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

Author: Drew Linsalata

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Struggling with panic attacks, agoraphobia, or other anxiety problems? The Anxious Truth will educate you, empower you, encourage you, and inspire you to get your life back!  

* Featured in the New York Times: "6 Podcasts to Soothe An Anxious Mind" (April 27, 2024)

* Featured in Vogue Magazine: "The 15 Best Mental Health Podcasts Recommended by Therapists" (October 2023)

Listen to the podcast, read the books, join the social media community, and get on the path to recovery.

300 Episodes
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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/296If 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...
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 rel...
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 happe...
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 recov...
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 tha...
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 co...
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 ...
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 thou...
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 fearAcceptance is not figuring out some method for hating your anxiety lessAcceptance is not about creating a new state of being or feeling from an emotional or mental standpointAcceptance is an ACTION, not a feeling. Acceptance is a precursor...
Send in a question or comment via text.Anxiety Triggers: When The List Is GrowingMany 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 state08:08 - If you feel lik...
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?...
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 a...
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. ...
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 t...
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 sea...
Send in a question or comment via text.WHAT DOES A PANIC ATTACK FEEL LIKE?Let's unpack the harrowing reality of a panic attack, peeling back the layers to expose the heart-thumping, breath-stealing beast it can be. My journey as a therapist in training, fused with raw personal encounters, brings a unique perspective to the forefront. We dissect those suffocating episodes, where your own body feels like an unwieldy adversary, and thoughts of impending doom loom over you like a dark cloud. In t...
Send in a question or comment via text.Ever wondered how to recognize a panic attack? Want to understand the physical and mental symptoms that hint towards an oncoming episode? Not sure if what you're experiencing are panic attacks or something else? This episode of The Anxious Truth is for you. Tune in as we delve into panic and panic attacks, demystifying the sensations, the thoughts, the fear, and the need to escape that often accompany these episodes.This is the first in my "Foundat...
Send in a question or comment via text.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 gra...
Send in a question or comment via text.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 rele...
Send in a question or comment via text.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 wi...
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Comments (5)

S • F • L

I love the crumple it up visual! Thanks, this was helpful.

Jul 10th
Reply

S • F • L

I f.i.n.a.l.l.y get it!!!

Jun 19th
Reply

Chezzy

Thanks for that last warning paragraph. Beyond poor mental health outcomes abruptly stopping benzos can cause physically life threatening complications.

Sep 10th
Reply

Rick Newman

this is a great way to get through an anxiety attack.

Aug 10th
Reply

Rick Newman

thank you I think this is my hardest subject.

Jul 31st
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