Anxious About Feeling ... Calm? (Episode 132)
Disordered: Anxiety Help
Josh Fletcher and Drew Linsalata
4.9 • 663 Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Panicogenic Relaxation: Why You Feel Anxious When Feeling Calm
You're finally feeling better. The anxiety has lifted. You're relaxed and calm for the first time in months or even years. So why does that feel so weird? And why are you suddenly anxious about feeling calm?
In this episode, Drew and Josh explore "panicogenic relaxation". This is a common experience in anxiety disorder recovery where feeling normal, neutral, or relaxed can trigger concern or even high anxiety and panic. When you've been anxious for so long, that heightened state becomes your predictable default. The absence of anxiety can feel unfamiliar, strange, or even threatening.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why feeling calm or relaxed can feel uncomfortable or even scary during recovery
- How your brain's scanning mechanisms continue even when you're no longer anxious
- Why anxiety becomes a "predictable pillar" after long periods of struggle
- The importance of practicing being relaxed, not just practicing being anxious
- How the shock-attention-resistance cycle continues even when you're feeling better
- Why all emotional states - including calm - need to be permissible
- How to recognize when you're still checking and monitoring even during neutral states
We also share inspiring "Did It Anyway" stories from the community, including someone who kept pushing through fatigue to go to new places, and another who took their first step away from 13 years of self-medication.
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Want a way to ask questions about this episode or interact with other Disordered listeners? The Disordered app is nearing release! Visit our home page and get on our mailing list for more information..
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Struggling with worry and rumination that you feel you can't stop or control? Check out Worry and Rumination Explained, a two hour pre-recorded workshop produced by Josh and Drew. The workshop takes a deep dive into the mechanics of worrying and ruminating, offering some helpful ways to approach the seemingly unsolvable problem of trying to solve seemingly unsolvable problems.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, my name's Laura and I had a question for you both Josh and Drew. Is it normal? I know that you did go through this topic in one of your previous, one of your previous podcast sessions. Is it normal when your anxiety is getting better to feel strange? You know, I'm starting to feel quite relaxed. |
| 0:21.3 | And I think I have had severe anxiety, DPDR, agoraphobia, panic disorder for the past |
| 0:28.8 | probably 10 months. |
| 0:30.4 | The DPDR was getting more intense towards the end. |
| 0:33.3 | I'm sort of on the way to recovery now with a mix of listening to your amazing podcast and some |
| 0:38.1 | SSRIs and also talking to a psychologist. But yeah, I was just wondering, is it normal that when |
| 0:45.4 | you start to feel better, that everything, your body feels strange? Like, my body feels quite |
| 0:51.3 | lightweight. My breathing's easier, and I just feel now strange |
| 0:55.0 | because I'm not anxious. |
| 0:57.4 | So yeah, just wondering if that is common and if anyone's got any sort of feedback or relatable |
| 1:01.9 | stories to feeling very, very unusual within their body, once they've kind of hit that road |
| 1:07.9 | to recovery from anxiety, love your work. You guys have been |
| 1:12.0 | sort of such a profound part of my recovery and you're helping so many people and I love |
| 1:18.4 | listening to your sessions every week. Take care. |
| 1:25.9 | Welcome to Disordered. This is episode 132 entitled Panicogenic Relaxation. When it feels weird, when we're suddenly relaxed and things feel normal in air quotes again. To answer your question, Laura, no, it's not normal. You are on the brink |
| 1:46.1 | of insanity. I'm Joshua Fletcher, also known as anxiety. I'm not on the brink of insanity. It's |
| 1:53.4 | very normal. It's a great question, and we're going to talk about that today. So yeah, I'm |
| 1:57.5 | Joshua Fletcher, also known as anxiety, Josh, psychotherapist based in |
| 2:00.9 | Manchester in the UK, specializing in anxiety and anxiety disorders. |
| 2:04.9 | I'm also a previous sufferer of anxiety, panic, OCD, health anxiety, agoraphobia, etc. |
| 2:11.6 | And can relate a lot to what Laura has said. |
| 2:14.9 | So big thank you for your question. |
... |
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