{"id":151301,"date":"2023-09-05T10:59:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T14:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/?p=151301"},"modified":"2023-09-04T22:20:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T02:20:52","slug":"anxiety-and-anxiety-recovery-frequently-asked-questions-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/151301","title":{"rendered":"Anxiety And Anxiety Recovery – Frequently Asked Questions \/ Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Anxiety And Anxiety Recovery - Frequently Asked Questions \/ Part 1\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-NXNTco1_KE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDrew Linsalata: This week on the\r\nanxious truth, we’re finally going to do a Frequently Asked\r\nQuestions episode. Actually, we’re going to do two of them.\r\nThis is the first one. So let’s go Hello, everybody. Welcome back\r\nto the anxious truth. This is podcast episode number 216.\r\nRecorded in July of 2022. The Anxious Truth is the podcast\r\nthat covers all things anxiety, anxiety, disorders, and recovery.\r\nI am Drew Linsalata, creator and host of the anxious truth, I am\r\nhappy that you’re here. Before we get cooking on part one of\r\nour Frequently Asked Questions episodes, I would like to remind\r\nyou that the anxious truth is more than just this podcast\r\nepisode, there are hundreds of other free episodes. There’s a\r\nton of free social media content, there’s a large,\r\nengaged vibrant social media community around this podcast\r\nand around the work that I do. There are three currently three\r\nself-help books that I’ve written about anxiety and\r\nanxiety recovery that are legitimately helping tens of\r\n1000s of people around the world right now.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThere’s also a free\r\nmorning newsletter called the anxious morning, all of those\r\nthings can be found all the time on my website, at the anxious\r\ntruth.com. So go check that out, and avail yourself of the free\r\nresources. And I will ask you that if you are enjoying my\r\nwork, you’re enjoying this podcast, and I’m helping you in\r\nsome way. And you would like to find a way to help keep it free\r\nof advertising and sponsorships. Because frankly, I’m tired of\r\nturning down money from the anxiety bracelet people, you can\r\nfind all the ways to support my work at the anxious\r\ntruth.com\/support. Never required, always appreciated.\r\nAnd yeah, I just appreciate you guys no matter what you do. So\r\nhere we are in Episode 216. Really, and truly, I should have\r\ndone this episode a couple of years ago, I’ve waited way too\r\nlong to do frequently asked questions.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThese are the\r\nquestions that get asked again and again and again. So I\r\ncompiled a bunch of them myself. And then I also asked for help\r\nfrom some of my favorite people in the world, the admins and\r\nmoderators in my Facebook group. Like what are the questions that\r\nwe hear all the time in the group, that group is approaching\r\n10,000 people, it’s very busy. And so we get these questions\r\nall the time. So in the eight years that I’ve been doing this\r\npodcast, these are the questions that I get asked again and again\r\nand again. So the reason why I’m doing this episode, and then\r\nnext week, episode 217 will be part two of the frequently asked\r\nquestions so that we can put them all in one place. And you\r\ncould just pop on over to these two podcast episodes, or the\r\ncorresponding YouTube videos on my YouTube channel. And just get\r\nthose answers if you need them. It’ll just be an easy place for\r\nus to point people.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nHey, here are the top 20 questions that we get\r\nasked Oh, listen to this. So let’s get into it. The first\r\nquestion that I’m going to cover, and I’m going to do these\r\npretty quickly, I guess because I don’t want this to be a really\r\nlong episode. I get asked all the time am I drew. Are you\r\nfully recovered? Or do you experience anxiety or panic\r\nattacks anymore? And the answer to that is Hell yeah. I am 100%\r\ntotally completely recovered. I do not have any anxiety\r\ndisorders anymore. I am completely confident in saying\r\nthat that is no lie. Now, does that mean that I never\r\nexperienced anxiety or panic? Now it doesn’t mean that at all.\r\nOne of the things that you will learn if you’re just getting\r\nfamiliar with this work is that that is not what recovery looks\r\nlike, I will tell you that I can have an anxious day down on them\r\nbecause I can experience stress and sometimes stress is anxiety\r\nfor normal healthy human beings.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo yeah, sometimes I feel\r\nanxiety. But all human beings experience anxiety, sometimes.\r\nI’m just not afraid of it anymore. And that’s the\r\ndifference between anxiety and anxiety disorder. Can I have\r\npanic attacks? Sure, I might have a couple of panic attacks a\r\nyear. Now. It’s been a long time since I had one the last time\r\nwas probably eight months maybe ago. I tried to document the\r\naftermath of that on my Instagram account. If you follow\r\nme over there. It’s a highlight of my stories. But yeah, I could\r\nI could have a panic attack today. It’s possible. I just\r\ndon’t care if I do or I don’t. I mean, I prefer not to because\r\nit’s disruptive. But how do I know that I’m completely and\r\nutterly recovered and that I do not have an anxiety disorder\r\nanymore, that I don’t care? I just do not care whether I panic\r\nor don’t panic, and I don’t care whether I’m anxious or not.\r\nBecause anxiety now occupies a regular normal, healthy space\r\nin my life. So that’s the difference between anxiety and\r\nanxiety disorders.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI do not have an anxiety disorder. I’m no\r\nlonger afraid of what I think and how I feel. Nor am I worried\r\nthat I might be anxious or panicky tomorrow, because even\r\nif I were to panic right after I finished recording this podcast,\r\nit will start it will peak it will and the whole thing will be\r\nover in about 10 minutes. I’ll feel shaky for another half hour\r\nor 45 minutes and I’ll get on with my life.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd that’s\r\nrecovery. And that is me I am fully recovered 100% I’m not\r\nlying, I swear to God. So the next question that I get asked\r\nis full recovery actually possible? And while I just kind\r\nof answered that, so yes, I am 100% fully recovered if you\r\nparaded me in front of one hundred therapists and toll and ask them\r\nto assess me and diagnose me. I am I’m completely confident I\r\nwould bet you every physical asset I have in the world that\r\n100% of them would find out the diagnosis to be had. But it’s\r\nnot just me, right? So, I don’t want to say that well, because\r\nIf I’m recovered, then that means everybody can recover.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI just\r\nhave seen too many people, hundreds of 1000s of people over\r\nthe years that I’ve been privileged to interact with you\r\nguys have also reached a state of complete and full\r\nrecovery, and will tell you the same thing that I just told you.\r\nSometimes they get anxious, they might panic now and then they\r\nmight have intrusive thoughts. And then they might\r\nexperience anxiety sensations now and then, but they are 100%\r\nfully recovered from their anxiety disorder. So yes, I\r\npromise I would not spend the time that I do on this if I did\r\nnot fully believe and see evidence every day and a large\r\npopulation of people that full recovery is, in fact possible.\r\nIt is. It’s possible I see them every day. If you’re in my\r\nFacebook group, you see them every day, too. You just might\r\nnot notice that. Or you might be skewed and thinking, Well, this\r\nperson had a panic attack, I have been told I’ll use my own\r\npersonal experience.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI’ve been told by people online that\r\nbecause I had a panic attack eight months ago I’m lying,\r\nand I’m not recovered. What’s the point if you still can have\r\na panic attack, and they’re missing the whole thing? And\r\nthey can have that opinion if they want. That’s okay, we won’t\r\nsee eye to eye. But sometimes the fact that you’re so\r\ndesperate to never panic again, you’re so desperate to feel\r\nbetter, you’ll discount what recovery actually looks like,\r\nright now.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI get that that’s okay, you’re getting there. As\r\nyou work it down the road. As you get better with the process,\r\nyou’ll start to understand what it really means. And you’ll see\r\noh, yeah, people really do recover, and I can be one of\r\nthem. So I promise full recovery is only possible I see it every\r\nday. And just about every therapist that you can find in\r\nthe world that specializes in treating anxiety disorders will\r\ntell you that Oh, sure.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt’s fully possible. Some people with\r\nOCD will say well, you can never cure OCD. But you can live\r\nwithout it crippling you and controlling your life. And\r\nthat’s what sometimes gets debated. Because just like with\r\nanxiety, you may have thoughts, you may have intrusive thoughts\r\nnow. And then they may pop up, especially when you’re stressed.\r\nBut even then even people that say, well, it’s there’s no cure\r\nfor that will tell you, but you don’t have to be crippled by it\r\nanymore.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd that’s recovery. So that’s question number two.\r\nQuestion number three, Excuse me, this is a bit of a loaded\r\nquestion. And you guys know that it’s something that I don’t\r\nspend a whole lot of time talking about. But I have to\r\naddress it because it comes up all the time every day. And\r\nquestion number three is, can I recover without medication? So I\r\nwill if you aren’t really interested, I did a three-part\r\nseries in this podcast about a year and a half ago, I don’t\r\nremember which episodes those are if you just go to the\r\nanxious truth.com and use the search tool and search for\r\nantidepressant or SSRI you’ll see those three episodes. I told\r\nthe whole story. Can I recover without medication? Yeah, yeah.\r\nNow, let me preface this by saying that if you believe that\r\nyou are better off on medication, and you think that\r\nyou should just take that for the rest of your life, I am\r\nstill going to 100% support you as one human being to another, I\r\ncompletely respect your ability to make a decision that you\r\nthink is best for you.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n100%. So I’m going to say that it is\r\npossible to recover without medication. But please do not\r\ntell me that I met shaming everybody, or anybody, you may\r\nchoose to take medication. And that’s a perfectly valid choice.\r\nWhat I’m saying right now, doesn’t make that doesn’t make\r\nwhat I’m saying is untrue. And it doesn’t mean that I’m\r\ninvalidating your path. But I get asked, Is it possible to\r\nrecover without medication? And the truth of that is, is that I\r\nhave besides me again, hundreds and 1000s of people that I’ve\r\nseen do it. So, what am I supposed to say?\r\nThe answer is yes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nYes, it’s there. The evidence is right\r\nthere. I’m evidence, as are these hundreds and 1000s of\r\npeople that I see all the time. Again, if you were in my\r\nFacebook group, you know, people that have recovered without\r\nmedication, you know, people who were on medication did the work\r\nof tapering off. Sometimes it was pretty fast. Sometimes it\r\nwas a struggle. But yeah, you can people do recover without\r\nmedication. So if you are taking meds now and you’re hoping one\r\nday to not I get you because that was me, that used to be me.\r\nYes, you can come off it. Sometimes it’s difficult, that’s\r\nfor sure. But is it possible to come off your medication and\r\nfully recover? It is possible. So, the answer to that question is,\r\ncan I recover without medication as I did, and many, many people\r\ndo, but your circumstance is yours and you get to make the\r\ndecision that you think is right for you.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd everybody should\r\nrespect that. All right, so that’s all I’m going to say about\r\nmedication. Please don’t ask me and tell me that I’m med-shaming\r\nanybody. I’m not excuse me. If you want to take medication, and\r\nyou think it’s best for you to go for it. Don’t let anybody knock\r\nyou down for that including me. So that fourth question is not\r\nreally a question. It’s more of a statement and this is a thing\r\nthat people will kind of not throw at me.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThey’re not being\r\nmean. I understand. And that is this statement. You know, that’s\r\neasier said than done. Drew, I, and I understand it totally is\r\nit completely. This is all easier said than done. But I\r\nwill weighed down that I never talked\r\nabout it being easy. In fact, I talked about how hard it is all\r\nthe time, every single day, I will validate that this is very\r\ndifficult. The recovery plan that I’m always talking about,\r\nand I’m not the only one, I didn’t invent this, remember, I\r\ndid not invent any of this. I just seem to be good at relaying\r\nit to people and explaining it. To me, I guess. But I didn’t\r\ninvent this. But nobody who’s in the business of treating anxiety\r\ndisorders or being an advocate, whatever it is, and talks about\r\nthe things that I talked about, and believes in this approach,\r\nnobody will tell you that it’s easy. So if anybody comes at\r\nyou, and tells you that, you know, they have a fast way for\r\nyou to cure your panic disorder, or your agoraphobia, or your\r\nOCD, or your health anxiety, run because there really aren’t\r\nreally easy ways to do this.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThis is hard. The plan and the\r\nconcept are simple. But the execution is hard. It is hard.\r\nAnd I’ve done a podcast episode about that. Now, if you go to\r\nthe anxious truth.com\/ 216, in the show notes of this episode,\r\non my website, I will link the episodes that I’m referencing\r\nhere, I did an episode entirely dedicated to that. Like, why is\r\nrecovery so hard? Well, there’s a bunch of reasons why it’s\r\nhard. First and foremost you have to be brave, you have to\r\nface your fear.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt’s counterintuitive. It’s the\r\nopposite of what you want to do. You’re running toward\r\ndiscomfort. Nobody wants to do that. So when you tell me,\r\nthat’s easier said than done, my answer to you is correct. That\r\nis correct. I never promised you easy. I never talked about easy.\r\nI talked about it being hard all the time. This is easier said\r\nthan done. It’s a simple plan, it’s really hard to execute for\r\na variety of reasons. Right? So that’s not question four. It’s\r\nstatement four. How’s that? So number five, in the hit parade\r\nhere, and our frequently asked questions in this episode is,\r\nhow can I be sure that this really is just anxiety? This is\r\ndefinitely a tough live question. I hear it all the\r\ntime. But how can I be sure that it’s just anxiety?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo let me put\r\nthis into context. If you are a typical sufferer of things like\r\npanic attacks or agoraphobia, health, anxiety, whatever it\r\nhappens to be, if you’re typical, and you kind of follow the\r\npatterns that most of us follow that I follow that many, many\r\npeople follow, you have been checked out again, and again.\r\nAnd again, maybe you’ve been to the ER or the A&amp;E, like you\r\nGuys call it in the UK.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nMaybe you’ve been to the emergency\r\nroom in the hospital again, and again, and again, maybe you’ve\r\nbeen to 16 general practitioners and a bunch of specialists and\r\nyou keep asking for different tests. And you always need to\r\nWell, what about this, let’s go to this symptom. You know, I bet\r\nyou check that out. So the context that I’m talking about\r\nright here is that you have gone through all of that. You\r\nhave been told by a team of medical\r\nprofessionals that there is nothing wrong with you right\r\nnow.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThis is anxiety. So that’s the question that I’m answering,\r\nright? So it’s okay to get yourself checked out. Everybody\r\ndoes it. When new things come up in your body, it’s okay to check\r\nthem out. There’s no crime in that. There’s nothing wrong with\r\nthat. But once you have been checked out and given that\r\nmedical clearance, how can I be sure that it’s really just\r\nanxiety? The doctor keeps telling me that everybody keeps\r\ntelling me that drew. How can, I be sure? The answer to that\r\nquestion? This is a sucky one. And I did an episode on this\r\ntoo.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo I’ll link that in the show notes of this one. The\r\nanswer is you can’t ever be sure. That’s true. You cannot\r\never be 100% certain, but you don’t need to be right. So\r\npeople who are not suffering in the grips of disordered anxiety\r\nand the irrational fear that comes with that. And the\r\ndistortions of magnifications. Understand that they are not\r\nliving in certainty either. They’re just willing to be\r\ncertain enough. I did a podcast episode with Sally\r\nWinston, where she talked about, that she and Marty Self\r\nwrote a book called Needed to Know for Sure, which is a great,\r\ngreat book that I highly recommend. And she talked about\r\nbeing short enough, like air quotes, normal people, and I\r\nknow you can’t see me because no video in this episode, but so-called\u00a0normal people are short enough.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nPeople with disordered\r\nanxiety can never be sure enough. But the reality of this\r\nis part of the recovery process is that you are learning\r\nhow to be short enough. And in the episode that I did\r\ntitled How can I be sure this is really anxiety, I went into a\r\nthing that I call life math, and I talked about this, and the\r\ndistortions and magnifications that really overblow the\r\nrisk in your mind right now. But as you go down the road and you\r\nbecome more and more recovered and a little bit closer to\r\nto so-called normal that life math goes back to a normal state\r\nThe risk is no longer overblown and you learn to be sure enough\r\nagain. And trust me, that is a state that is perfectly okay.\r\nThat’s the normal human state. How can I be sure that if I have\r\npain in my chest after a stressful day it’s not a\r\nheart attack? I can’t be 100% Sure I can’t. But I don’t have\r\nto immediately assume that it is a heart attack and go into\r\nimmediate emergency mode.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo that’s the answer to that\r\nquestion. How can I be sure you can’t ever be 100% sure of\r\nalmost anything in life, but you can learn to be short enough? And you\r\ncan learn when anxiety goes back to a healthy position in your\r\nlife, to navigate that uncertainty more productively\r\nand more effectively so that you know, now it’s time to call for\r\nhelp. It’s time to go see a doctor, you’ll know. Believe me,\r\nI know. Now, back then I had no idea. I thought it was always\r\ntime to see a doctor. And I’m sure you do too, right now. And\r\nit seems super scary to not see that doctor, but you’ll get\r\nthere. So let’s move on to Question six. Where are we 15\r\nminutes? How can I be brave and face the anxiety without\r\nrunning? Look, this is at the core of everything that I talked\r\nabout right is about going toward the anxiety or allowing\r\nit without resistance. I use the term surrender. Josh Fletcher\r\ntalks about willful tolerance, Claire Weeks talks about\r\nacceptance and floating. So, we are allowing this scary stuff,\r\nthe scary sensations, the disturbing thoughts, the OMG\r\nthoughts, the catastrophic guts, we’re allowing all of that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd\r\nWe’re facing it and allowing it to reach its peak so that it\r\ncomes back down naturally. And we can learn I can navigate\r\nthrough this. I don’t have to run from it. But that requires\r\ncourage. Because I’m going to do a podcast episode on this shortly\r\nI would dedicate an episode to the fact that you will be\r\nafraid. Yeah, yeah, you’re going to be afraid you’re going to be\r\nuncomfortable, you’re going to be vulnerable and unsure and\r\nuncertain. And those are really tough things to just deal with\r\nto just sit in and allow. And people will ask me all the time,\r\nbut how can I be brave? And do that? And the answer to that is,\r\nI can’t tell you how to be brave. And a lot of times it\r\ndoesn’t. And I’ve done episodes on this to bravery. I’ve written\r\nmy morning newsletter, the anxious morning, and did a whole\r\nseries on bravery.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nHow can I be brave and face anxiety without\r\nrunning? There are no lessons on how to be brave. Just gain an\r\nunderstanding that being brave doesn’t mean you’re not afraid. Brave\r\nmeans that you are in fact afraid. But you’re doing\r\nthe thing that you have to do anyway. So, my best tip for\r\nhow to be brave is to first start with an understanding that\r\nbrave means that you’re afraid and if you take a leap of faith\r\nthat you can you’ll be okay. Even if you’re afraid. That’s\r\nwhat bravery is. So, a lot of people are convinced that like,\r\nWell, I’m not brave, because I’m still really afraid. Yeah,\r\nyou’re going to be afraid bravery doesn’t mean not being\r\nafraid.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt means being afraid and doing it anyway. And before\r\nI move on from this question, I need to clarify that this is not\r\nI mean, yeah, there’s that old I don’t even know where comes from\r\nmaybe it was a book self-help book. Feel the fear and do it\r\nanyway. Okay. Yeah, kind of like that’s a gross\r\noversimplification. Do it anyway. Okay, a little bit of an\r\noversimplification simplification. Just do it. You\r\nknow, like the Nike slogan, do not ever let anybody tell you\r\nthat my message or the message of anybody that sounds like me\r\nis just do it. That Frost’s me that grinds my gears in\r\na big way. Recovery is not just doing it; nobody is telling you to\r\nsuck it up. No one’s telling you to just do it. This isn’t a\r\nbadass, hardcore character, proof of character, or strength\r\nthing. This is hard. Being brave is hard.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd it’s nuanced. And\r\nYou’d be braver on Tuesday than you are on Wednesday. And then\r\nMaybe you’ll be brave again on Sunday. You don’t know it waxes\r\nand wanes. So just allow all that, like, do the best you can.\r\nSometimes bravery is very imperfect. Most of the time.\r\nIt’s imperfect. That’s okay. But none of this just boils down to\r\nsilly stuff, like just do it. Hate that don’t like that very\r\ninvalidating.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nOkay, so the next question, this is a big one. And\r\nthis is also a sensitive topic. Don’t I need to find the\r\nroot cause of my panic attacks to get better? Sometimes the\r\nword healing don’t I have to heal to stop my panic attacks?\r\nWell, here’s the deal. When you are now afraid of the panic\r\nitself, and I’ve talked about this, I’ve talked about this. In\r\nsome of my earliest episodes, anxiety is physical Anxiety\r\ndisorders are cognitive. I’ve explained how these things come\r\nto be and the evolution of what an anxiety disorder looks\r\nlike. But the crux of the matter here is, don’t I need to find the\r\nroot cause. Don’t I have to heal my pain? Or my suffering in\r\norder to stop my panic attacks? The answer is maybe. But if you\r\nare now primarily concerned with the fact that you are anxious,\r\nthen you have a different problem. So you may just have\r\nthat problem in my life. That’s the only problem I’ve ever\r\nfound. For whatever reason, I started to have panic attacks. I\r\ndon’t know why I may never know why.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBut guess what, I fully\r\nrecovered without ever finding out why. And I may never know\r\none day I may know, I don’t know. But once I was only afraid\r\nof the next attack, once I became afraid of my own\r\nheartbeat, my own thoughts, my own emotions, my own lungs, me\r\nown legs. Once I became afraid of the state of being anxious\r\nitself, then if there was some sort of root cause or pain\r\ntrigger, it didn’t matter anymore. So the litmus test here\r\nis, what am I afraid of? Right so if you walk out of your\r\nhouse, and you experience panic because you have been assaulted,\r\nand you are you feel unsafe because have the memories of that\r\nassault, then yeah, then that’s a root cause thing for\r\nsure.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.pexels.com\/photos\/6951522\/pexels-photo-6951522.jpeg?auto=compress&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;h=650&amp;w=940\" \/>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI would never ever invalidate that. It’s true. But\r\nif you started that way, and are now just afraid that well, if I\r\nwalk into the house, and then I don’t like how I feel, that has\r\nbecome the primary fear. Well, now you have two problems, you\r\nhave to work on the disorder and anxiety part. And then maybe\r\nThere’s some healing, some trauma work to do. Yeah, that\r\ncould be more than one thing can be true at one time. So, when I\r\nsay that you do not need to find the root cause of your panic\r\nattacks or anxiety to get better. I’m talking about a\r\nsituation where you have learned to be afraid of your own body\r\nand thoughts. Right. So, in that situation, the root cause kind\r\nof doesn’t matter anymore.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt still might be there. And one\r\nday, you may do that work, maybe you’ll do that work\r\nsimultaneously, as you’re doing the anxiety disorder, recovery\r\nwork could be people do that. But to stand on your feet\r\nagain, and no longer be afraid of your own heartbeat, which is\r\nthe thing I use all the time. No, you don’t need to find a\r\nroot cause.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWhatever that root cause is, did not make\r\nyou are afraid of your own heartbeat. It may have been the\r\ntrigger that caused your heart to beat faster, and those first\r\nwaves of anxiety as far as panic attacks. But now you’re afraid\r\nof your heart itself. So the root cause is on the back burner\r\nnow, sorry, it is. And the beauty of some of this\r\nprocess is many, many people in our community come to this\r\nprocess and figuratively, metaphorically, they’re on fire,\r\nthey’re burning, they’re burning, I can’t get out of my\r\nown bed, I can’t leave my bedroom, I cannot even walk to\r\nthe other side of the house. without panicking. I have to sit\r\nin the dark all day. I’m super sensitized. I can do nothing I\r\njust panic, panic, panic all day long.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI’m anxious, anxious,\r\nanxious, the thoughts, the thoughts, the thoughts. And they\r\nstopped digging for root causes, they started doing this kind of\r\nwork, and they put the fire out. And then they discover like,\r\nOkay, I’m back to a state where now maybe I could do some of\r\nthat root cause work. I see that every single day. And for those\r\npeople, they have very difficult but sometimes very rewarding\r\njourneys and experiences. But digging for a root cause because\r\neverybody just assumes that panic is caused by some sort of\r\nunhealed pain is really a very damaging narrative in the\r\nanxiety disorder community. So no, you don’t need that. And I\r\nwill tell you right now, if you’ve been working with\r\nanybody, whether they just be supportive friends, family\r\nmembers, or a therapist that has been digging for your root cause\r\nfor two years, and you still can’t find it, and you still\r\ncan’t leave your house, you got to rethink that relationship.\r\nI’ll say it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nOkay, I can say that. So that is the answer to\r\nthe root cause question. I’ve talked about this, all of the\r\nthings I’m talking about today, I’ve written about that, in my\r\nbooks there another episode of the podcast are in the morning\r\nnewsletter, and they’re in my social media content. They’re\r\nall there. So let’s move on to the next question. Another sort\r\nof hot topic that I catch a lot of heat about, why don’t I talk\r\nabout things like nutrition or diet or supplements? I get\r\nasked, I don’t understand Drew. It’s a mind-body thing.\r\nEverybody loves the mind. The body loves the mind and body. Listen, I have no\r\nproblem with mind-body. I’m cool with that. I don’t believe that\r\nthe fact that there’s a connection between your mind and\r\nyour body is news.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLike, we kind of know this already. It’s\r\nnot news. It’s not profound. It doesn’t necessarily inform the\r\nrecovery process. Just like my answer to the last\r\nquestion, if you are afraid of your own heartbeat, or you have\r\nthoughts that you can’t, necessarily unhinged, unhitch\r\nfrom and they are dragging you up and down the street every\r\nday, even though you know they shouldn’t, and you know, they’re\r\nnot true, but you get dragged around anyway. If you’re afraid\r\nof your own breath, if you’re terrified to be alone, because\r\nWhat if something happens, and nobody’s here to save me,\r\nbecause I might panic. And my anxiety might be dangerous this\r\ntime, then there is nothing in your gut biome that’s going to\r\nMake a hill of beans a difference about that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nNow, this\r\nis not to say that I don’t believe in taking good care of\r\nyour body, we should all take good care of our bodies. There’s\r\nnothing wrong with that whatsoever. Again, these are not\r\nmutually exclusive things. I don’t talk about diet or\r\nnutrition or supplements, because everybody should take\r\ncare of their bodies. But in this paradigm that I have\r\nembraced in my life, that many, many of us in this cognitive\r\nbehavioral approach to anxiety disorders have embraced,\r\nthat doesn’t enter into it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nReally, you know, look, don’t\r\nlet yourself get run down. Don’t be unhealthy. Take good care of\r\nyourself as best you can. But I’m going to tell you right now, that I\r\nhave run across hundreds and hundreds of people who have\r\nfully recovered from a steady diet of sugar, processed foods, and\r\ncigarettes. They still got better. They probably have\r\nterrible gut biomes I’m guessing I’m no expert on that. But the\r\nreason why I don’t talk about those things is because even\r\nthough you feel anxiety physically, an anxiety disorder\r\nis not a physical problem. Is it possible that I don’t know\r\nsomething in your leaky gut syndrome or something\r\nthat caused your initial panic attack to maybe, but now you’re afraid\r\nof the attack?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nItself. This is why the\r\ncommunity is full of people who spent just gobs and gobs of\r\nmoney on all kinds of supplements and herbs and\r\nspecial diets and programs, who still are having a problem, they\r\nmay have incredibly well-balanced gut biomes. And I know\r\nI keep going back to that, you know, they’re treating that air\r\nquotes the second brain as best as you, as we know, to treat it,\r\nfeeding it the most, you know, whole organic foods and\r\nsupplementing properly, but still can’t get better. There’s\r\na reason for that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThere’s a reason for that. So that’s why I\r\ndon’t talk about nutrition or diet or supplements because, to\r\nme, it’s a red herring and recovery. It’s a thing that\r\neverybody should take good care of take, Please take good care\r\nof your physical health, please. Like I wouldn’t, you know,\r\nadvise everybody to do that.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBut chasing diet, supplements, herbs\r\nin recovery is a red herring, it leads us down paths, and we don’t\r\nneed to go and it becomes frustrating. Because I’m\r\nguessing that for every 100 people listening to my words,\r\nRight now, there are at least thirty-five of you who have a closet or a\r\nbox, or a big plastic container full of at least 300 US dollars\r\nworth of vitamins, supplements, herbs, special diets, magnesium\r\npowder that you all were just hoping we’re going to be the\r\nanswer.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd I’m sorry that they weren’t. But that’s why I’m\r\ntalking about this because it’s somewhat irrelevant in recovery.\r\nBut please, please be healthy. Please take as good care of your\r\nbody as you can. Okay, so question number nine,\r\nand then we’re going to do this one. And then one more, we’ll\r\nwrap it up.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nWhy don’t I know I’m sorry. Question number nine is\r\nwhy we need a recovery plan. So, if you read my book, The\r\nAnxious Truth, which is my recovery guide, you’ll talk\r\nabout having a plan all the time. Like why do we need to\r\nplan? So I know this is confusing for\r\na lot of people, especially since we’ll talk about this in a\r\nquestion next week and episode 217. Like, but I don’t have\r\npanic attacks. I don’t know what my exposures are. So, what would\r\nmy plan be? I understand that’s confusing, but why do I say that\r\nwe should have a recovery plan? Look, you cannot plan every\r\nsecond of your recovery.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo some people hear the plan and they think\r\nthat they can literally plan every hour of every day\r\nspecifically to optimize the recovery. No, you can’t this is\r\nyou can’t become a robot. But the reason why I say we need a\r\nplan is that if we do not have a plan to follow, that informs the\r\nactions that we will take, we will too easily fall into only\r\nacting based on how we feel. We’ll only challenge ourselves\r\non the good days when we’re feeling better. That’s bad that\r\nwe don’t learn anything. When we’re feeling better. We will\r\nmake our decisions based on our emotions, our symptoms, and our\r\nthoughts, We make a plan so that we can put some objectivity, and\r\nto that, I woke up this morning, and I’m anxious as hell.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBut my\r\nplan says that I go and do my exposures in the morning. So I\r\nwill go do that. So a plan injects some much-needed two\r\nthings, much-needed objectivity into the process? Because odds\r\nare if you’re still kind of lost right now and don’t know what to\r\ndo. You’re making all of your decisions based on subjective\r\njudgments. How do I feel? What does this mean? What do I think\r\nabout this? What might be wrong? Oh, my God, what could this be?\r\nThat’s all subjective. We need objectivity. And a plan gives us\r\nobjectivity. When we are in an anxious state, and we are\r\nfrantic, and beside ourselves, we are terrible decision-makers.\r\nSo a plan gets us out of the business of making decisions on\r\nthe fly. Right? So American football teams, and I’ve talked\r\nabout this all the time, create playbooks.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThey know who they’re\r\nplaying on Sunday, they get ready and they know what the\r\nfirst 15 plays are that they’re going to run that’s just\r\nscripted, done. They have playbooks to tell us in this\r\nsituation, we run this play in this situation, we’re on this\r\nplate. Yeah, there’s some creativity there, of course, but\r\nthey don’t wait to make it up on the fly in the heat of a game.\r\nAnd this is the same reason why I talked about having a recovery\r\nplan. It’s so to me, it’s very important because otherwise you\r\nwill be governed by your fear, your irrational fear\r\ndistortions. magnifications, how you feel your symptoms, that\r\nstuff will just drag you around. And then you wind up in\r\nthat situation where it’s like, I’m doing my exposures. Oh,\r\nwell, when was the last time you did a driving exposure? Well, I\r\nwas I being out on Friday and today’s Wednesday, like, but\r\nthat’s not exposure that’s interrupted avoidance.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThere’s a\r\ndifference and not to get into the details. But having a plan\r\nhelps us stay clear of that trap. Right. So that’s why I say\r\nwe need a recovery plan for objectivity and to get ourselves\r\nout of the decision-making game minute by minute when we’re\r\nsuffering and when we’re not feeling good. Make the decisions\r\nahead of time and then execute those decisions, no matter how\r\nyou feel. A plan does that for us. So, question number 10, which\r\nwill be the last one for this week. This is always one of my\r\nfavorite ones. You guys have heard me say this before. This\r\nquestion any tips for dot fill in your symptom? Fill\r\nin your scary thing. Any tips for nausea, any tips for\r\ndizziness any tips or depersonalization? Any Tips for emetophobia any tips\r\nfor You know, I can probably go for another 15 minutes a name\r\nall the specific things, Do any tips for that breathing\r\nor feeling? Any tips for that My nose getting tingly. Any tips\r\nfor feeling like, you know having a panic attack at night?\r\nLike, no, no, I don’t have any tips for those things.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI never\r\nhave tips for those things. The reason why I don’t have tips for\r\nthose things is that they’re all the same fear.\r\nRight? So, anybody who has ever gone down the road of trying to\r\naddress each individual fear, like today, I’m afraid of my\r\nheart. This is a big one. Any tips for cardio phobia? How\r\ndo I overcome a fear in my heart? And at the very same\r\ntime, there are three people asking me how they overcome\r\nheart fear.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThere are four other people telling me that\r\ndepersonalization is the worst possible thing, and how do they\r\novercome that? And then there are three other people behind them\r\nthat are talking about that short of breath, air hunger\r\nfeeling, and that’s the worst for them. And they want to know\r\nhow to overcome that. But the answer is the same all the time.\r\nIn the Claire weeks world, and that’s really what launched this\r\nwhole thing for me. Dr. Weeks talked about accepting and\r\nfloating, letting time pass. It’s the answer for all of them.\r\nEven though I know that the thing that you want special tips\r\nfor right now feels much scarier than the other things. And\r\nbecause it scares you more, you think it’s worthy of a special\r\napproach to try to specifically address that fear.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nBut\r\nEspecially if you’re new at this game, look around at the people\r\nwho are further down the road from you. And almost without\r\nquestion, they will tell you that when I get over one fear\r\nanother one often takes its place. So this is why I did a\r\npodcast episode about following the principles of recovery and\r\nnot just instructions. I’ll link that one in the show notes.\r\nAnxious trip.com\/ 216 for the show notes of this episode. I talked about that. Then learn\r\nthe principles and apply the principles of allowing accepting\r\nfloating, willful tolerance surrendering all of navigation.\r\nRight, he did a video with Lauren Rosen not too long ago,\r\nWe talked about the thing, the tools that we use in recovery\r\nare not tools of eradication, they’re tools of navigation. So\r\nI know in my own personal journey, as soon as I learned to\r\nnavigate air hunger, I was able to use those navigation skills.\r\nWhen I would have PVCs and skipped heartbeats, I was able\r\nto use those navigation skills when I experienced the\r\nrealization or dissociative state.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo I just forklifted the\r\nsame navigation skills across multiple fears. And then it all\r\nbecame so obvious. And anybody who’s down the road and closer\r\nto recovery will tell you like Yeah, I thought they were all\r\nspecial. And it turns out they weren’t. So that’s why the\r\nanswer to any tips for and then you insert your scary thing\r\nthere is always the answer is always the same. And I say it\r\nagain, and again. And again. I know I start to sound, you know,\r\ndismissive or flippant. And if you’re in my Facebook group,\r\nyou’ve seen me post this at least once a month.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSpecial\r\nReminder, no symptom is special. None. No symptoms are special. I\r\nknow you think that your symptom is but it is not. It is not.\r\nBecause, like I said if your particular thing is that you’re\r\nafraid of your heart and you want to throw down like no, this\r\nis the scariest one. I’ll bring somebody in the room here that’s\r\nterrified of their own breath, and they will fight you like\r\nThey will throw hands at you because they will insist that\r\nTheirs is worse.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd the people who have air hunger will insist\r\nthat theirs is worse and the people that are DPD our people,\r\nThey will insist that there’s more than there’ll be a big\r\nBrawl because everybody is 100% convinced no but this one is\r\nthis special? How could you not have a tip for this? I can’t tell you the number of\r\ntimes that I’ve had somebody say I would pay to have a rapid\r\nheartbeat.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLike I’m so afraid of my breathing that I would pay to\r\nbe afraid of my heart. I have had people say that. I wish I\r\nwas dizzy. I wish I was dizzy. I’m so afraid of my heart. I\r\nwish I was dizzy. That must be a walk in the park. That’s easy.\r\nSee what happens. So that’s why the answer to any tips is\r\nit’s all the same tip you’re going to have to work through\r\nnavigating through the thing that you are afraid of. To learn\r\nthat I don’t have to be afraid of it it’s super disturbing and\r\nuncomfortable and all of those things but not worthy of an\r\nemergency response. And when you learn it for one fear you\r\nforklift those skills to other fears and it becomes portable\r\nacross multiple fears. And then when I say all your fears are\r\none fear becomes painfully apparent, like holy cow, he was\r\nright.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo if I can get through the air hunger I can get through\r\nthe dizzy, I can get through the tingly toes. I can get through\r\nthis and get like all of the things I don’t Okay, they’re\r\nnothing new. It’s just like Oh, thanks anxiety gets through\r\nanother one than me? No problem. I know what to do with this\r\nwithout needing specific instructions for oh, I need\r\nspecial breathing instructions. Now I need special pdf\r\ninstructions. Now I need special nausea instructions. You don’t\r\nneed principles, learn the principles, apply them across\r\nmultiple symptoms and fears and you’re good to go. So no, I\r\ndon’t have any tips for and that is part one of our frequently\r\nasked questions. We did 10 questions today and we will do 10\r\nMore questions next week and Pod gets episode 217.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nSo, come back\r\nFor that, bookmark it. If you’re on YouTube, and you’re listening\r\nto YouTube and on YouTube, favorite the video, like\r\nWhen you want to ask these questions again, come back here,\r\nLike, listen to these again. And that’s it. So, I’ll be back again\r\nnext week, you know, the episode was over, because music that’s afterglow, the\r\nbeginning end, beginning, and end of every podcast episode, song\r\nis written by my friend, Ben Drake.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nIt is sort of inspired by\r\nthis podcast and as a special song for both Ben and me. And I\r\nappreciate that he lets me use it, you can find Ben and his\r\nmusic at Kendrick music.com. So go check him out. And if you are\r\nlistening to this podcast on Spotify, Apple podcast, or\r\nany platform that lets you rate and review, leave a five-star\r\nrating or whatever the top one is, and then take two seconds\r\nand maybe write a quick review because it helps other people\r\nfind the podcast. If you’re consuming this content on\r\nYouTube and liked the video, subscribe to my channel and hit the\r\nnotification bell. So, you know when I publish more, leave a\r\ncomment.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI dig all that. And I think that’s it. That’s part one\r\nof our frequently asked questions. I hope it’s been\r\nhelpful. I will be back next week. I do know what I’m going\r\nto be talking about. We’ll do another 10 questions to wrap\r\nthis up. I will see you next time. Thank you for your\r\nattention and I will leave you as I always do with a reminder\r\nthat this is the way Unknown: you got the feeling\r\nthat you got Yeah, you’re doing fine.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nNow in the city, you know looking back dwelling on\r\nthe past, you know, you’ll never get another chance. See, go and\r\nlive your life.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-NXNTco1_KE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As found on YouTube<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/flywait.naturalsyn.hop.clickbank.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Natural Synergy<\/a> $47.\u2070\u2070 New Non-Invasive Alternative. To Electro-Acupuncture, Producing Astounding Results\u2026 Self-Application Is Easy, Rapid Response. You’re about to discover how both chronic and acute pain, skin conditions, migraines, and hundreds of ailments all stem from the same root cause \ua19b Yin Yang <a href=\"http:\/\/flywait.naturalsyn.hop.clickbank.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ailments🗯<\/a> such as\u27af\u27b1 \u27ab \u27aa\u27ac Chronic pain\u21ddLow immunity\u21ddChronic acid reflux\u21ddHigh blood pressure\u21ddAddictions\u21ddFibromyalgia\u21ddAllergies\u21ddOsteoarthritis\u21ddHeadaches\u21ddLow back\u21ddpain Asthma\u21ddHeadaches\u21ddDepression and anxiety\u21ddUrinary problems… to name just a few\u2026\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/flywait.naturalsyn.hop.clickbank.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ibb.co\/C9hn4xr\/Natural-Synergy-770x645.png\" alt=\"Natural-Synergy-770x645\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Drew Linsalata: This week on the anxious truth, we’re finally going to do a Frequently Asked Questions episode. Actually, we’re going to do two of them. This is the first one. So let’s go Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the anxious truth. This is podcast episode number 216. Recorded in July of 2022. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/151301\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Anxiety And Anxiety Recovery – Frequently Asked Questions \/ Part 1<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":151299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[97,7,139,100,6],"tags":[39894,59877,696,19,16121,37608,41115,52548,59882,40804,52626,40447,23,41908,59880],"class_list":["post-151301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","category-getting-help","category-international","category-politics","category-reducing-triggers","tag-agoraphobia","tag-agoraphobia-help","tag-anxiety","tag-anxiety-attack","tag-anxiety-disorder","tag-anxiety-help","tag-anxiety-recovery","tag-claire-weekes","tag-drew-linsalata","tag-help-with-anxiety","tag-help-with-panic-attacks","tag-how-to-help-anxiety","tag-panic-attack","tag-panic-attack-relief","tag-the-anxious-truth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/htmlF_IMG_64f676ae44c91.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151332,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151301\/revisions\/151332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}