136:  Why Thinking Can't Heal Your Anxiety

What if worrying is just your mind’s way of trying to stop you from worrying?



In this episode, I pull apart the myth that positive thinking can cure anxiety. The alarm in the body and the worries in the mind feed each other in a loop that never ends. Childhood separation leaves a mark when you aren’t seen, heard, or protected, and that’s where the alarm takes root. Growing up with a father who had schizophrenia, I learned to escape into worry as my coping strategy. The real healing began when I turned toward the younger version of myself and felt what I’d spent years running from.

You’ll Learn:

• The reason changing your thoughts alone can’t heal chronic anxiety
• What happens when childhood separation creates an alarm that gets buried in the body
• The surprising link between being highly sensitive and carrying lifelong anxiety
• The damage of relying on worry as a coping strategy that turns into addiction
• Why the alarm–anxiety cycle keeps looping between body and mind
• What it feels like to abandon your younger self and the pain it creates
• How the brain’s insular cortex and amygdala drive the fight-or-flight loop
• Why worry is the mind’s attempt to stop you from worrying
• The path back to connection by feeling the alarm instead of escaping into thought
• How seeing, hearing, and defending your inner child becomes the foundation for healing

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction

[03:31] How unmet needs in childhood turn sensitivity into lifelong alarm

[04:04] How the alarm anxiety cycle traps us in worry

[09:32] The deeper separation between mind, body and inner child that fuels anxiety

[10:28] The neuroscience of how alarm in the body fuels anxiety in the mind

[13:50] Reconnecting with the inner child through feeling the body’s alarm

[19:13] Healing anxiety by feeling the body’s alarm and reconnecting with the inner child

Resources Mentioned:

Anxiety Rx by Russell Kennedy | Book or Audiobook

Find more from Russell:

Russell Kennedy | LinkedIn

Russell Kennedy | Facebook

The Anxiety MD | Website

The Anxiety MD | Instagram

The Anxiety MD | YouTube