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

How Does an Anxiety Therapist Talk About Anxiety All Day Without Getting Triggered? People ask me this constantly. I'm a former sufferer of panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression — and now I spend my days immersed in all of it. Therapy clients, podcasts, books, social media. Anxiety is basically my entire professional life. So how does a person like me not end up right back where they started? The answer isn't a trick or a technique. It's what recovery actually produces — and once y...

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2026

Many people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) struggle to understand how the concept of acceptance applies to their recovery. While it seems straightforward in the context of panic disorder or health anxiety, where sufferers learn to accept temporary physical sensations, applying acceptance to distressing intrusive thoughts and images can feel confusing or even dangerous. In this episode of The Anxious Truth, I'm joined by OCD specialists Joanna Hardis (Cleveland) and Lauren Rosen (Los...

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2026

This episode of The Anxious Truth dives into the messy intersection of neuroscience and psychotherapy. I’m joined by Ana Lund, a UK-based psychotherapist specializing in the link between brain science and clinical practice, to discuss how we actually use research to help you recover. -- Want to discuss what you heard today? I'm hanging out on the Disordered Community Space https://disordered.fm/community -- We often hear about "evidence-based practice," but translating a laboratory study into...

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2026

If you recognize the sound of a Velcro rip and your heart starts to pound the minute you hear that familiar hum, we need to talk. You likely bought a home blood pressure monitor to feel safer and healthier, but now you might feel like a slave to a rubber tube and a plastic screen. In this episode, we are looking at how a responsible health habit turns into a psychological nightmare in the form of fixation and obsessive fear. We discuss why blood pressure anxiety happens, often in the complete...

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2026

Want to talk about what you heard today? Interact with me and others that understand your experience on the Disordered Community app. https://disordered.fm/community ---- In this episode, we tackle a common trap: viewing every uncomfortable emotion through the lens of anxiety recovery. When you spend months practicing desensitization, acceptance, tolerance, and exposure, it is easy to mislabel normal human stress as a setback, a relapse, or a recovery problem. Disordered vs. Non-Disordered An...

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2026

Want to talk about what you heard today? I'm hanging out on the Disordered Community space. https://disordered.fm/community ---- Living with an anxiety disorder or OCD often feels less like a medical condition and more like being trapped in a dysfunctional, predatory relationship. In this episode, we explore the metaphor of the "cult leader in your head" to explain why you keep getting tricked by your thoughts—even when you logically know they aren't true. We discuss five specific ways ...

Transcribed - Published: 25 March 2026

Want to discuss what you heard today with Drew, Josh Fletcher, and others that share your struggle and experience? https://disordered.fm/community ---- Overcoming an anxiety disorder comes with a TON of questions, so let's answer some! Questions Answered in This Episode 03:45 — Why is it so hard to "just let the symptoms be"? I discuss why doing nothing in the face of fear is the biggest hurdle in recovery and why your struggle to do so is completely normal. 08:15 — Can you exercise your...

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2026

Want to discuss this episode with me and others that share your experience? https://disordered.fm/community ------- In this episode of The Anxious Truth, we look at why the lessons of floating, mindful acceptance, and exposure can feel out of reach. While the principles of recovery are simple, they are difficult to execute because they are counterintuitive and require facing the things you fear most. Beyond the initial fear, deeper obstacles rooted in background, culture, and personal experie...

Transcribed - Published: 25 February 2026

Questions about what you've heard today? Want to interact with Drew and other listeners of this podcast? Check out the Disordered Community space. ----- When compulsions are behavioral, like hand washing or door checking, they are easy to identify. But when they are mental in nature, things get much fuzzier. In this episode, I’m joined by OCD specialist Lauren Rosen to take the mystery out of mental compulsions and explain why your "problem-solving" brain is actually keeping you stuck. We bre...

Transcribed - Published: 11 February 2026

When a blizzard or thunderstorm is in the forecast, do you find your anxiety levels spiking long before the first snowflakes or raindrops fall? You aren’t alone. Many people struggling with anxiety disorders or chronic states of anxiety find themselves extra triggered by significant weather events. In this episode, we’re looking at why anxiety and weather often go hand-in-hand and why it isn't actually the snow or rain that is the problem. We dive into the two underlying processes tha...

Transcribed - Published: 29 January 2026

When you have an anxiety disorder, it can feel like your list of fears and triggers just keeps getting longer. You might have started being afraid of one or two things, but now it seems like everything sets you off. Driving, being home alone, intrusive thoughts, physical sensations, even opening a new bottle of medication. Despite what it feels like, you're actually only afraid of one thing. All those different triggers lead to the same place, no matter how varied they seem. Whether it's a ...

Transcribed - Published: 14 January 2026

If you've been searching online for ways to deal with your anxiety, you've probably noticed there's an avalanche of information claiming to be "science-based" or "evidence-based." But here's the problem. That isn't always true. This week I'm joined by Dr. Birthe Macdonald, a research psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, to talk about why online mental health information is so confusing and full of misinformation. We discuss why things that aren't actually science still look like fact w...

Transcribed - Published: 31 December 2025

If you're struggling with panic disorder, health anxiety, OCD, GAD, or other anxiety issues you've may have encountered online content that references Stoicism, warrior philosophy, and Marcus Aurelius. The message: master your emotions, be tough, control your fear through discipline and suffering. But that's not what Marcus Aurelius was actually writing about. In this episode, I dig into what Marcus actually wrote in his Meditations—his personal diary that accidentally survived 2,500 years....

Transcribed - Published: 17 December 2025

Anxious people love coping skills and coping strategies. Everybody loves to cope. But today we're going to talk about how coping can go off the rails and become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. When you're dealing with chronic anxiety or an anxiety disorder, coping strategies can actually backfire. Every time you frantically reach for your grounding techniques or breathing exercises because you desperately need to calm down, you might be reinforcing the belief that your i...

Transcribed - Published: 3 December 2025

Children with OCD and anxiety disorders have the same diagnoses as adults, but their experience looks and feels different in important ways. In this episode, I sit down with child anxiety and OCD specialist Natasha Daniels to explore those differences and what they reveal about the fundamental nature of these disorders. When you ask a young child why they're doing a ritual, they often can't tell you. They report vague discomfort or say "it just feels weird if I don't." Adult brains, on the o...

Transcribed - Published: 19 November 2025

Sometimes life throws real challenges at us—loss, relationship changes, health concerns, financial struggles—that naturally trigger anxiety. But when you're dealing with an anxiety disorder, these moments become especially confusing. How do you tell the difference between "normal" anxiety and disordered anxiety? And what do you do when recovery concepts don't seem to apply? In this episode, we explore what happens when bad things really do happen in life and trigger genuine anxiety. We'll ta...

Transcribed - Published: 5 November 2025

Anxious parenting can feel overwhelming, especially when your own anxiety drives you to do more - more rescuing, more protecting, more intervening. But what if the path to better parenting actually requires learning to do less? In this episode, I'm joined by anxiety/OCD specialist Joanna Hardis to talk about how anxious parenting patterns keep us stuck and what we can really do about them. Joanna just released her new book "Just Do Nothing (For Parents): Parenting Better by Doing Less". Joann...

Transcribed - Published: 22 October 2025

This week we're doing a special "no frills" edition of The Anxious Truth (just like the old days). I asked my Instagram audience for questions, and I'm here to do my best to answer them. If you're dealing with panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, health anxiety, or generalized anxiety disorder, you've probably asked yourself many of these same questions. I cover the most common questions about anxiety symptoms—heart palpitations, dizziness, nausea, breathing difficulties—and explain why tr...

Transcribed - Published: 15 October 2025

Anxiety that you cannot control, that keeps coming back, that you don't understand and are terrified of, will trick you into believing that something is really wrong. But what if that intense fear you experience—while absolutely real—is based on a prediction your brain is making that isn't actually true? In this episode, I speak with Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, neuroscientist and author of How Emotions Are Made and 7 1/2 Lessons About The Brain about how anxiety is constructed in the brain. Dr....

Transcribed - Published: 8 October 2025

If you're struggling with anxiety and searching for ways of calming your feelings, this episode is for you. I break down why the most popular strategies for calming your feelings - like using logic to talk yourself out of anxiety, trying to replace negative emotions with positive ones, attempting to control your body's responses, or avoiding triggers - often backfire when you're dealing with anxiety disorders. Drawing from mindfulness principles and acceptance-based therapy approaches, I expl...

Transcribed - Published: 24 September 2025

There's whole industry built around helping people feel good about feeling bad, and while validation has its place, this endless cycle of anxiety content might actually be keeping you stuck. In this episode, we explore how consuming validation-focused content can become a form of modern reassurance-seeking that maintains anxiety disorders rather than promoting recovery. We'll discuss the research showing that excessive reassurance-seeking provides immediate relief but leads to increased anxie...

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2025

If you're struggling with anxiety disorders and constantly being told you need a positive mindset, stronger beliefs, and better motivation to recover, this episode is for you. I'm breaking down why these three concepts are tragically misunderstood and misapplied in anxiety recovery—and why they might actually be keeping you stuck. What You'll Learn: Why you can't just "decide" to believe in yourself or adopt a positive mindsetThe counterproductive fantasy that words will change how you think ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 August 2025

Exposure for anxiety is the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders, but most people get it wrong, especially when trying to use exposure without professional help. In this episode, we're breaking down why so many people struggle with exposure for anxiety and how to avoid the common traps that lead to frustration and giving up. If you've ever tried exposure therapy for panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, social anxiety, or health anxiety and felt like it wasn't working, this episode is fo...

Transcribed - Published: 13 August 2025

For 25 years of my life, I struggled with panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and depression. I was so anxious that I couldn't leave my house or be alone for more than a few minutes at a time. But last week, I finally did something I've wanted to do since I was 9 years old. In this episode, I share a personal story - not as a blueprint for your recovery, but as encouragement that anxiety recovery is possible. When I was in elementary school, a trip to the planetarium showed me what the night sk...

Transcribed - Published: 30 July 2025

This week on The Anxious Truth, we're talking about what happens when a problem solving mind sees itself as a problem to solve. Your mind is an incredible problem-solving machine - it's what sets humans apart and has helped us thrive for thousands of years. But when that same problem-solving ability turns inward and starts trying to "fix" your own thoughts, emotions, and internal experiences, things can go very wrong very quickly. If you're stuck in cycles of overthinking, constantly trying...

Transcribed - Published: 16 July 2025

I get asked about medication every single day. Can you get better without it? Is it necessary? What's the best one? Is it cheating to take medication? Today I'm explaining why I don't answer these questions - and why you should be cautious about content creators who do. In this episode, I cover: The three main reasons mental health content creators shouldn't give medication adviceWhy personal beliefs and autonomy matter more than you might thinkThe countless variables that make medication dec...

Transcribed - Published: 1 July 2025

How do real anxiety therapists apply mindfulness principles when working with real anxiety clients in real therapy sessions? Let's check out part two of my chat with therapists Lauren Rosen and Joanna Hardis. We all make heavy use of the principles of mindfulness in our practices, and in our daily lives. What you'll learn in this episode: Why "being present" isn't about feeling calm or peacefulThe concept of being "aggressively present" when anxiety strikesHow mindfulness is really attention ...

Transcribed - Published: 18 June 2025

What happens when three anxiety specialists get together to talk practically about how they use mindfulness in anxiety treatment? This week on The Anxious Truth, we find out. I'm joined by Lauren Rosen, who practices in Los Angeles specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders, and Joanna Hardis from Cleveland, also an expert in treating OCD, anxiety, and anxiety disorders. Together, we break down how mindfulness in anxiety treatment actually works in real therapy sessions - not the Instagram ver...

Transcribed - Published: 4 June 2025

If you've reached the point of declaring "I've tried everything and nothing works for my anxiety," this episode is specifically for you. Many anxiety sufferers fall into this trap and conclude they're uniquely broken or have a special form of anxiety that's resistant to recovery. As both a therapist and someone who personally recovered from panic disorder and agoraphobia, I'll explain why this frustrating experience happens. You'll discover why commonly-tried control and avoidance strategies ...

Transcribed - Published: 21 May 2025

Do you find yourself running from difficult emotions or trying desperately to control them? Many people with anxiety disorders develop a deep fear of their own emotions, believing they're too intense or unbearable to experience fully. In this episode of The Anxious Truth, Drew is joined by therapist Joanna Hardis to explore the concept of "emotional allowability" – learning to coexist with our emotions rather than fighting against them. They discuss why trying to control emotions is ultimatel...

Transcribed - Published: 7 May 2025

Navigating driving anxiety with exposure therapy—but not how you might think. In this episode, Drew Linsalata (therapist, author, and former anxiety sufferer) challenges common misconceptions about addressing driving anxiety. Learn why the feeling is the exposure, not the driving itself, and discover how interoceptive and imaginal exposures can help without ever starting your car. Drew explains why pulling over or listening to music isn't avoidance if you're still experienci...

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2025

When struggling with chronic anxiety or anxiety disorders, our instinct is often to search for ways to control, manage, or eliminate our symptoms. But what if that approach is actually keeping us stuck? This week we're looking at the fundamental difference between acceptance-based strategies and control/management-based approaches to anxiety recovery. Drawing from both research evidence and real-world experiences of anxiety sufferers, we'll explain why acceptance consistently produces better ...

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2025

In this no-frills episode of The Anxious Truth, I'm tackling common questions about anxiety sent in by you, the listeners. No fancy production today - just real talk about real anxiety concerns. We're diving into: 00:00 - Introduction 00:58 - Emetophobia (fear of vomiting) - what it is and how it's typically addressed 06:12 - Nocturnal panic attacks - why they're jarring and how to handle them 11:24 - Is focusing on breathing a distraction or helpful technique? 1...

Transcribed - Published: 12 March 2025

This week we're looking at why the anxious fear that bothers you most is NOT special - and why that's actually good news for your recovery. After receiving countless messages asking me to address specific fears (passing out, heart attacks, going insane), I've noticed a pattern: everyone thinks their particular anxiety is unique, more dangerous, or requires special treatment. Here's the reality: while your fear feels incredibly real and disturbing, all anxiety disorders follow similar patterns...

Transcribed - Published: 26 February 2025

When anxiety hits, how do you know what to do? This week on The Anxious Truth we're exploring how your personal values can guide your choices in anxious moments. Tune in to learn practical ways to identify and connect with your values. This can inform more productive responses when anxiety gets triggered. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/311 Send in a question or comment via text. Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my...

Transcribed - Published: 12 February 2025

How to Accept Anxiety: Opening Up to New Options In this episode, we explore the second component of the ACT Triflex framework for anxiety acceptance: opening up to new possibilities. Learn why considering options when triggered—even without knowing what to do next—is a crucial step in recovery. Key Points: Understanding the ACT Triflex framework for anxiety acceptanceWhy mindfulness is essential for breaking automatic responsesHow psychological flexibility develops through small moments of ...

Transcribed - Published: 29 January 2025

HOW DO I ACCEPT ANXIETY?!?!?!?! Let's start a three-part series on accepting anxiety using the ACT Tri-flex framework. As both a therapist and former anxiety sufferer, I'm going to break down the crucial first practical step of getting present and what it really means in a practical way. KEY POINTS: Why there are no "steps" to accepting anxietyThe difference between "doing mode" and "being mode"What mindfulness actually means in anxiety recoveryHow to develop nonjudgmental awarenessWhy autom...

Transcribed - Published: 15 January 2025

In this episode of The Anxious Truth, we tackle a question that comes up constantly in anxiety recovery: Should you take time off from work or school because of anxiety? We explore why this seemingly simple question has a complex answer, and why what feels intuitively right might not always serve your recovery. Key Topics Covered: Why the urge to take time off is completely normalThe paradox of anxiety recoveryUnderstanding avoidance vs. strategic restHow to make decisions that serve your rec...

Transcribed - Published: 1 January 2025

Are you tired of trying countless techniques to "rewire" your anxious brain, only to find yourself still stuck in the same patterns? In this eye-opening episode, we're diving deep into the science of neuroplasticity and anxiety recovery to reveal why popular brain rewiring methods might actually be reinforcing your anxiety. You'll learn why your brain doesn't have a delete button (and why that's actually good news), what real recovery looks like, and how to build new neural pathways that give...

Transcribed - Published: 18 December 2024

Want to know more about Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and how it might be applied in your situation? Join us this week for insights from the world-renowned therapist Dr. Debbie Joffe-Ellis as she guides us through the origins, core concepts, and application of REBT. Discover how this pioneering cognitive behavioral approach can help you reshape your perceptions and beliefs, offering a path to recovery from anxiety disorders like panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and generaliz...

Transcribed - Published: 4 December 2024

Unlock the secret to mastering your mental well-being by embracing the art of doing nothing. Join us as we explore this transformative concept with the insightful Joanna Hardis, an OCD and anxiety specialist from Cleveland. We delve into concepts rooted in Taoism and Buddhism that challenge the relentless drive for constant activity in Western cultures. Learn how surrendering to anxiety and panic attacks, without the urge to fix or solve, can lead to a more harmonious relationship with ...

Transcribed - Published: 20 November 2024

Why is learning to trust your body again so difficult in the face of chronic or disordered anxiety? What if chronic anxiety could make you feel as disconnected from your body as a chronic illness might? Discover the surprising parallels between the two as we unravel the complex relationship anxiety sufferers have with their physical selves. This week on The Anxious Truth we're talking about how anxious people learn to fear their bodies, and lose trust in their bodies. This can have a ...

Transcribed - Published: 6 November 2024

Resisting the reality of anxiety - the fact that it does exist in your life even when you are trying really hard to escape it or make it stop - means clinging to "feel good" expectations that are rarely met. This mismatch between expectations, demands, and reality can make overcoming chronic or disordered anxiety even harder than it already is. Let's take a look at how expectations and demands can get in the way of learning valuable acceptance and capability lessons that form the core of anx...

Transcribed - Published: 23 October 2024

Journaling can be a useful tool in anxiety recovery, but how do you ensure it works for you and not against you? This episode challenges traditional journaling methods, especially when grappling with chronic or disordered anxiety, by offering a fresh perspective on how to modify these practices to align with your recovery goals. Beware of falling into the trap of rumination and learn how to use journaling as a constructive tool that supports your healing journey. The discussion centers on fo...

Transcribed - Published: 9 October 2024

Can you transform your relationship with anxiety by letting go and dropping your resistance? Well, the most effective acceptance-based treatments for chronic and disordered anxiety are based on this exact principle. The concepts are simple and the theory is sound, yet most anxious people struggle with fully letting to and engaging in mindful acceptance of anxiety, fear, panic, uncertainty, and other difficult internal experiences. Of course they struggle! Choosing to fully allow the...

Transcribed - Published: 25 September 2024

Can skipping a daily calming ritual or delaying bedtime slightly really aid in anxiety recovery? Discover how these seemingly insignificant acts can accumulate into substantial progress on your journey to overcoming anxiety. This week on The Anxious Truth, we’re breaking down the concept of micro exposures—those small, yet powerful steps designed to help you face and manage your anxiety. By starting with these tiny, manageable experiments, you'll gradually learn to experience anxiety without ...

Transcribed - Published: 11 September 2024

Are you struggling to identify whether your behaviors are forms of avoidance in your anxiety recovery journey? This episode of The Anxious Truth addresses the often murky and uncertain nature of avoidance habits, emphasizing that nobody navigates these waters flawlessly. We'll share insights on how distinguishing between necessary avoidance for safety and avoidance driven by anxiety can help you better understand your reactions and improve your recovery process. This episode looks at key avo...

Transcribed - Published: 28 August 2024

Is it possible to conquer an anxiety disorder without doing exposure? Well ... there are plenty of non-exposure concepts and techniques that can really help. No doubt about that. But in the end, thinking and feeling is rarely if ever all we need to change beliefs in a way that really makes a difference. Behavior and experience are almost always a part of this puzzle in some way, which means that like it or not, there's gonna be some exposure involved in recovery in some way. Let's lo...

Transcribed - Published: 14 August 2024

The Internet is packed with anxiety and mental health advice, but not all of it is useful or helpful. Some of it can be harmful. This week I'm joined by Emma McAdam, the therapist behind the Therapy in a Nutshell YouTube channel, to dissect the often misleading and sometimes dangerous information circulating online about conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD, and bipolar disorder. Emma shares her professional expertise as a practicing therapist, helping us distinguish between cred...

Transcribed - Published: 31 July 2024

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/296 If 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, not necessarily. I’m not h...

Transcribed - Published: 17 July 2024