Disordered: Anxiety Help

This week on Disordered, Josh and Drew discuss scary, unwanted, recurring, intrusive thoughts that can frighten us and trigger high levels of anxiety and discomfort. The guys talk about the many different themes that intrusive thoughts cover including thoughts about harm, sexuality and sexual orientation, relationships, health, death, and existential issues. While intrusive thoughts are usually associated with OCD, they are generally present for almost anyone that struggles with any anxiety disorder. This episode also examines the idea that "thoughts are just thoughts", which is true, but doesn't really accurately validate the intense anxiety and threat response that so many unwanted intrusive thoughts can trigger. Josh and Drew also discuss the idea that you cannot decide to not have thoughts, and that having disturbing or scary thoughts does not mean you are broken or a horrible person, even when the thoughts themselves are telling you that. ----- Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

This week on Disordered, Josh and Drew talk about the all-important attitude shift that has to happen as part of recovery from an anxiety disorder. Recovery is spearheaded by behavioral change but that behavioral change also has to foster an attitudinal shift that moves you from trying to eliminate your anxiety to a consistent intentional tolerance of discomfort that will teach you that you can handle anxiety and don't have to fear it any longer. That's a key step toward decreasing your anxiety levels over time and a shift in attitude is important in this respect. You'll also hear both Josh and Drew have realizations about the missing attitudinal shift that kept both of them stuck in the early stages of recovery. The guys both come to the conclusion that the "relapses" they experienced were based primarily on relying on technique without allowing that important shift in attitude. If you're feeling like you're constantly being pulled back to "square one" this might resonate with you. ----- Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

In this episode of Disordered, Josh and Drew discuss why recovery is so dependent on learning that when you handle anxiety, fear, and uncertainty, YOU GET THE CREDIT FOR DOING THAT. Recovery hinges on seeing, then dropping all the safety devices and rituals so you can see through actual experience that YOU handled the discomfort without needing anything or anyone to save you. The guys talk about the idea of unconditional OK-ness, and learning that in all the time that you've been searching for tools and techniques and methods for managing your anxiety, it's always just been you getting the job done. All those other things deserve no credit because in the end, you are all you need and you are capable even without all the magic things that you think protect you. ----- Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

This week on Disordered, Drew and Josh look at the relationship between body and mind when it comes to anxiety. Anxiety is absolutely something that one experiences physically, in the body, but the guys discuss how disordered states of anxiety are driven by interpretation and cognition. Highlights include a chat about how so many people experience things like scary thoughts and panic attacks without ever developing anxiety disorders, and an examination of how its the reaction to those experiences drive the disordered state. ----- Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

WHAT SHOULD I SAY DURING A PANIC ATTACK? "What is the best thing for me to say to myself during a panic attack?" This week on Disordered, Josh and Drew talk about strategies for self-talk, framing statements, action prompts, and non-compulsive ways to talk to yourself during a panic attack or high anxiety spike. The guys spend some time addressing the myth that one needs to be "talked down" from a panic attack and also cover how these concepts can be useful when supporting a friend or loved one that's experiencing panic or high anxiety. Remember that you're supposed to be scared during a panic attack - that's just the mechanism working as designed. Don't judge yourself harshly or negatively for that, and steer clear of trying to find magic words or phrases that will make it go away. That's more harmful than helpful in the long run. ----- Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

IT SURE FEELS LIKE AN ATTACK ... BUT IS IT? This week on Disordered Drew and Josh deconstruct the idea of a panic attack. It sure feels like you're being attacked, but are you? Is there a more useful and accurate way to frame what's happening? Do we find power when we stop looking at panic as a force that swoops in to attack us? The guys chat about how a panic "attack" is really an adrenaline surge based on natural, expected, bodily functions. It's not dangerous and not indicative of an actual problem, just a misguided threat detection system in your brain. The conversation goes through why panic attacks are all the same from a physiology perspective and how its the context and the interpretation that makes them feel different or sometimes "worse". This can be a really useful reframe for anyone struggling to overcome recurring panic attacks or panic disorder so grab a beverage and a comfortable chair and have a listen. Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and the Disordered podcast? Visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

The Symptoms of Anxiety Anxious people often get completely fixated and consumed by the physical, mental, and emotional symptoms and sensations that come along with anxiety. It's natural to want to talk about them all the time and to keep asking "if anyone else gets" the symptom you are experiencing that scares you at the moment. This week on Disordered, Josh and Drew discuss anxiety symptoms, explaining that they are scary and uncomfortable, but not dangerous and not something to be avoided. The guys, as usual, share their own experiences with scary and disruptive anxiety symptoms and they even end the episode with a little friendly rapid-fire competition to see who can name the most symptoms. Spoiler alert ... that segment comes complete with cheesy video game background music. For more information about Josh, Drew and the Disordered podcast, visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

This week on Disordered Drew and Josh walk you through the biological threat response and how it drives states of disordered anxiety.  The guys cover the following important concepts that all anxiety sufferers should understand as part of the recovery process: Anxiety is normal and needed in life. All humans experience anxiety. The threat response system in your brain was designed to keep you alive at all costs. It served - and still serves - an important purpose. Disordered anxiety states are generally driven by an over-sensitive threat response that fires and sounds alarms when it doesn’t have to - there is no danger. Recovery is essentially about re-modulating that overactive threat response to bring it back into a healthy, normal state. You can’t talk to the part of your brain in charge of the threat response.  It doesn’t understand words.  Only behavior and experience. You have to SHOW your brain that you are safe, even when it is convinced that you are not. It is a common mistake to interpret the sensations and experiences of the threat response as a sign that something is broken or wrong.  You are not broken and nothing is wrong that needs to be fixed. Josh and Drew both shared some of their own experiences with respect to how they interacted with the threat response to turn it down over time while they were both working on recovery from anxiety disorders.  They did not heal their threat responses … they were teaching them. As always, the guys answer questions from the community and share a few wins and success stories from listeners.  Always inspiring! Bonus content: Strudel and Copper both chime in today.  Clearly, even dogs have opinions about the threat response and anxiety. For more information about Josh, Drew and the Disordered podcast, visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Join Josh and Drew as they share their own experiences of anxiety recovery and what it means to get better when you're struggling with an anxiety disorder. Common themes in this episode include: Eliminating avoidance Choosing to willfully tolerate anxiety and the sensations/thoughts that come with it Learning that you are capable of handling how you feel - even when highly anxious Defining what it means to "get better" from an anxiety disorder The guys also share listener victories and answer a question or two from the audience. For more information about Josh, Drew and the Disordered podcast, visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.

Drew and Josh take a whistle-stop tour of some of the most common forms of anxiety disorder. The guys take time to explain the difference between regular anxiety that all humans experience, and disordered anxiety which becomes a major life-impacting mental health issue. In this episode Josh and Drew talk about: Panic Disorder Generalized Anxiety Disorder Agoraphobia/Monophobia OCD Health Anxiety Social Anxiety This episode also answers the question, "Is it normal to be afraid when thinking about or planning anxiety recovery?" For more on Drew, Josh, and the Disordered podcast, visit us on the web at https://disordered.fm ---- Disclaimer: Disordered is not therapy or a replacement for therapy. Listening to Disordered does not create a therapeutic relationship between you and the hosts of the podcast. Information here is provided for psychoeducational purposes. As always, when you have questions about your own well-being, please consult your mental health and/or medical care providers. If you are having a mental health crisis, always reach out immediately for in-person help.