Why anxiety shows up in your body + virtual reality treatment approaches
Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast
Caroline Foran
4.4 • 654 Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Brennan Spiegel, a physician, researcher and author whose work sits at the intersection of the brain, the body and lived experience. Together, we explore why anxiety so often shows up physically, why being told “it’s just anxiety” can feel dismissive rather than reassuring, and how the mind and body are far more interconnected than we’ve been taught. Brennan introduces ideas like mental gravity, interoception and the brain–gut connection, and explains how approaches like virtual reality are being used to treat anxiety, pain and chronic symptoms. This is a validating, perspective-shifting conversation for anyone who has ever felt unheard in a doctor’s office or confused by physical anxiety symptoms.
Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here
Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok here
Subscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for listening to Owning It. If you would like to support the series, the best thing you can do is just tell a friend or better yet share it on social media. If you really, really want to support, you can subscribe to me on Substack where I write a weekly column. Listeners of the pod get a 20% discount forever at carolineforan.substack.com. Thank you. |
| 0:20.6 | Hello, dear listener and welcome back to owning it the anxiety podcast with me, Caroline Foran.substack.com. Thank you. Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to owning it the |
| 0:23.0 | anxiety podcast with me, Caroline Forin. If you have ever sat in a doctor's office awaiting |
| 0:28.3 | some results or tests from a physical symptom, only to be told, it's all in your head, it's not |
| 0:34.6 | real, it's just anxiety, this episode is for you. Today on the podcast, |
| 0:39.2 | I'm joined by Brennan Spiegel, a physician, researcher and author whose work focuses on the |
| 0:44.0 | connection between the brain, the body and lived experience. Brennan is the author of VRX, |
| 0:49.1 | which explores how virtual reality is being used to treat pain, anxiety and physical symptoms, |
| 0:55.4 | and pull, where he introduces the idea of mental gravity, the invisible pull that shapes our thoughts, attention |
| 1:00.7 | and fears. In this episode, we talk about why anxiety so often shows up physically, why reassurance |
| 1:06.1 | doesn't always help, and how understanding what's happening in the brain can change the way |
| 1:09.7 | we relate to our body. |
| 1:14.8 | Enjoy this episode and don't forget to check out my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Know About Anxiety. Link in the show notes. |
| 1:22.7 | Well, Brennan, thank you so much for being here on owning, the anxiety podcast. I'm so glad to have you. |
| 1:29.0 | Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I want to start by saying that this episode in particular |
| 1:33.7 | is very much for the people listening who, like me, have spent so much time over the years in |
| 1:41.0 | doctors' offices, emergency rooms, waiting anxiously for some test results, |
| 1:46.7 | only to be told, you know, it's just anxiety, you're fine, there's nothing actually wrong. |
| 1:52.4 | And while I know a lot of people think that those words are going to be reassuring, |
| 1:56.7 | they often can land in a way that's confusing and invalidating or dismissive, |
| 2:01.7 | especially when what you're feeling is feel so real. |
| 2:05.3 | And like I know you will say, is so real. |
... |
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