That Anxiety Guy - Straight Talk And Help With Anxiety, Panic And Agoraphobia

Send in a question or comment via text.In this episode I finally discuss an issue so many people have been asking me to discuss for so long.  My experience with anxiety medications.  I used Paxil between 1996 and 2005. This is part 2 of a 3 part series detailing my experience.  My experience on Paxil for 9 years was not a good one overall. In retrospect, the medication did its job, but there was a price to pay for that. My experience with antidepressants and anxiety is mine. Yours may be different.  Please keep this in mind. For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/146 ----- My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/links Music Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://bendrakemusic.com) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to T

Send in a question or comment via text.In this episode I finally discuss an issue so many people have been asking me to discuss for so long.  My experience with anxiety medications.  I used Paxil between 1996 and 2005.  This is part 1 of a 3 part series detailing my experience.  Today I talk about my position on medications, why I chose to use medication in 1996, what my and what my initial experience was.My experience with antidepressants and anxiety is mine. Yours may be different.  Please keep this in mind.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/145-----My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious

Send in a question or comment via text.On this episode I was able to spend 30 minutes or so chatting with Joshua Fletcher.  Josh is a working therapist in the UK that runs a practice specializing in anxiety disorders.  Josh is also the host of The Panic Pod podcast.  We covered therapy issues, recovery in general, and we managed to tell a few joke along the way.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/144Thanks to Josh for taking the time to share his knowledge and perspective with us.Find Josh online here: Instagram - @anxietyjosh Podcast - The Panic Pod Josh's Amazon author page-----My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for

Send in a question or comment via text.We often talk about starting recovery by taking small steps, but did you know that those small steps can often be taken right inside your "safe zone"?  It's true!  Odds are your home base - your safe zone - is chock full of hidden avoidance and anxiety inducing gems that you can uncover and use to start building the foundation of your recovery.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/143My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is

Send in a question or comment via text.Donna grew up surrounded by discussion of cardiac health and blood pressure.  When she started experiencing panic attacks, and the blood pressure spikes that naturally come with them, her struggle with health anxiety and an obsession with her blood pressure was ignited. For full show notes on this episode, visit https://theanxioustruth.com/142Donna worked herself into a position where she was obsessed with her blood pressure.  She was continuously terrified and convinced that she was on the edge of a fatal blood pressure spike at all times. This obsession drove the compulsion to check and record her blood pressure many times each day.  To Donna, the compulsion to check her blood pressure was an attempt to soothe her fear and convince herself that she was safe, even when she was sure that she was not. She became a slave to the blood pressure monitor and was frozen by the irrational fear that she was in mortal danger at all timeIn the end, Donna not only conquered her heal

Send in a question or comment via text.In the field of anxiety disorders and the treatment of anxiety disorders, you will not find anyone with more street cred than Dr. Winston.  Dr. Sally Winston knows what she's talking about. Today I had the privilege of spending 25 minutes chatting with her about recovery, the obsessive need for certainty and comfort that drives many disorders, and why reassurance and soothing is decidedly NOT the way.For full show notes on this episode (you'll WANT to read these):https://theanxioustruth.com/141Find Dr. Winston at https://anxietyandstress.comMy books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The

Send in a question or comment via text.I am often asked an important question. "How do I learn to float and accept when one person makes me anxious?"  This question is asked by people that will often explain that they experience anxiety or even panic when in the presence of a specific person or group of people.  Often, there is a history of abuse, or there is ongoing abuse of varying types (mental, emotional, or even physical).  So the question I am really being asked is, "How can I float through being with someone that has harmed me or is harming me right now?"The answer is simple.  You are not required to accept and float through abuse.  Not now.  Not ever.  I am teaching you how to become non-reactive to irrational fear.  Fear that feels real, but has no basis in reality. This is why we learn to accept that fear and float through it.  This is why we surrender to it.  Because in doing so we learn that there is no real danger, and that we no longer have to be afraid.  When in an abusive r

Send in a question or comment via text.Building your own personal recovery from an anxiety disorder means using ALL the resources you have available to you.  In this podcast episode I talk about combining books, podcasts, social media streams, online support groups, hard work and professional help into a powerful recovery toolkit.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/139My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have q

Send in a question or comment via text.Today Dr. Bridget Cooper (Dr. B) and I talk about gender issues in mental health and anxiety recovery.  There are clearly differences between men and women and how we talk about mental health, think about mental health, and approach solving mental health problems like the anxiety disorders we're talking about all the time.The way we define our roles as men and women and the way we are socialized into those roles make a difference in the way men and women approach mental health and emotional issues.  Given that in the end we are all humans with the same emotional and mental health needs and problems, we would do well to learn lessons on how to break down some of the gender based issues that can hold us back in recovery.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/138Find Dr. B online at https://drbridgetcooper.comMy books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://fa

Send in a question or comment via text.Everyone loves a good anxiety success story and today we have one from our friend, and someone you hear all the time if you're a regular listener, Ben Drake. Ben spent his days for quite a long time just trying to endure anxiety and panic.  Bracing, fighting, and "white knuckling" his way through life as a working musician.  Things changed for the better when he learned a new way to approach his anxiety issues.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/135My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksTo find Ben Drake and his music: https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusicSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests o

Send in a question or comment via text.When you interact with the number anxiety disorders that I do, you have the opportunity to see patterns emerge in a crowd.  Over years of doing this thing I do, and interacting with the large number of people that I have, I can see that when it comes to recovery from an anxiety disorder, there are clear "stages" of recovery that most people progress through.  None of these are absolutely set in stone, but the odds are high that you will identify with one of these stages.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/134My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anx

Send in a question or comment via text.One of the more common bits of advice passed around for the last zillion years or so is ... "trust your gut".  Regardless of the the circumstance or problem to be solved, if you ask enough people for advice the odds are high that you will have someone ask you what your "gut" is telling you to do, or just telling you to "trust your gut".  Sometimes this is good advice.  Sometimes it is absolutely horrible advice.If you're working on solving the problem of an anxiety disorder, trusting your gut is exactly the opposite of what you should be doing.  Your gut, and your intuition, are steering you wrong on the daily so it's time to recognize this and clear up some confusion.For full show notes on this episode: https://theanxioustruth.com/133My books, podcast, and social media links: https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (https://facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Tru

Send in a question or comment via text.So, here’s some great news if you deal with emetophobia. Bet you didn’t think you’d ever hear that, did you? Well, Drew’s guest on this week’s episode is here to spread some great news, and her energy is absolutely infectious! Christia was emetophobic for decades, and she ran from any sort of incidents or fear of incidents so often...until she got tired of it and decided to make a change.Now, she is sharing her story to spread her hope to other people. As she tells it, she is 100% over it and has no fear of vomiting or being around someone who is. What is even cooler is that she didn’t need to know her triggering event; she could still use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) and other therapies to overcome the fear that was controlling her life.If emetophobia is ruining your life and if you see no way out, this episode is for you. You too can overcome emetophobia.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/132My books, podcast, social med

Send in a question or comment via text.When Faster Than Normal author and podcast host Peter Shankman was officially diagnosed with ADHD, he decided that it wasn't a liability, but rather a bit of a superpower.  Peter took action to maximize the things he's really good at, while outsourcing and minimizing the negative impacts of the things he's traditionally not been so good at.  This is a lesson on how to find the silver lining in a mental health issue!For full show notes on this episode visit theanxioustruth.com/131Find Peter, his podcast, and his book at https://fasterthannormal.comMy books and social media links: theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credits: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth

Send in a question or comment via text."I've been seeing my therapist for years and she never explained this the way you do!""How can it be that all the different counselors and doctors I've seen have never talked about my anxiety this way?""I've been through countless therapists over the years.  None of them explained this problem the way you do!"These are statements and questions I encounter on a regular basis from podcast listeners and members of my social media community.  If you've ever wondered why none of your doctors, therapists or counselors have ever talked about your anxiety problems the way I do, then this podcast episode is for you.For full show notes on this episode visit theanxioustruth.com/130My books and social media links: theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credits: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permissionsSupport The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me

Send in a question or comment via text.Kyrsty spent 12 years in her house, trapped by agoraphobia and panic.  That's all changing now. In this podcast episode Kyrsty shares with us how she's been taking the core concepts of recovery and putting them into practice on a daily basis.  Her progress thus far has been faster than she expected, and with a growing number of victories under her belt and an amazing recovery mindset, the sky is the limit!For full show notes on this episode, visit theanxioustruth.com/129My social media and other links: theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake (facebook.com/BenDrakeMusic) with permission.Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. This is never required, but always appreciated!Disclaimer: The Anxious Truth is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to The Anxious Truth does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the host or guests of t

Send in a question or comment via text.Ask yourself a question.  Is your anxiety your enemy, or is it your teacher?  Most of you are going to immediately tell me that you see anxiety as an enemy.  It lurks in the shadows, stalking you day and and day out, always ready to attack.  Your anxiety drives you to do things you do not want to do.  It drives you to eliminate and avoid parts of your life that desperately want back.  Anxiety is clearly your enemy, right?(For full show notes on this episode visit theanxioustruth.com/128)It is not.  Anxiety  - when dealing with the anxiety disorders I am always addressing - has never been your enemy regardless of how much you may hate and fear it.How do we learn once and for all to “believe” that we are safe even when afraid?  By allowing the fear and the anxiety themselves to be your teachers.  That’s right.  Anxiety and fear MUST be your teachers if you are to achieve true and lasting recovery.  We must be willing to face our anxiety and the associated fear, building a

Send in a question or comment via text.This is common misconception for many, and it's keeping some folks stuck!  When we talk about accepting anxiety as the path to recovery, and when we talk about surrendering to anxiety, we are not saying that you have to LIKE or LOVE your anxiety.  You do not.  If you've been struggling to find a way to like your anxiety because you think accepting and liking are the same thing, then this episode is for you.Of note is a discussion about people dealing with OCD and intrusive, obsessive, disturbing thoughts.  Acceptance in this case does NOT mean accepting that those thoughts are predictive of the future, will come true, or will represent who you are.  It can be scary for someone to accept intrusive thoughts for this reason, but accepting just means acknowledging that they are here and that fighting them has been fruitless.  Accepting is just a way of giving up the old ways of coping so that you can learn a new way that leads to freedom from the thing you hate - a

Send in a question or comment via text.Is your worst-case scenario being forced to sit quietly with your own thoughts and sensations?  Are you one of the many that declares that they are "OK" so long as they are up and about and occupied?  Learning to sit quietly with oneself is a challenge for many people, with or without anxiety.  For those recovering from an anxiety disorder, this presents a serious challenge, but a challenge that must be met on route to full recovery.(For full show notes on this episode visit https://theanxioustruth.com/126)It is well worth the time to solve this problem just like it is with all of your anxiety related problems.  First you learn that being quiet and still is NOT a catastrophe, then you learn how to use quiet/still time positively and productively.This is a hard thing to overcome and a hard thing to learn to do.  As always, you can do hard things.My social media or and other links:  https://theanxioustruth.com/linksMusic Credit: "Afterglow" by Ben Drake

Send in a question or comment via text.For many, having to undergo a surgical or major medical procedure is "worst nightmare" territory anxiety-wise.  There are quite a few fears at play here.  Fear of being out of control.  Fear of being away from safe places and people.  Fear of sedation and anesthesia.  Fear of complication or problems cause by the procedure in question.  It can add up to an almost tragic level of avoidance in some cases, even when surgery or other medical procedures are critical to one's well being.Today I was joined by practicing anesthesiologist Dr. Frank Catanzaro. Dr. Catanzaro has been practicing for over 25 years in the Rochester, New York area and has encountered all these fears in his patients.  Frank was kind enough to take some time to share his knowledge and experience with us.Takeaways:1. EVERYBODY has anxiety or nervousness going into surgery or other major medical procedures.  Anesthesiologists and other healthcare providers encounter this situation all the ti