How Long Does De-Sensitization Take? (Episode 128)
Disordered: Anxiety Help
Josh Fletcher and Drew Linsalata
4.9 • 663 Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One of the most common questions we hear from people working through anxiety disorders and OCD is: "How long is this going to take?" In this episode, Drew and Josh tackle the timeline question head-on—but probably not in the way you're expecting.
We explore why asking "how long until I recover?" might be the wrong question, and why shifting to "how long until I'm desensitized?" can be a game-changer in how you approach your anxiety journey. We discuss the reality that there's no universal timeline, no magic number of weeks, and why that's actually okay.
In this episode:
- Why the concept of "recovery" as a finish line may not be helpful for anxiety disorders
- The difference between recovery and desensitization
- How urgency and pressure can actually slow your progress
- Why some people seem to progress faster than others (and why that doesn't matter)
- The role of self-compassion, patience, and realistic expectations
- Why hard days are a normal part of the process—even after significant progress
- How perfectionism and the need for certainty can keep you stuck
We also share inspiring "Did It Anyway" stories from listeners who are moving forward with their lives—traveling, attending events, and even jumping into mosh pits—alongside their anxiety, not waiting for it to disappear first.
Whether you're struggling with panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, health anxiety, or other anxiety disorders, this episode offers a realistic, compassionate perspective on what it means to make progress and why the journey looks different for everyone.
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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.
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Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Send us an email or leave a voicemail on our website.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, Drew and Josh. My name is Felicia, and you can use my name as long as you don't make the stupid by Felicia joke. |
| 0:08.6 | In a nutshell, about two years ago, I had a major medical emergency and hot on the heels of that. |
| 0:15.4 | A friend of mine took her own life, and then major world events hit me very personally and I fell into what can only be called, |
| 0:25.5 | I don't know, endless panic attacks. I had endless panic attacks for weeks. Then I became |
| 0:31.7 | agoraphobic and I didn't even know what was happening to me. With the help of my regular therapist, my talk therapist, |
| 0:39.3 | I was able to get out of it a little bit, but then fell back in maybe even deeper. Through your |
| 0:46.0 | podcast, I actually realized that I have OCD. I have existential OCD, which is a big pain in the butt |
| 0:52.8 | for many reasons, one of which is, you know, |
| 0:57.4 | it's a chameleon and it's really hard to figure out that you have it. But with the help of your |
| 1:01.6 | podcast, I found a therapist who specializes in OCD and she's amazing and she's really, really |
| 1:08.3 | helped me. So I've tons of did it anyways, have gone on trips |
| 1:14.3 | all over, in airplanes, by myself, back engaged my life with my kids, doing my work that I love. |
| 1:23.7 | But my question to you is, even after almost a year and a half of recovery, I still have really, really hard days and really hard moments. |
| 1:34.2 | And I don't know if this is reassurance seeking. |
| 1:36.8 | But is there a timeline? |
| 1:39.0 | That may be a tricky question, but I wanted to know if maybe there was one. |
| 1:43.2 | Thank you so much. I love you guys. Bye. |
| 1:49.9 | Welcome to Disordered. This is episode 128 called Hi Felicia. Today's episode is actually called How Long Until I'm Desensitized? |
| 2:03.6 | We were originally going to call this episode, |
| 2:06.4 | How Long Does Recovery Take? |
| 2:08.5 | But as you've heard from previous episodes, |
| 2:10.7 | I'm just going to ban that word because it's not helpful, |
... |
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