The Panic Pod

Dental anxiety is a big topic of conversation among The Panic Pod and School of Anxiety community, and for understandable reasons. Today on the Panic Pod we are joined by guest expert, Dr Niall Neeson a.k.a The Calming Dentist. Niall has a wonderfully empathetic approach to supporting those of us with dental anxiety to navigate our experiences in the dentist's chair. Niall offers up some great tips and ways of communicating with your dentist in order to have the most comfortable experience possible. We discuss why dental anxiety is nothing to be ashamed of and that open communication between you and your dentist is the best way to ensure a calming experience. Your dentist wants this for you. You can find Niall on Instagram @thecalmingdentist. Enjoy this much needed conversation, we hope it makes your next trip to the dentist that much easier.

This week, we are joined by Dr Henrik Nordahl and Dr Lora Capobianco. Both guests today are experts in the field of metacognitive therapy. We often discuss a range of different modalities and treatments on the Panic Pod, yet metacognitive therapy is still a lesser-known form of therapy (especially in the UK). Metacognitive therapy (MCT) is a psychotherapy focused on modifying metacognitive beliefs that perpetuate states of worry, rumination, and attention fixation. In today's episode, we discuss what metacognitive therapy is, why it's useful and how it differs from other popular anxiety treatments such as CBT. If you have tried other popular modalities without success, you might find this episode enlightening. Please enjoy! If you have any questions, you can contact us here: info@theschoolofanxiety.com

Today we welcome a special guest, Seerut K. Chawla onto the podcast. Seerut is a fellow psychotherapist and self-confessed Lord of the Rings nerd. She has amassed a following of over 235,000 on Instagram for her straight-talking and IG-therapy busting content. Seerut works using an integrative model (which means incorporating different therapeutic styles) depending on the client and the circumstances. Her main modality is psychodynamic psychotherapy which is derivative of the psychoanalytic tradition. In this episode, we take a deep dive into the modern-day 'trauma trend' that has taken social media by storm. Unfortunately, the meaning of the word trauma is quickly becoming a diluted term and is often misused.  This is one of the most important discussions we have had on The Panic Pod. We explore what genuine trauma actually is, and precisely what it is not. We discuss the misuse of the trauma label in modern-day society and social media, and the consequences of the trauma trend. It may appear like a controversial conversation that we have today that very much goes against most of the content and advice we see across the internet at the moment, but this discussion is more necessary and relevant than ever. Please enjoy.

Today on the Panic Pod, Josh is joined by counsellor, Louise Tyler to talk about anxiety and sleep. It comes as no surprise that many of us who suffer from anxiety, also struggle with sleep. And in true anxiety style, before we know it we are not only having difficulty sleeping because of the original source of stress but because we are now ruminating on our lack of sleep. It's a tough cycle to break and a loop that is easily strengthened by the belief that a lack of sleep is dangerous and harmful to our health. But in this episode, Josh and Louise discuss an alternative perspective that is more helpful in allowing us to live happy and healthy lives regardless of the amount of sleep we manage each night. If you've ever heard experts out there hammering home the notion that a lack of sleep is the absolute worst thing imaginable where your health is concerned, this episode is for you. Advice like this may come from a well-intended place but, for anxiety sufferers in particular, it only adds pressure and panic to our nighttime routine - which ultimately results in less sleep and heightened stress and anxiety. We offer to you a fresh perspective and a different approach that will relieve the angst and pressure surrounding sleep so you can feel perfectly capable of functioning regardless of how many hours you get each night.

Joining Josh on the podcast today is Zohara Nguyen, one of the very first students to sign up to Josh's popular course - Stop Fearing Fear.  In today's episode, Zohara takes us through her own personal struggles with anxiety, what motivated her to join the program, and the incredible progress she has made in her anxiety recovery since completing the course. In this in-depth and delightful discussion, Zohara explains how her fear of panic was impacting her life. She explains how she has been able to implement the tools from the program to make huge positive changes in her life and make outstanding progress in her anxiety recovery journey. Zohara is a great example of how it is possible for all of us to live a life that is in our control. If you would like to join the program you can sign up here: www.courses.schoolofanxiety.com If you have any questions, pop us an email at info@theschoolofanxiety.com

**CORRECTION: The biggest killer of men under 50 is suicide and depression** Today, Josh is joined by one of his all-time favourite people, Drew Linsalata. Fearing emotions is the topic discussed in today's episode. One that may not fit so cleanly into the category of anxiety or panic but, during their time helping clients manage their anxiety disorders, both Josh and Drew have noticed an overlapping theme that's worth a mention. And that theme is the fear of our emotions. Or perhaps we should say, fearing emotions that we feel we 'shouldn't' be feeling. Being able to express and feel our emotions freely and without judgement is a crucial part of the anxiety recovery process and of course, life! Unfortunately, social conditioning has taught us that certain emotions are to be feared. We are taught that negative emotions are inherently 'bad' and 'unhelpful' which becomes an unhelpful perspective in and of itself. When we believe these things to be true, it's understandable that we may fear our emotions and wonder what they might mean about us. Today Josh and Drew debunk some myths and explain why we might fear our emotions, how that impacts our lives and what it means to express ourselves without judgement. If you enjoyed listening to The Panic Pod, please do leave a review and let us know your thoughts on Instagram @thepanicpod or by emailing us at info@theschoolofanxiety.com

Driving is a responsibility that should be taken seriously, but what happens when the heightened sense of alertness for driving becomes a tense white-knuckle ride while battling one's own fear? In this episode, Josh and Ella discuss driving anxiety in the context of both post-traumatic incident driving and generalised anxiety disorder (i.e the fear of having a panic attack while driving). When was the last time you heard of someone losing control driving while having a panic attack? Although the fear of this is common, in reality the chances of it happening are extremely low compared to those who get into accidents related to factors like increased speed, impairment from drugs/alcohol, or from fatigue. Getting back behind the wheel after a long time away can be unnerving, but using graded exposure and a good helping of self-compassion, it is possible to overcome the irrational anxious feelings around driving. Do you enjoy listening to The Panic Pod? Let us know by emailing talk@thepanicroom.co.uk, or by interacting with us on Facebook and Instagram as @thepanicpod.

Root causes of anxiety can be traumatic events that cause us to change our behaviour in response to triggers. A root cause may also be something very minor but calcified over time to seem much worse than the first “event” that set things off. However, the idea that anxiety always has a narrative such as this is overused, and doesn’t help people who just want to untangle and understand their anxiety disorder. Sometimes anxiety does have a root cause, but when it doesn’t – which Josh says is the vast majority of the time – the “root cause” narrative doesn’t actually help a clients’ progress. Using the analogy of a house fire as a panic episode, josh says “When a fire brigade is called, their aim is to put out a fire, and then maybe investigate how the fire started, but definitely not the other way around.” Do you enjoy listening to The Panic Pod? Let us know by emailing talk@thepanicroom.co.uk, or by interacting with us on Facebook and Instagram as @thepanicpod.

This episode is funny and empowering. Some of the subject matter can be shocking for people with emetophobia, but ultimately the goal is graduation from exposure, as Kimberley will explain. Emetophobia is a clinical term which describes an extreme fear around vomit or nausea. As Kimberley says, “nobody likes to vomit,” but this phobic behaviour can cause anxiety in people's lives which can present different behaviours. It can even stop someone from doing things they love for fear it might make them vomit or be around people who vomit. Even if this isn’t something you think you are affected by, have a listen to this episode and you might learn something new about anxiety through this interview with Kimberley Quinn. And check out her podcast! Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast  You can find her on instagram as @kimberleyquinlan Don’t forget to subscribe, and if you’re a regular listener, we thank you for considering leaving us a review! Or just tell us what you think on social media. We’re @thepanicpod on Instagram and Facebook.

Wondering about why we’re here, how planet Earth exists and how much of a miracle life is are normal thoughts for us to have from time to time. However, if you have existential anxiety, these thoughts can trigger an anxious response; sweaty palms, shallow breathing, tunnel vision, tinnitus, and other anxious behaviours. For people with conventional anxiety, leaning into hard feelings is easier. When you’re in the midst of an anxiety disorder, you have to have a different approach. Being confident in the ability to mindfully detach from anxiety isn’t always available for people with GAD (generalised anxiety disorder). You have to be confident ruminating on those thoughts and know it won’t lead to a panic attack. For some, the answer may be dismissing these intrusive thoughts with, “This is not the time to think about this. This is not the time to go down that hole.” Picking the time and place to have existential conversations can help to dive into heavy topics as an anxious person. Welcoming those thoughts in versus feeling them as intrusive thoughts are very different experiences. We hope this episode helps you understand existential anxiety more!  Reach out to us at talk@thepanicroom.co.uk Check out Josh's new book Untangle Your Anxiety. Follow us on instagram @thepanicpod