All Episodes of Disordered

"When I am ill, my anxiety goes through the roof!" Does this sound familiar? Many people struggling with disordered anxiety will say that if they get sick or feel unwell (i.e. a cold, a sore throat, the flu, etc.) they …

"Spiraling" is one of the terms heard quite often in the community of people struggling with anxiety disorders. There's a trigger like a thought or a sensation, then in short order you feel completely out of control, being dr...

How important is the concept of attention in driving an anxiety disorder and influencing the recovery process? VERY important! This week on Disordered we're up to our usual hijinks but also we're digging into the idea that at...

The struggle in an anxiety disorder is seen in two almost automatic responses to anxiety - we either obey it and do what it tells us we must do, or we resist it by trying to fight it, argue with …

How can you tell if you're getting better? How do you measure or at least see progress when working on recovery from an anxiety disorder? What happens if you're "doing it anyway" but not seeing progress? This week on Disorder...

Do you have to give up coffee, tea, wine, pizza and cake to recover from an anxiety disorder? Well ... if you ask the Internet and consult general wellness influencers this question you're going to get answers that tend to …

This week on Disordered we're starting with the assertion that all anxiety disorders are obsessive and compulsive in at least some way. Then we make our way through all the "usual suspects" Panic disorder Health anxiety Socia...

This week Josh and Drew are answering questions from Disordered listeners. How to deal with the shame associated with anxiety and recovery when a partner or spouse isn't terribly supportive. How do re-gain confidence in onese...

This week Drew and Josh are talking about secondary fear. When triggered into an anxious state by thoughts, sensations, or anything else, we ALL experience a jolt of fear or discomfort. This is primary fear and its simply par...

Everyone that develops an anxiety disorder wants to know why that happened. Why do some people develop disorders while others are anxious and stressed all the time without ever developing a disorder issue? Excellent question,...

Anxious people in recovery from chronic or disordered anxiety can find themselves bored ... and this is often a problem. This week on Disordered we're talking about learning to be bored. Yes, we have to learn how to be bored,...

"I want to get back into dating but I'm still struggling with anxiety. What should I do?" "It's been going well with this new person and I'm afraid to tell them about my anxiety problem. Any tips?" "Do I need …

Your anxiety narrative is the way you conceptualize your anxiety issues alongside how you see yourself, the world, your life in general, and how you may think your anxiety disorder developed or was triggered. Your personal na...

Three things start and drive disordered states of anxiety: Shock, Attention, and Resistance Shock is what we experience when anxiety levels skyrocket for what seems like no reason. We experience scary and disturbing physical ...

Somatic Hyper Focus - That thing where an anxious person becomes hyper aware and hyper fixated on specific bodily sensations or bodily functions. This is a common issue seen in health anxiety, OCD, and panic disorder. This we...

What do you do when you're working on recovery from an anxiety disorder and your techniques stop working? How do you handle those hard days when you can't make it stop or go away? Well ... this is one reason …

This week Drew and Josh are looking at the social impacts of anxiety. What happens when panic attacks, anxiety waves, or a flood of scary intrusive thoughts happens in public or while in social situations or when interacting ...

Humans will often make the mistake of trying to apply our analytical and problem solving skills in areas where they do not belong. Anxious people - people struggling with anxiety disorders - do this all the time. Are you tryi...

Let's do an old-fashioned anxiety question and answer session! This week Josh and Drew are answering questions sent in by members of the Disordered podcast community. Listen in for answers to the following questions: Are we s...

Fight ... flight ... or freeze. But what about the fawn response? This week on Disordered, Drew and Josh explore the fawn response and people pleasing. While this may not be a response we see directly like we do with …

An anxious state can be at least partially fueled by the act of metacognition. That's thinking and feeling ... about thinking and feeling. When meta-beliefs tell us that thinking, rumination, worry, and mental problem solving...

Even when you understand that changing your reaction to anxious thoughts, feelings, and sensations is the way out ... you may feel that this is impossible because those thoughts, those sensations, and your reactions feel comp...

If you've ever listened to an episode of Disordered and felt the need to ask "Yes, but what about when ...?", then this episode is for you. A common struggle among people trying to overcome chronic and disordered anxiety is …

Summer has arrived in the US and the UK, so let's talk about anxiety based on the heat. Summertime is often a difficult time for people struggling with anxiety disorders because the seasonal change in temperature becomes an a...