Send in a question or comment via text. Can you transform your relationship with anxiety by letting go and dropping your resistance? Well, the most effective acceptance-based treatments for chronic and disordered anxiety are based on this exact principle. The concepts are simple and the theory is sound, yet most anxious people struggle with fully letting to and engaging in mindful acceptance of anxiety, fear, panic, uncertainty, and other difficult internal experiences. Of course they struggle! Choosing to fully allow these scary feelings is a big ask. It's not easy. It requires a leap of faith in the underlying principles and a healthy dose of courage to allow anxiety and fear to "do their worst" without trying to save oneself or be rescued. But difficult as this might be, its a worthwhile ability to cultivate as it forms the foundation of effective and lasting anxiety recovery while also becoming a valuable life skill that lasts forever. This week we're doing a guided mindful acceptance exercise designed to help you sit with anxiety instead of battling it, a practice that teaches you to observe your feelings without trying to control or diminish them. This approach isn't suitable for those overwhelmed by traumatic memories or flashbacks (without professional help), but it provides valuable lessons for anyone looking to understand and ultimately overcome lifestyle restrictions imposed by chronic or disordered anxiety. This is about 15 minutes of theory, rationale, and basic instruction followed by 10-15 minutes of guided/coached mindful acceptance. There's more speaking, instruction and coaching here than you might find when doing guided mindfulness exercises, but this particular exercise is designed to provide a sound introduction to the practice as a way to get started or work through initial resistance. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/301 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Can skipping a daily calming ritual or delaying bedtime slightly really aid in anxiety recovery? Discover how these seemingly insignificant acts can accumulate into substantial progress on your journey to overcoming anxiety. This week on The Anxious Truth, we’re breaking down the concept of micro exposures—those small, yet powerful steps designed to help you face and manage your anxiety. By starting with these tiny, manageable experiments, you'll gradually learn to experience anxiety without resistance, laying the groundwork for long-term mental health and stress management. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/300 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Are you struggling to identify whether your behaviors are forms of avoidance in your anxiety recovery journey? This episode of The Anxious Truth addresses the often murky and uncertain nature of avoidance habits, emphasizing that nobody navigates these waters flawlessly. We'll share insights on how distinguishing between necessary avoidance for safety and avoidance driven by anxiety can help you better understand your reactions and improve your recovery process. This episode looks at key avoidance concepts based on: Intent Motivation Emotion Feelings of Urgency We'll also break down the difference between macro and micro avoidance patterns and uncover how even subtle avoidance habits can silently hinder your progress. Through manageable exposure work and by learning from your experiences, this episode offers practical advice for building tolerance and resilience. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/299 Relevant podcast episodes: The Anxious Truth Episode 266 https://theanxioustruth.com/266 The Anxious Truth Episode 284 https://theanxioustruth.com/284 The Anxious Truth Episode 287 https://theanxioustruth.com/287 Disordered Episode 59 https://disordered.fm/59 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Is it possible to conquer an anxiety disorder without doing exposure? Well ... there are plenty of non-exposure concepts and techniques that can really help. No doubt about that. But in the end, thinking and feeling is rarely if ever all we need to change beliefs in a way that really makes a difference. Behavior and experience are almost always a part of this puzzle in some way, which means that like it or not, there's gonna be some exposure involved in recovery in some way. Let's look at the the intricacies of exposure beyond its traditional role. We'll discover how modern techniques have revolutionized outcomes, providing more durable relief from anxiety symptoms. We'll also address the elephants in the room: the high dropout rates and accusations of trauma, and how proper preparation can transform these potential pitfalls into powerful therapeutic tools. We'll also be debunking some persistent myths that cloud the effectiveness of exposure. We need to understand the difference between discomfort and trauma, and why it’s vital to make this distinction. We examine why some therapists shy away from these methods and how social media trends influence therapy choices. Plus, we emphasize the crucial role of maintaining realistic expectations throughout the journey. By the end of this episode, you'll gain invaluable perspectives that could reshape your approach to overcoming anxiety, underscoring why exposure of some kind and at some level remains an essential pillar in effective treatment. For full show notes on this episode (including research references): https://theanxioustruth.com/298 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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 Internet is packed with anxiety and mental health advice, but not all of it is useful or helpful. Some of it can be harmful. This week I'm joined by Emma McAdam, the therapist behind the Therapy in a Nutshell YouTube channel, to dissect the often misleading and sometimes dangerous information circulating online about conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD, and bipolar disorder. Emma shares her professional expertise as a practicing therapist, helping us distinguish between credible advice and harmful myths. --- For Full Show Notes On This Episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/297 --- We tackle the critical issue of consuming mental health content passively without taking actionable steps to improve well-being. Emma and I discuss proactive strategies like exposure therapy and lifestyle adjustments that can make a real difference. We also examine the pitfalls of "therapy speak" and the overuse of psychological labels such as narcissism in everyday conflicts. With social media often promoting extreme solutions to relationship problems, we advocate for a more balanced and thoughtful approach. Finally, we delve into the ethical considerations therapists must navigate when guiding clients through difficult relationships. Through Emma’s insights, we underscore the importance of allowing clients to come to their own conclusions while being mindful of the manipulative nature of social media platforms. We stress the necessity for personalized and context-specific mental health guidance that social media simply cannot provide. Tune in to arm yourself with the knowledge to make informed decisions about your mental health and avoid the pitfalls of online advice. Find Emma and her Therapy In A Nutshell channel at https://therapyinanutshell.com Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Healing from chronic or disordered anxiety. How do we do it? Do we do it at all? This week on The Anxious Truth we’re talking about healing from anxiety because this is a topic so many people want to hear more about! For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/296 If you are going to scroll through any of mental health social media today, you WILL see content that includes the word “heal”. Is that bad? Well, not necessarily. I’m not here today to be the anxiety word police, but given that our use of language and ability to think symbolically is one of the things that gets us into anxiety trouble to begin with, its is worth looking at the words and terms we use from time to time. Disclaimer. If you love the word heal because it strikes a chord or feels like it really applies in your situation, then I am here to support you on that. Keep using it. Heal all day long. Heal like nobody’s business. Go for it. Everyone gets to use whatever language they want to use, and we all get to respect those choices. But that being said, if you have been working like a dog to heal from anxiety and can’t seem to get anywhere with any kind of consistency, then maybe we need to take a look at that healing target. The words we use create the rules we feel we must follow. Our words create our internal algorithms and those algorithms do influence how we see ourselves, and the world, and they do influence how we behave. Since behavior change is really the tip of the spear when overcoming an anxiety disorder, we should probably look at this. We all want to heal when injured or wounded. That’s not even a question. But when we are working on overcoming chronic or disordered anxiety, is healing what we’re trying to do? There are three primary issues with the word heal that I want to throw out there today for you to chew on. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. What if you could transform your relationship with anxiety simply by changing your approach? This week on the Anxious Truth, we tackle the misunderstood phrase "sitting with anxiety" and reveal how it doesn't mean you have to be physically still. We'll break down the true essence of this concept, emphasizing the importance of allowing yourself to experience anxiety without trying to escape or fix it. Whether you're at work, running errands, or simply relaxing, the key is to let anxiety be present without interference, tailoring your approach to fit your unique circumstances. Discover how embracing anxiety in the midst of your daily routine can actually empower you. We’ll share insights on how to navigate anxiety during meetings, phone calls, or even in bustling environments like a busy mall. By engaging with your life and tasks at hand, even when anxious, you’ll learn to manage these feelings without them dictating your actions. Tune in for a discussion that shifts the focus from achieving calm to accepting the experience of anxiety, ultimately leading to a reduction in fear over time. This episode promises to reshape your understanding and management of anxiety in a way you might have never considered before. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/295 For more anxiety and recovery resources: https://theanxioustruth.com Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. HELP! My panic attacks come totally out of the blue! I don't know how to handle that! For an anxious person struggling with the process of anxiety disorder recovery, it can sometimes seem like panic attacks strike completely randomly and "out of the blue", where no clear source of anxiety can be identified as triggering the attack. This can be frustrating, especially if you've been working overtime to manage your anxiety and prevent panic from happening. But there is no such thing as an "out of the blue" panic attack. In the context of disordered forms of anxiety, it is the resistance to panic and the urgent attempts to manage and prevent it that become the precipitating factors leading to future panic attacks. Trying hard to guarantee that you won't panic any more? Paradoxically, this is going to have the opposite effect, almost guaranteeing that you will likely experience more panic down the road. When one is anxious about being anxious, or afraid of being afraid, the trigger for the most recent "out of the blue" panic attack can be found in all the panic attacks that came previously. The hidden trigger is in the checking, scanning, evaluating, and guarding against panic that allows a single sensation, thought, or feeling to trigger a rapid sequence of events that creates what appears to be a random, unexplainable instant panic attack. It's actually good news that there are no true "random" panic attacks. We can use that information to make adjustments and change direction toward where we want be in recovery and in life. For full show notes on this episode and other anxiety/recovery resources: https://theanxioustruth.com/294 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Thinking and feeling are important to humans. Thinking and feeling about thinking and feeling is important to anxious humans! In the world of recovery from disordered or chronic anxiety, what we thinking and feeling about thinking and feeling - our metacognitive beliefs - play an important role in the process but are often overlooked. This week on The Anxious Truth I'm pretty exhausted so we're going to take a look at that to highlight some important recovery lessons. Why is being so exhausted, drained, and emotional not leading to anxiety and panic? Because my recovery experience taught me a new way to think and feel ... about how I think and feel. Let's take a closer look at what we think and feel about what we think and feeling. Metacognitive beliefs can sometimes be the glue that keeps us stuck to our symptoms, thoughts, and big emotions. Recognizing when strong beliefs about thoughts and feelings are leading us astray can be an important first step in challenging those beliefs and using the principles of acceptance, tolerance, surrender, and exposure in the recovery process. For full show notes on this episode including a full transcript: https://theanxioustruth.com/293 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. You’re in the middle of a huge wave of intense anxiety and fear, or maybe you’re experiencing a full blown panic attack. Someone with all the best intentions and trying to be helpful instructs you to identify five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This is the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise. If you’ve followed along with me for any length of time you know that I don’t speak too kindly about grounding exercises. But today we’re going to revisit 5-4-3-2-1 and grounding exercises in general. What if there is a way to use them to our benefit rather than having them blow up in our faces? For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/292 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Among people that struggle with chronic or disordered forms of anxiety, there are a wide range of individual primary fears or concerns. When you ask a large enough number of our friends what they are afraid of, you’re going to get a pretty wide range of answers primarily because everyone experiences fear, worry, concern, and anxiety in a slightly different way. But hidden within this apparently wide range of specific and individual fears are some common thread and themes. This week on The Anxious Truth we're exploring four common themes found when a few hundred anxious people expressed the fears and worry they're struggling with right now. Fear of Immediate Physical/Medical Threat Fear of Immediate Psychological/Mental Threat Fear of Being Overwhelmed or Unable to Adequately Cope Obsessive Fixation on Specific Feared Outcomes For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/291 For more anxiety and recovery resources: https://theanxioustruth.com Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. People struggling with chronic or disordered states of anxiety often find themselves in a situation where they are hyper aware and therefore overwhelmed by sensory input. Non-anxious humans are so oblivious to what we sense that we sometimes pay to have people tell us to notice what our eyes, ears, noses, and skin are sending and perceiving. But for anxious people dealing with chronic or disordered forms of anxiety, this is not a problem at all. We have the opposite issue. We are constantly paying very close attention to sensory input. We are hyper aware. Why are we hyper aware? Because we MUST evaluate ourselves constantly to stay ahead of our triggers. Anxious people are continually checking themselves for physical sensations that don’t seem right, thoughts that might be going south, or emotions that they won’t be able to handle. If you’re here today listening or watching, I would wager a large sum that a good portion of your time is spend checking on yourself, then evaluating the results of that internal scan to to see if you’re OK, or you have to start taking evasive action to stay safe … from yourself. Episode 290 of The Anxious Truth provides a reframe on sensory overload and overwhelm that ties the experience directly to an overactive, overprotective threat detection and response system. This reframe and explanation could be helpful in informing new action that helps us learn the experiential lessons we need to learn in recovery. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/290 For more anxiety and recovery resources: https://theanxioustruth.com Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Sometimes the toughest opponent we have in anxiety recovery is the belief we can't outrun. This episode challenges you to question the certainties that have defined your battle with anxiety. Is the intensity of our emotions a reliable compass? Is our self-knowledge as accurate as we believe? We'll explore the potential for a fleeting moment of power even amidst the storm of fear, and how reassessing our core beliefs can unlock new possibilities. The thought that what was once unthinkable can become thinkable, what felt impossible can indeed become possible. Reflect on the resilience hidden in your stories and perceptions as we navigate through the complexities of anxiety together. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/289 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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 I HAVE TO STOP BEING AFRAID TO TRULY ACCEPT ANXIETY (AND TO GET BETTER)? Good question. But this is a backwards interpretation of acceptance so let’s clarify. Acceptance is not finding a way to turn off your fear Acceptance is not figuring out some method for hating your anxiety less Acceptance is not about creating a new state of being or feeling from an emotional or mental standpoint Acceptance is an ACTION, not a feeling. Acceptance is a precursor to less fear, acceptance is not the result of less fear. This is critical because it keeps quite a number of people stuck, so let's talk about it on episode 288 of The Anxious Truth. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/288 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Anxiety Triggers: When The List Is Growing Many members of our community will find that over time their list of anxiety triggers or panic attack triggers is growing. More and more things become triggers, which starts to get frustrating and disheartening. Let's talk about why that happens, and what it means in the recovery process. Important Timestamps: 02:17 - Everything becomes an anxiety trigger when you're in an anxious state 08:08 - If you feel like everything is a possible anxiety trigger, remember this 13:15 - Learning to face fear requires courage and it requires repetition Full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/287 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Let's do an old fashioned anxiety questions and answers session, shall we? Today we're answering questions from our friends on Facebook. 02:24 How do I face a scary exposure? 05:58 Is it normal to still have symptoms or scary thoughts in recovery? 08:48 What do I do when I'm not anxious and have no symptoms or thoughts to deal with? 10:40 Which comes first, scary sensations or scary thoughts? 12:37 How can I be sure if it's just anxiety or my intuition? 15:01 The selfish nature of anxiety and anxiety disorders For full show notes on this episode or to access more anxiety recovery resources: https://theanxioustruth.com/286 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Having panic attacks does not always mean you have panic disorder. This week on The Anxious Truth we're digging into what differentiates panic attacks - even recurring panic attacks - from panic disorder. In a nutshell, the primary differentiator here is fear/avoidance. When you begin to fear panic attacks because you interpret them as dangerous or too overwhelming, then you begin to modify and restrict your lifestyle to prevent or avoid them, you are panic disorder territory. Compare this to the very large number of people that will have panic attacks now and then without ever treating them this way. They have panic attacks, which they experience as individual events that they do not link together, and go about their lives mostly unconcerned or worried about a next panic attack. This week we're also talking about why being anxious all the time is quite common in panic disorder and how panic disorder relates to other closely related conditions all categorized as "anxiety disorders" from a diagnostic point of view. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/285 For more content and resources: https://theanxioustruth.com Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. Struggling with constant anxiety, recurring panic attacks, or a full blown anxiety disorder? Avoiding anxiety and panic triggers might seem like the safest path, but let's look at why this understandable and common response can be more foe than friend. In this episode we'll look at some of the mechanics of panic attacks and panic disorder, shedding light on why evading anxiety can inadvertently feed the beast, intensifying and fueling the cycle of fear. Prudent prudent avoidance in the face of true danger is a helpful survival tool, but avoidance can become problematic when we use it to sidestep anxiety and fear themselves, rather than actual danger. So if avoidance is more harmful than helpful, what next? Unfortunately, what's next is the dismantling of avoidance and a turn TOWARD what you fear most. This may sound ridiculous or unthinkable to you right now, which is perfectly OK. Everyone comes to grips with this approach - or doesn't - in their own way and in their own time. If you're not feeling this idea today, it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong, broken, worse than everyone else, or beyond hope. Take whatever time is needed to think about this and consider the concept. Everyone has to do that part - the mental wrestling with an unpleasant idea. As we move toward an acceptance based recovery, embracing discomfort becomes an unexpected and paradoxical compass. This approach may appear daunting, yet it paves the way to teaching our brains that the alarm bells of anxiety and fear are false signals. that don't actually need to be interpreted and treated as disasters or emergencies. There is quite a bit to digest when we decide to move away from avoidance and toward facing fear. It can't all be explained in one video or one podcast episode. There are lots of principles to follow and concepts to understand. If the idea of eliminating avoidance to recover is making sense to you know and you want to know HOW this works, first accept that you're going to have to take some time to listen, learn, contemplate, and get a better understanding of the principles and mechanics of acceptance based recovery. Take advantage of all the free podcast episodes, videos, and social media content I've created that all discuss these ideas. Check out the workshops I've created to help explain these principles. Consider consulting my recovery guidebook, also called "The Anxious Truth". You won't solve this problem or change your relationship with anxiety overnight, but you can start to turn in the direction of recovery by reading, learning, listening and starting to consider this different approach. Links from this episode: Episode 152 - Agoraphobia Explained My Panic Attacks Explained Workshop My Agoraphobia Explained Workshop My Panic and Agoraphobia Recovery Gui Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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. LIVING WITH ANXIETY ... I HAVE TO RECOVER SO I CAN LIVE MY LIFE AGAIN! But really, do you? Or is it better to do your best to re-engage in life so that you can recover? This week we're examining the concept of life AS recovery rather than life as something you get to do only after you've reached some magic state of "recovered". Yes, at times recovery from an anxiety disorder involves manufactured exposures and doing things that don't look all that much like a regular life, but recovery can be so much more. We can also intermix life - as best we can - into the recovery process in such a way that we use life activities and experiences to help us practice handling anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and discomfort. Moving through an anxious moment while doing something that feels like life is generally more valuable and will likely lead to a deeper and more durable recovery, so consider living (to the best of your ability today) to recover, even when you're convinced that you're not ready for life. For full show notes on this episode visit https://theanxioustruth.com/283 To find my books, workshops, social media links, and all the other anxiety and recovery resources I produce, visit my website at theanxioustruth.com. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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 TO CALM DOWN FROM A PANIC ATTACK? This is one of the million dollar question in our community, so let's take a look at how to calm down from a panic attack. I know you likely want tips and tricks for how to stop a panic attack and calm down, but could the act of embracing, rather than fighting off a panic attack, be the hidden doorway to "calm"? Let's look at true acceptance, and unpack the idea that true calmness emerges not from a frantic search for escape but through allowing and riding out the panic storm. This isn't about finding a quick fix. It's about redefining your relationship with anxiety and recognizing the strength in vulnerability. Remember, every moment of openness to the experience is a step toward lasting improvement and recovery. Episode Links: My Recovery Guidebook https://theanxioustruth.com/recoveryguide Panic Attacks Explained: https://learn.theanxioustruth.com/panic-attacks-explained Agoraphobia Explained: https://learn.theanxioustruth.com/agoraphobia-explained My website: https://theanxioustruth.com Full show notes for this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/282 Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated! 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.