All Episodes of Disordered

When anxiety and its relentless inner critic take hold, one of the most profound losses is the belief and trust in your own capability. In this episode, Drew and Josh explore how to rebuild self-trust after anxiety disorders erode your confidence in handling life's challenges. The conversation centers on stories from listeners who confronted their worst-case scenarios—from emergency medical situations while struggling with agoraphobia and panic disorder, to managing health anxiety during actu...

In this episode, Drew and Josh explore the powerful role of the internal critic—affectionately named "Craig"—in maintaining anxiety disorders and interfering with recovery. They discuss how this nagging inner voice criticizes, questions, and doubts us, often telling us we're doing things wrong or that we'll never be who we hope to be. Let's examine where Craig the Critic comes from, including family dynamics, conditional affection, societal pressures, and social media comparisons. The episode...

In this episode of Disordered, Drew and Josh tackle one of the most frightening anxiety symptoms: air hunger - that terrifying feeling that you can't get a deep enough breath or fully fill your lungs. Drew and Josh draw from both their clinical expertise and personal recovery experiences to explain why this sensation happens, why trying to "fix" your breathing often makes things worse, and how the compulsive need to control your breath can actually create the problem you're trying to solve. ...

One of the most common questions we hear from people working through anxiety disorders and OCD is: "How long is this going to take?" In this episode, Drew and Josh tackle the timeline question head-on—but probably not in the way you're expecting. We explore why asking "how long until I recover?" might be the wrong question, and why shifting to "how long until I'm desensitized?" can be a game-changer in how you approach your anxiety journey. We discuss the reality that there's no universal tim...

Can your focus on getting better actually make things worse? In this episode, we explore what happens when the recovery process itself becomes an obsession - coining the term "Recovery OCD" to describe the fixation many people develop around their anxiety recovery journey. We dig into the counterintuitive reality that constantly checking "Am I recovered yet?" or "Am I doing this right?" can actually signal to your brain that anxiety is still something urgent and important to monitor. When recov...

How do you handle anxiety when the news feels overwhelming? With constant exposure to current events, political tensions, and global crises through social media and traditional news sources, it's no wonder many people with anxiety disorders find themselves struggling. This week on Disordered we're talking about the complex relationship between news consumption and anxiety, discussing when avoidance might be helpful versus when it could be problematic. You'll hear about the difference between ...

Welcome to another inspiring round of "Did It Anyway" stories, where we celebrate real wins from our community members who chose to move forward despite their anxiety. In this episode, Drew and Josh share powerful listener stories that illustrate a fundamental truth about anxiety recovery: you can take meaningful action even when you feel scared, uncertain, or overwhelmed. From someone driving to the gym after a panic attack at work, to a listener climbing a boulder wall despite intense fe...

In this essential episode, Drew and Josh are joined by Dr. Birthe Macdonald, a psychologist and neuroscience researcher who's become a vital voice in combating mental health misinformation on social media. The conversation tackles the overwhelming sea of questionable advice that anxious people encounter online, from vagus nerve stimulation devices to "nervous system regulation" quick fixes. Dr. Macdonald shares her journey from neuroscience researcher to science communicator, sparked by spons...

In this episode, we explore how the language we use to describe our anxiety experiences can either fuel our struggles or support our recovery. We examine the difference between helpful and unhelpful ways of talking about panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety symptoms. We discuss why saying "it feels like I'm dying" versus "I'm experiencing intense physical sensations" can dramatically impact your recovery journey. We challenge common phrases like "sit with it," "just ignore it," and ...

In this episode, Josh and Drew tackle one of the most counterintuitive concepts in overcoming panic attacks: learning how to panic better, rather than trying to avoid panic altogether. When facing a new job triggers familiar panic patterns, many people focus on preventing anxiety rather than developing a healthier relationship with it. Drew and Josh explore why "learning how to panic" is often the key to breaking free from panic disorder and agoraphobia. Josh and Drew discuss the difference be...

When you're struggling with anxiety disorders, you often do things that don't reflect who you really are - avoiding social gatherings, canceling plans, or making demands on loved ones that you normally wouldn't. As you start to recover, it's common to feel overwhelming guilt about how your anxiety affected the people around you. In this episode, Drew and Josh explore the complex journey of self-forgiveness after anxiety recovery. They discuss why anxiety disorders can make people appear self-...

When anxiety takes hold, one of the first casualties is our natural sense of wonder and openness to new experiences. In this episode of Disordered, lets explore how anxiety disorders systematically erode our curiosity about the world around us and our own capabilities. Drew and Josh discuss how anxiety creates a rigid, self-focused mindset that asks only "How will this make me feel?" rather than "What might I discover?" They examine how this shift from external curiosity to internal fixati...

When something shocking or difficult happens, we're often told we need to "process" our emotions. But what if that endless loop of replaying events in your mind isn't actually processing at all? In this episode, Drew and Josh explore the crucial difference between healthy emotional processing and anxious rumination that keeps us stuck. How to distinguish between genuine emotional processing and OCD/GAD-style rumination Why that "urgent" feeling to think through something repeatedly might ...

In this episode of Disordered, the guys tackle one of the most misunderstood concepts in anxiety recovery: healing. Sparked by a listener question about balancing relationships with anxiety recovery work, the hosts dive deep into what healing anxiety really means - and what it doesn't. The Problem with "Healing" Language Drew and Josh explore how the word "healing" can be problematic in anxiety recovery, often implying that people are broken and need fixing. They discuss how healing anxiet...

Ever feel trapped in cycles of rumination, overthinking, and constant mental chatter about your anxiety? In this episode, Drew and Josh tackle the challenging question of how to "get out of your own head" without turning it into another exhausting battle. Starting with a thoughtful question from a listener who has built an impressive life despite ongoing anxiety and DPDR but still struggles with constant internal focus, the hosts explore why simply trying to stop thinking doesn't work and wha...

What If I Want To Control My Anxiety Holistically? In this episode, Drew and Josh examine tension between wanting to control anxiety through holistic approaches and recognizing when that desire for control becomes part of the problem itself. Key Topics Discussed: The difference between actual control and the illusion of control How the wellness and self-optimization industry can exploit anxiety sufferers Why treating anxiety as a threat teaches your brain to keep the alarm system ac...

Am I Doing Too Much Recovery/Exposure? This week Drew and Josh tackle a common question in anxiety recovery: "Am I pushing myself too hard with exposures?" The guys explore the nuanced balance between challenging yourself and recognizing when you might genuinely need rest. In this episode: How to distinguish between being genuinely depleted versus being scared Why feeling anxious after successful exposures doesn't mean you've done "too much" The difference between active, reasoned deci...

This week Drew and Josh are answering questions from listeners. Questions addressed in this episode include: Is it "normal" to feel a letdown after completing and big successful exposure/challenge? What work can we do to address the fawn response? Isn't a panic attack a medical emergency? How can it possibly be safe to experience panic?! Staying off social media is good for mental health, right? But is that anxiety avoidance? How can I learn how to NOT tense my body? It's such a ...

Death anxiety - an obsessive fixation on death, dying and existence driven by intense fear of the inevitability of death - is a very common experience for listeners of Disordered. This week Josh and Drew were lucky enough to have a chat with Professor David Veale, one of the leading authorities in in the UK on the topic of death anxiety and mental health issues related to death and existence. David helped spread some light and some much-needed humor on this topic that might help you change...

What's the difference between rumination and reflection? Ruminators, worriers, and over thinkers often struggle to recognize the useful limits of thinking. They can become unsure when they are engaging in helpful reflection or problem solving .... and when they are ruminating and worrying with no good outcomes and often actual negative outcomes. This week on Disordered Drew and Josh are digging in to the difference between rumination and reflection. Reflection is good. Rumination ... not s...

This week on Disordered we're discussing the all too common narrative in wellness circles that demands that we ascribe all anxiety or suffering of any kind to unhealed or unprocessed trauma. And while its certainly a good thing that we are more concerned with life experiences than structural defects now, this narrative can be unhelpful or even harmful in the context of anxiety disorders. All humans experiences crises. Some of those crises remain unresolved and create trauma. In some of tho...

"Help! I started doing exposures and trying to accept my anxiety and its getting worse!" This is a very common experience in anxiety disorder recovery. Its been spoken about at great length in the community surrounding the Disordered podcast. This week we're tackling the "worse before better" issue. When you stop running, hiding, avoiding, escaping, distracting, and otherwise drowning out your anxious thoughts, fears, and sensations, you will find yourself in a situation where you feel ...

When we struggle with chronic or disordered anxiety, we regularly experience powerful emotions that tend to look like fear or tension. We may experience intense feelings of being vulnerable, or doomed. We talk about these things all the time. But what about when you have emotions about having those emotions? Struggling to overcome an anxiety problem that is creating disruption in your life is going to trigger actual emotions beyond just fear. Many feel: Frustrated - because they can't seem to...

"Hey ChatGPT. Please tell me how I'll know if I'm accepting my anxiety or avoiding it." "Hey ChatGPT. When I get anxious my vision gets weird. Can anxiety do that? " "Hello Reddit. Does anyone else feel like ...." The guys are back after a short break to talk about the use of ChatGPT, AI, Reddit, Google, and the Internet in general in the context of anxiety and mental health issues. There's no doubt that large language models - software that aggregates extremely large amounts of i...