All Episodes of Disordered

The default state for most humans - to varying degrees - is for the brain to launch into inward thinking and inner dialogue when there's nothing else to pay attention to. If you're struggling with chronic or disordered anxiety, this can become a real issue and a major struggle. This week we're looking at the inward compulsion. That fear-driven habit of not only having thoughts, but answering them, engaging with them, checking in on them, and inviting them in for lengthy conversations that go ...

"Is it normal for my symptoms, or thoughts, or my anxiety to get worse when I start engaging in recovery?" Even Dr. Claire Weekes acknowledged this experience when writing about recovery many years ago. This week on Disordered we're talking about feeling MORE when you stop hiding from anxiety. This is often misinterpreted as "getting worse" but feeling more doesn't mean your anxiety, your symptoms, or your thoughts are getting worse. It's OK to feel things. The recovery process is ab...

"What does anxiety therapy look like?" "What goes on in a session with an anxiety specialist?" "How can I find the right therapist for me?" This week Drew and Josh address these questions, including a really interesting 12-minute mock therapy session to start the episode. Josh plays the therapist while Drew is the client struggling with panic and extreme levels of anxiety. It's role play, but it does give a reasonable idea of what a first session with an anxiety specialist might look and soun...

But what about hormonal issues, perimenopause, and menopause???!!! This is a question that we are asked all the time, and rightfully so. This week we're joined by Helen Bennett, a qualified UK psychotherapist specializing in supporting people who are dealing with fertility challenges and struggling with the menopause transition. This episode is chock full of excellent information about the experience of menopause and how it can so closely mirror chronic anxiety and the symptoms of an an...

Do you ever get anxious ... because you're not feeling anxious? This is a real thing in our community! Anxious people who begin to experience moments where anxiety and agitation fade into the background will often find themselves becoming anxious because they're not feeling anxious! This week Drew and Josh explore this confusing but all too common anxiety recovery issue. The discussion includes: How old anxious brain habits die hard. Why it is normal to immediately worry that feelin...

"Healing" is a VERY popular word in self-help, mental health, and wellness circles. For many, this word resonates. For our friends struggling to overcome chronic and disordered anxiety, it can sure feel like there's healing to do. But what if recovery wasn't all about healing? What if there was as much learning as there is healing in the process? Or what if the healing part doesn't always look the way you think healing looks and feels? This week Josh and Drew are deconstructing the i...

Anxiety triggered by exercise, exertion, or being in the gym is a common struggle for anyone dealing with issues like panic attacks, agoraphobia, or any anxiety disorder that places a focus on physical anxiety symptoms or feelings of shame, inadequacy, or embarrassment. This week Drew and Josh share not only a professional take on this aspect of anxiety, but their own lived experience struggling with exercise, exertion, feelings they didn't want to feel, and sometimes wanting to run and hi...

Productivity anxiety is an often overlooked subject in our community, so this week Drew and Josh are taking a look at anxiety triggered by an obsession with productivity and the fear of "failure" as defined by not meeting extreme productivity or output goals. This can show itself almost anywhere in life. Work and career. School and academics. Parenting. Building perfect relationships. Even recovery from an anxiety disorder can be impacted by the drive to do recovery perfectly or to be highly ...

This week Josh and Drew are talking about anxiety related to the holiday season. This time of year presents extra challenges for people in our community, regardless of which holidays you celebrate, and even if you don't celebrate any holidays! Let's take a look at the added pressures of the holiday season, how that's likely to show up for an anxious person, the need to remain aware of this impact, and why sometimes faking it until you make it can make a difference! As always, we're talking...

This week we're discussing GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder. GAD generates the most confusion in the community around Disordered, so we took some time to address a few important issues: What is GAD and what isn't it? Does being anxious all day mean you have GAD? What are some of the underlying processes that drive GAD? What about worry and rumination? In the end, much of GAD is driven by excessive worry and rumination that creates an anxious state when it is directed at p...

ANXIETY QUESTIONS FROM OUR LISTENERS This week Josh and Drew are answering questions sent in by the listeners. The community around this podcast is amazing! Your feedback, questions, and “did it anyway” stories are a bit part of making Disordered what it is. On this episode, the guys answer these questions: What do you do when a busy job triggers anxiety and drags you back into doing compulsions again What advice do you have for irritability as a result of anxiety? What can you d...

BRAIN FOG!?!?! One of the most common symptoms of anxiety reported in the community surrounding this podcast is "brain fog". That thing where your brain just isn't working the way you'd expect it to work. Maybe you're slow, have memory issues, or struggle to find proper words or names. Maybe you just feel "out of it" or like you're in a dissociated state. Brain fog is very common, very subjective, difficult to describe, and often disruptive. But as with any anxiety symptom, brain fog is...

Fear of losing control - and suffering some horrible consequence - is one of the top five core fears found in anxiety disorders. This week Drew and Josh delve into the fear that you may lose control and why this fear seems important and very real but isn't any different than any other expression of a misguided and misfiring threat response. We look at different OCD themes that focus on the loss of control, how fear of losing control fuels monophobia (fear of being alone), and what horrible...

When anxious, stressed, or afraid, the gut and GI tract are almost instantly impacted. This is true for a huge number of people, anxious or not. This week Josh and Drew are joined by health psychologist Dr. Sula Windgassen to talk about anxiety and IBS. Dr. Sula specializes in a cognitive behavioral approach to supporting people struggling with IBS, Crohn's, colitis, other GI issues, and other chronic illnesses. In this episode we're talking about: The real nature of the gut-brain conn...

Extreme sensitivity to sound and misophonia (yes, it has a name) is a topic that doesn't get nearly enough attention in the mental health community so this week on Disordered we were lucky enough to have Dr. Jane Gregory stop by to talk about this often under-represented challenge. Dr. Jane has struggled with misophonia since childhood so not only is she academically and professionally well-versed in the topic, she's lived this experience herself. Dr. Jane has immersed herself in misophoni...

"How can I maintain momentum in recovery when I have a setback or I don't feel motivated?" This is a very common question asked in our community so this week on Disordered we're addressing the topic of momentum in the anxiety recovery process. We relay some of our own experiences with recovery momentum and what it looked like for us, and we touch on some common issues related to momentum and motivation in recovery: There is no linear "perfect" recovery. It's OK to make mistakes. We need t...

This week we're taking a look at social anxiety, which is the anxiety disorder that belongs in that classification, but also kinda doesn't because it can often be more complex than related forms of chronic and disordered anxiety. Social anxiety is often misunderstood as "extreme shyness" or "fear of being judged", but there can be much more to it so join us as we explore some of the more common broad-brush themes associated with social anxiety. We can't crack the code of everyone's social ...

This week on Disordered we examine the somatic trauma narrative in relation to anxiety disorders. This is a tricky topic. We ALWAYS want to validate and support our friends who are struggling to work through trauma. That struggle is real and cannot be minimized or dismissed. In the right context for someone working through trauma, somatic conceptualizations can be highly impactful in a really positive way. No doubt! At the same time, we must also acknowledge that while somatic conceptualiz...

This week Josh and Drew tackle "monophobia" - the fear of being alone. This is VERY common among people with panic disorder and agoraphobia. It presents most often as an intense fear and avoidance of being left home alone without safe people nearby or as always needing safe people with you before you can do exposures or go into areas where your anxiety might be triggered. This fear is not a special or "another" fear that you have to overcome. Monophobia is what we call it when you are sure...

I'm having problems with my sleep and I'm super anxious about it. HELP! Anxiety focused on sleep and sleep problems is one of the most common complaints in the Disordered community. Often, anxious people experience sleep disturbances or even periods of insomnia and wind up extremely anxious and afraid over this issue. Lack of sleep gets attached to fears about being even more anxious, never being able to recover, not being strong enough to resist anxious thoughts, or doing some actual physica...

This week we have our first official guest on Disordered! Our friend and highly respected anxiety/OCD expert Kimberley Quinlan is here to help us explore and understand the role of self-compassion in the anxiety recovery process. Kim literally wrote the book on self-compassion when it comes to OCD recovery. There's nobody we know that speaks more knowledgeably and eloquently on this topic. Give this one a listen. There's a ton of good stuff in here you can use in your journey. Find Kimb...

Are you a worrier? Overthinker? Can't stop ruminating? Do you use thinking as your go-to problem-solving and protection tool, then hate that you can't stop thinking? This week Josh and Drew tackle worry, overthinking, and rumination. This is a topic near and dear to many anxious people in our community so it's high time we talk about it. We'll talk about what overthinking, worry and rumination really are, why it seems like you should overthink or worry, and why this is just an anxious, fri...

This week Josh and Drew do a deep dive into this million dollar question: "What would non-anxious you do?" The concept of "non-anxious you" and connecting to the way you would live your life if you were not accommodating the fear of fear is powerful. Josh talks about this all the time, and for good reason! Today we take a look at why acting like non-anxious you might act (even when you're clearly anxious) is so helpful. The guys also chat about how the idea of "non-anxious you" ca...

This week on Disordered we kick off a new feature. From time to time we'll do episodes that are entirely community-based, showcasing "did it anyway" stories from listeners. In this episode we take a closer look at a few of these stories, examining exactly what made them into big wins. We had a great time with this one and we hope you find it inspirational and encouraging to hear from your peers. ----- Want to ask us questions, share your wins, or get more information about Josh, Drew, and ...