The Stress Jug Explained (Episode 146)
Disordered: Anxiety Help
Josh Fletcher and Drew Linsalata
4.9 • 663 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Want to talk about what you're hearing in this episode with Josh and Drew and others that share your experience?
https://disordered.fm/community
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In this episode, Josh and Drew break down the "Stress Jug"—a metaphor designed to explain why anxiety and panic often seem to appear out of nowhere. The guys discuss how accumulated stress, both positive and negative, can cause your "threat response" to overflow, leading to sensitization and the search for a threat where none exists.
The Mechanics of Overflow: How the amygdala misinterprets a full "stress jug" as immediate danger, triggering unexpected fear and physical symptoms.
The Role of Meaning-Making: Why your brain creates narratives (like health anxiety or fear of "going crazy") to explain internal discomfort.
Beyond "Emptying the Jug": Why recovery isn't about avoiding stress or keeping the jug empty, but learning to tolerate the overflow when life gets heavy.
"Meta-Stress": Understanding the additional weight of being stressed about being stressed, and how that contributes to the cycle of disordered anxiety.
The "Gunk" at the Bottom: Addressing long-term factors like grief, self-esteem, or unprocessed emotions that occupy space in your jug.
We're also sharing "Did It Anyway" stories from the community, including a listener’s trip to Jamaica despite anxiety and a first-time solo drive after years of avoidance. These stories highlight the importance of taking action even when you don't yet believe you are safe.
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The Disordered Guide to Health Anxiety is now available. If you're struggling with health anxiety, this book is for you.
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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 | We hold on to lots of stress, and when it builds up and when things and life isn't sustainable, |
| 0:06.6 | the stress drug overflows, the amygdala, misinterprets that accumulated stress, |
| 0:12.7 | and just in case hits you with some unexpected and confusing fear. |
| 0:18.1 | Desensitization does not mean I have to empty the stress drug and avoid it filling up. |
| 0:25.0 | We have an overflowing stress jug and a brain whose job it is to make meaning out of our internal experiences. |
| 0:32.7 | And it only cares about what's easily accessible and easily believable. And then your mind is going to create |
| 0:37.5 | some sort of narrative to explain it. So the same rules of response are going to apply, but it does |
| 0:42.4 | give us a reasonable explanation as to what this is. When you stress drug overflows, your threat |
| 0:47.5 | response will find a threat. Welcome to Disordid. This is episode 146 entitled The Stress Jug Explained. I'm Joshua Fletcher, also known as |
| 1:03.2 | Anxiety Josh, and I'm a psychotherapist who specializes in the world of anxiety and anxiety disorders. |
| 1:09.5 | I'm based in Manchester in the UK, |
| 1:12.2 | I've been a therapist for 10 years now, |
| 1:14.1 | and I really enjoy hosting this wonderful podcast and this community. |
| 1:18.9 | And I'm joined by my esteemed co-host. |
| 1:21.5 | I am Drew Linzalata. |
| 1:22.8 | I am coming to you from New York, Long Island, |
| 1:24.8 | as a matter of fact, |
| 1:25.7 | where I am also a therapist |
| 1:27.0 | that specializes in treating anxiety and anxiety disorders and an author on this topic, psychoeducator, advocate, social media guy, former sufferer of the things we talk about on disorder, but better now. And this week we're going to talk about, welcome, by the way. Today we're going to talk about the stress jug, which is, dude, that's like your thing. |
| 1:44.3 | I love the stretch jug. |
| 1:45.2 | I use it. |
| 1:45.7 | I stole it from you. |
... |
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