Kids, OCD, Anxiety, and Implications for Adult Recovery | EP 331
Send in a question or comment via text.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 other hand, build elaborate narratives about danger, responsibility, and catastrophic consequences. This difference isn't random—it reflects how our brains develop the capacity for abstract thinking and meaning-making as we mature. Children operate in the realm of concrete experience, while adults layer complex interpretations onto those same uncomfortable sensations and intrusive thoughts.This developmental perspective reveals something crucial about anxiety recovery: the core problem isn't the thoughts and sensations themselves, but the meaning-making machinery of the adult brain that treats every uncomfortable internal experience as significant and predictive. If children can learn to overcome OCD by tolerating discomfort without an attached narrative, what does that tell us about the stories we tell ourselves as adults?This episode isn't just for parents supporting anxious kids. If you're an adult struggling with OCD or anxiety and find yourself stuck because the perceived risk feels too real to challenge, this conversation may help you see your experience in a new light. The narrative feels compelling and true, but as Natasha and I discuss, that's just a function of how human brains develop—not evidence of actual danger.Natasha Daniels is a childhood anxiety and OCD therapist with two decades of experience and specialized training in treating pediatric anxiety disorders. Find Natasha here:https://atparentingcommunity.com/Find full show notes and more links to Natasha's work at https://theanxioustruth.com/331Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.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 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.
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When Life Naturally Makes You Anxious | EP 330
Send in a question or comment via text.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 talk about why not all anxiety is disordered anxiety, how anxiety disorders create a unique challenge when facing legitimate life stressors, and why there are no tricks or hacks to make these feelings instantly disappear.If you've ever found yourself struggling with big emotions during difficult life events and wondering how you're "supposed to" handle them, this episode may help you understand what's actually happening—and offer a more compassionate perspective on being human during challenging times.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/330Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.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 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.
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Anxious Parenting? Learning to do LESS with Joanna Hardis | EP 329
Send in a question or comment via text.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". Joanna brings training, experience, and insight into why anxious parenting makes us want to swoop in and fix everything our kids feel.We discuss:Why anxious parenting drives us to do MORE when we need to do LESSThe false binary many parents feel trapped in (super involved vs cold and callous)How to tell if you're reacting to your own distress or responding to the actual situationThe difference between danger and discomfort in anxious parentingPractical ways to build distress tolerance as a parentWhy anxious parenting patterns don't stop when kids get olderHow to practice "microdosing discomfort" to break anxious parenting cyclesIf you struggle with anxious parenting, whether you have toddlers, teenagers, or adult children, this conversation will give you a new framework for understanding why you do what you do and how to make different choices that serve both you and your kids better.ABOUT JOANNA HARDIS Joanna is an anxiety and OCD specialist practicing in Cleveland with extensive experience working with families and training in SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions). Find her at joannahardis.comRESOURCES Find show notes and links at theanxioustruth.com/329Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.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 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.
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Questions and Answers About Anxiety And Recovery | EP 328
Send in a question or comment via text.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 treating them as individual problems to solve actually keeps you stuck. We also tackle common questions about intrusive thoughts, including fears about insanity, self-harm, death, and never recovering.One of the biggest categories of questions revolves around control: How do I stop feeling this way? How do I quiet my mind? How do I prevent panic attacks? I explain the fundamental difference between acceptance-based approaches and control strategies, and why the frantic attempt to control your internal experiences is part of what creates the disordered state.I also address:The often-overlooked meta-emotions (frustration, despair, feeling like you've lost yourself)Whether lifestyle changes like diet and exercise help with anxiety recoveryHow to handle family dynamics and unsupportive relationshipsMorning anxiety and nocturnal panic attacksHow to actually learn from exposure experiences instead of wasting themThis episode clarifies why most common questions about anxiety point to the same answer: you don't need special instructions for your specific symptom or thought. Recovery is about building a new relationship with your own body and mind.Resources mentioned:Books by Dr. Sally Winston and Dr. Martin SeifDisordered podcast (Disordered.FM)The Anxious Truth website (theanxioustruth.com)Remember: Small changes and experiments add up over time. Any move in the right direction counts, no matter how small.For full show notes on this episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/328Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.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 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.
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How Anxiety Is Constructed In The Brain | Ep 327
Send in a question or comment via text.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. Barrett explains the theory of constructed emotions and how your brain uses predictive processing to create your internal experience of fear and anxiety.In this conversation, we explore:How anxiety is constructed in the brain through predictive processing, not reactive circuitsWhy your brain's primary job is managing your "body budget" and how this relates to anxietyThe difference between your experience being real versus the prediction being accurateHow your brain uses past experiences to construct categories and predict future threatsWhy anxiety disorders may involve predictions that are either too general or too specificWhat "practicing predicting differently" means and how it can help with anxiety recoveryDr. Barrett's personal experience using these principles to manage stage fright before her TED talkThe role of interoception in how your brain constructs anxietyWhy changing how anxiety is constructed in your brain is hard work that requires practiceThis conversation gets technical at times, but offers valuable insights into why anxiety feels so real and compelling, even when you're not actually in danger. Understanding how anxiety is constructed in the brain has important implications for how we approach recovery from panic disorder, agoraphobia, OCD, and other anxiety disorders.Resources mentioned:Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett's website: LisaFeldmanBarrett.comHow Emotions Are Made by Dr. Lisa Feldman BarrettDr. Barrett's TED Talk7 1/2 Lessons About The Brain by Dr Lisa Feldman BarrettFor Show Notes On This Episode:https://theanxioustruth.com/327Support The Anxious Truth: If you find the podcast helpful and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee. Other ways to support my work like buying a book or signing up for a low cost workshop can be found on my website. None of this is never required, but always appreciated! Interested in doing therapy with me? For more information on working with me directly to overcome your anxiety, follow this link.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 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.
About The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast
Struggling with panic attacks, agoraphobia, or other anxiety problems? The Anxious Truth will educate you, empower you, encourage you, and inspire you to get your life back! * Featured in the New York Times: "6 Podcasts to Soothe An Anxious Mind" (April 27, 2024)* Featured in Vogue Magazine: "The 15 Best Mental Health Podcasts Recommended by Therapists" (October 2023)Listen to the podcast, read the books, join the social media community, and get on the path to recovery.
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