All Episodes of Disordered

Send us Fan Mail "Yeah, but." Two words that show up constantly in anxiety recovery, right after a win. You did the thing, and before it can count, the mind adds a condition: yeah, but I had my water bottle with me, yeah, but I still felt anxious, yeah, but a real doctor might find something the others missed. This week we break down why "yeah, but" is one of anxiety's most effective tools, using misapplied logic, hypothetical scenarios, and stories that have nothing to do with you to keep th...

Not everything is an anxiety disorder, but people pleasing and low self-esteem feed into it constantly. This week we talk about why the two overlap so heavily, and why learning to desensitize almost always requires putting yourself first, which can feel like the least safe thing in the world if pleasing people is how you've kept yourself safe. We get into what people pleasing actually looks like, from constant scanning of other people's moods to guilt as a baseline feeling, why it's usually a l...

This week we go through the most common mistakes people make while trying to recover from anxiety disorders, the ones that feel intuitive in the moment but end up keeping the cycle going. We cover minimizing your own wins, thinking a place or situation is the actual exposure instead of the feeling underneath it, overestimating anxiety's importance while underestimating your own ability to handle it, and treating a thought that feels true as if it is true. We also talk about why trying to preven...

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 ...

Anxiety recovery attracts an entire industry, and not all of it is safe. This week we talk about popular but dangerous anxiety cures, the methods and trends that get recommended constantly but that our community says actually made things worse. We cover the trauma narrative that convinces people their panic and OCD are rooted in trauma stored in the body, nervous system regulation and vagus nerve claims built on debunked science, tapping and EFT marketed as evidence based when it isn't, coachin...

This is our anxiety latest questions and answers episode, where we go straight to the community and tackle real listener questions about panic disorder, OCD, GAD, and health anxiety. We get into what to do when anxiety symptoms show up all day without fitting a specific diagnosis, why worrying about something you live with, like an aging house, does not count as exposure on its own, and how to tell the difference between doing real exposure work and quietly avoiding it. We also cover what to do...

Anxiety always seems to have a strategy for you, doesn't it? Check it, prepare for it, watch it closely so nothing bad happens Stay on top of things so you can be the fixer, the predictor, the protector, the engineer of experiences Do not take your eyes off the worry because worry is proof of how good you are and how loving you are. This week we're picking that strategy apart and showing why it almost never holds up. We're talking about: The nocebo effect and why anticipating symptoms can ...

Everyone tells you to release tension. But if you live with panic disorder, OCD, or health anxiety, that advice can backfire fast. This week we're digging into why chasing relaxation as a goal often makes tension worse, and what actually helps instead. We're talking about why physical tension is a normal response to stress and fear, not a problem to fix. Why techniques like jaw stretches, massage, and meditation can turn into more monitoring and checking. And why sometimes the fastest way throu...

Anxiety has a favorite move. It doesn't argue that acceptance and exposure don't work. It just convinces you they don't apply to you specifically. This thought, this sensation, this situation, is the one exception to every rule you already understand. This week we break down what fuels that exception: possibility, intensity, and importance, plus the urgency that makes an unlikely outcome feel like it's already happening. A 1 in 5,000 chance means nothing until anxiety puts your name on it. The ...

It's your heart. Or the dizziness. Or the one thought you can't get to leave you alone. If you could just solve that specific thing, you'd finally be okay. This week we push back on that. -- Want to talk about what you're hearing today with Drew, Josh, and others that share your experience? We're hanging out in the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community -- The subject of your fear, the heartbeat, the health scare, the intrusive thought, the situation you're avoiding, is ...

You want to do the acceptance thing. You've read the books, you've listened to the podcasts, you intellectually get it. And then you get triggered, and suddenly the version of you that's anxious, scared, or doubting gets the door slammed in its face. That version of you is broken. That version shouldn't be here. That version needs to go. But that's the version of you that actually has to learn the lesson. -- Want to talk about what you heard today or interact with us and a community of people...

This week we're talking about attention. Specifically, how where you place your focus directly impacts your anxiety and your recovery. We discuss how an anxiety disorder naturally hijacks your attention, pulling it inward to scan for threats inside your own body and mind. While checking in on how you feel might seem like the safest thing to do, it actually feeds the sensitization process. We look at the role of the locus coeruleus and the cognitive attentional syndrome, explaining why trying to...

Improving vs. Optimizing in Anxiety Recovery In this episode of Disordered, Drew and Josh tackle a topic suggested by the community: the hidden trap of the "optimization culture" and how it intersects with anxiety and OCD. There is a distinct difference between wanting to improve your health and falling into compulsive, perfectionist territory where every metric must be flawlessly managed. For an anxious mind fixated on certainty, the modern wellness industry’s obsession with biohacking, stric...

What do you do when your anxiety finally quietens down for a few days? For many of us, a calm day triggers a completely new set of anxious habits. We treat the absence of panic as a fragile victory, freezing in place so we do not ruin it, or constantly checking around the corner to see if the fear is returning. -- Want to ask questions about this episode? We're hanging out in the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community --- In this episode, we address why the work of anxie...

Can distraction be a compulsion in anxiety recovery? It is a question that comes up constantly in the anxiety community. Many people are told to simply "distract your mind" when they feel anxious, but if you are doing it specifically to escape a feeling, it can quickly turn into a safety behavior or a compulsion. --- Want to talk about this episode with Drew, Josh, and others that are sharing your struggle and understand? We're hanging out in the Disordered Community space: https://disordered...

Asking for help can be difficult, especially when you are struggling with anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, or agoraphobia. In this episode, Drew and Josh break down the nuances of asking for anxiety help. There is a fine line between asking for genuine support and looking for compulsive reassurance or soothing to make the discomfort disappear. Drew and Josh discuss why so many people feel like a burden when asking for support and how anxiety often twists the desire for help into a demand for certa...

OCD is a difficult condition to navigate, but it becomes significantly more challenging when obsessions center on taboo topics. Themes involving harm, pedophilia (pOCD), sexual orientation (HOCD), or moral and religious failure often carry a heavy burden of shame. This shame frequently drives people into silence, preventing them from seeking the help they need. --- Want to talk about this episode with Drew, Josh, and other members of the Disordered community that share your struggle? https://...

In this episode, Josh and Drew discuss a common hurdle in anxiety recovery: the desire to "win" against your anxiety. For many, especially those with perfectionist tendencies, anxiety is viewed as an adversary that has taken something away. This leads to a constant, habitual checking to see if the anxiety is gone, which inadvertently keeps you stuck in a cycle of monitoring and frustration. --- Want to talk about this episode with us and interact with others that are sharing your experience? ...

Let's start with a success story from the UK. While being medically monitored for four hours, our listener realized how much attention she was giving to her physical symptoms. Her story highlights the difference between noticing a sensation and compulsively monitoring it. -- Want to talk about this episode and interact with others that share your experience in a supportive and encouraging environment? Check the Disordered Community space: https://disordered.fm/community -- Which leads us to ...

Have you ever felt like a supermarket was a high-stakes obstacle course you just couldn’t wait to escape? In this episode of Disordered, Josh and Drew dive deep into a struggle that almost everyone with an anxiety disorder knows well: anxiety in the supermarket or grocery store. Whether it is the harsh fluorescent lighting, the narrow aisles, or the trapped feeling of standing in a long checkout queue, the grocery store is often a primary trigger for panic and agoraphobia. We discuss why this m...

Want to talk about what you heard here? We're hanging out in the Disordered community space: https://disordered.fm/community --- This episode of Disordered dives into the concept of sneaky compulsions. Many people struggling with anxiety or OCD often find themselves performing behaviors that they do not immediately recognize as compulsions. These can look like productive research, seeking reassurance through a joke, or even "checking" to see if you still feel calm. Drew and Josh discuss how ...

Want to talk about what you heard today? Check out the Disordered Community space: https://disordered.fm/community ---- In this milestone episode of Disordered, we discuss the concepts in Josh's upcoming book. The conversation focuses on the gaps in anxiety recovery and the modern hurdles that prevent people from effectively practicing desensitization. They break down how the obsession with "optimization" and the "wellness brosphere" often becomes a distraction from the actual work of recover...

Want to talk about what you hear on this episode? Join us in the Disordered community space: https://disordered.fm/community --- In this episode, Josh and Drew tackle a common hurdle in anxiety recovery: what happens when an exposure feels like a "failure" or when you choose to "bail." An exposure is the deliberate act of evoking an anxious response. It is a way to rewire the brain by intentionally lighting up the threat response and practicing response prevention. The goal is to teach ...

Want to talk about what you're hearing today with Josh, Drew, and others that are sharing your experience? Check out the Disordered Community Space: https://disordered.fm/community --- This episode of Disordered addresses the experience of constant, simmering anxiety that fluctuates in intensity throughout the day without fully disappearing. We refer to this as undulating panic or a loop of peaking anxiety. The Nature of Rolling Anxiety: Many people that they are different because they don't ...