Anxiety, Distraction, and "Running From Feelings" (Episode 168)
Is distraction the same thing as running from your feelings? This week we answer a listener question about where that line actually is, and why the answer isn't as simple as always sit with it.
We talk about why attention plays such a big role in anxiety disorders, why getting caught up in your life is not automatically avoidance, and why the real question isn't am I distracting myself but what am I actually running from. We also get into why every emotion, not just anxiety, deserves room, and why treating fear as the only feeling that matters can quietly shut down curiosity about everything else you feel.
Plus Did It Anyway wins, including a tattoo appointment survived and a listener who fell asleep during a 90 minute MRI.
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Want to talk about this episode or interact with us and others that share your experience? We're hanging out on the Disordered Community App:
https://disordered.fm/community
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The Disordered Guide to Health Anxiety is available as a paperback or on Kindle
https://www.disordered.fm/the-disordered-guide-to-health-anxiety/
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Struggling with worry and rumination that you feel you can't stop or control? Check out Worry and Rumination Explained, a two hour pre-recorded workshop produced by Josh and Drew. The workshop takes a deep dive into the mechanics of worrying and ruminating, offering some helpful ways to approach the seemingly unsolvable problem of trying to solve seemingly unsolvable problems.
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Got a question or did it anyway to share? Send us an email or voicemail on our website.
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Disordered Roundtable is coming! Think of it as "Disordered Live", a way for members of our audience to spend time with us in an intimate virtual setting (attendance is limited) to engage in real time sharing and discussion on specific anxiety disorder and recovery topics. To be notified when new Disordered Roundtable sessions are scheduled, sign up for our email list using the form on this page.
