this episode: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/268 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠⁠

Let's talk about the dreaded social media doom scroll and the negative impact it can have in your recovery. Learning to be a bit more mindful and intentional with your social media use can go a long way toward helping you get what you need while avoiding some of the more common traps and pitfalls that default scrolling without purpose can have. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/267 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠

When you decide to start facing your fear, doing exposures, meeting challenges, and breaking your avoidance cycle, that's awesome! You're being brave and choosing to do hard things because it's help you in the long run, so take the credit for making that leap! But you may - like many do - accidentally fall into the trap of only meeting challenges, doing your exposures, and generally doing hard things only on the days when you feel "good". This week on the podcast we're talking about why that's a bad idea and why its so important to take action and do the hard things when you're having "bad days". When you take action in your recovery on the days when you feel like you can't or shouldn't, you learn the most valuable recovery lessons. Let's dig a bit deeper into this idea so we can help you avoid or break free of this common trap that can leave you feeling stuck, frustrated, and down on yourself. PS. Like the new show music? Drop me a line at hello@theanxioustruth.com and let me know! For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/266 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠

There is no automatic immune response that fixes an anxiety disorder while we retreat, rest, wait, and hope. This is an active process that requires that you do more than just hope and wait. This week we're trying a little experiment! I'm re-visiting episode 11 of the podcast from way back in 2015 to give it a little update, add some detail, clarify a few things, and make some much needed corrections. I hope you find this helpful in some way. Feedback - as always - is welcomed. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/265 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠

Recovery from an anxiety disorder can impact not only the recovering person, but the people close to them. Sometimes our helpers wind up needing help themselves! When that happens, we may want to be supportive of them, but anxious fear may also turn this into a disaster. Anxiety may tell you that your helper reaching out for help is a nightmare and that the fear, uncertainty, and discomfort you feel about this turn of events means you must insert yourself into the process and try to control the narrative around the help they are accessing. Remain aware of this trap! You may find it very uncomfortable when your helpers reach out for help, but do not believe your anxiety when it insists that you must try to control what your loved ones feel, what they say, and who they say it to. This can cause even more problems than the anxiety itself has caused in the relationship. Giving in to these anxious demands and trying to soothe your fear by attempting to control things you do not have a right to control is buying short term relief at the expense of long term progress both in your relationships and your recovery. This is a topic that does warrant some discussion so take a listen and I hope you find it helpful in some way. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/264 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠

HOW CAN I ACCEPT OR ALLOW ANXIETY WITHOUT SPIRALING? This week on The Anxious Truth let's answer a common question about "spiraling". This is a term used every day in our community so lets dismantle it a bit and re-conceptualize spiraling in two parts. One spiral - the downward spiral - is based on how you feel. The other spiral - the anxiety itself - is an UPWARD spiral, which is more accurately described as a storm. Let's look at how we can address the first spiral by addressing the second - robbing the anxiety storm of its energy rather than feeding it more. This episode is - as usual - full of paradoxical stuff. Isn't recovery both interesting and really confusing sometimes??? For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/263 --- My books, social, and other links: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/links ⁠ Support The Anxious Truth: ⁠https://theanxioustruth.com/support ⁠

End Stage Anxiety Recovery - What Does It Look Like? What does end stage recovery from an anxiety disorder look and feel like? How do you know when you're recovered? Is there a moment when things change? Will you automatically be happy and joyful? What will like look like as you get closer to the recovery "finish line". Lets talk about end stage anxiety recovery so you can have a bit of a road map to bring with you as you progress. It might help you stay out of some common traps. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/262 --- 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