Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast

For this episode I chat with psychotherapist Duygu Balan who regularly appears on CNN and Psychology Today among others. She's also the lead author of Confidentially Chill: An Anxiety Workbook for New Adults. We cover everything from the impact that covid had on our collective experience of anxiety - do we know yet what living through a pandemic did to our minds? We also talk about breaking generational cycles around the acceptance of mental health issues as well as how helpful or unhelpful it is to focus so much on an anxiety disorder diagnosis. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount. Join Dr Russell Kennedy and I to talk about anxiety as alarm in the body, the root causes of it, why he believes all anxiety is separation anxiety, how much anxiety is driven by nature or nurture and so much more. His book The Anxiety Prescription is out now. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week my guest is a psychologist and psychotherapist Dr Natalie Cawley who has just released a book called Just About Coping. It reads like a drama but it's her story, her own experience of anxiety while becoming a qualified mental health professional, and what she's learned from both sides of the therapy room. It's peppered with really helpful anxiety advice and Natalie makes it so easy for you to grasp the concepts. If you've ever been curious about the person behind the qualifications and the expertise, this is a great place to start. We talk about so many things from her story, to the impact of breakups and why these in particular can result in so much anxiety, experiences like dissociation, cognitive distortions, attachment and more. We also talk about how one type of therapy worked for me but didn't yield any results for her. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount.Support

Welcome back to a brand new season of Owning It. Join me and author/scientist/lawyer Anu Gupta to talk about the role and relationship between bias and anxiety, the impact bias on us and others and how it's at the root of almost every social and cultural issue we experience. His book, Breaking Bias, is out now. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a solo episode. I struggled to fully explain it in the title but it's dedicated to a close friend currently in the trenches of health anxiety with plenty of additional anxiety on top. It's everything I want her to know. Everything that might help her ride this wave including a step by step roadmap for overcoming anxiety. If you would like to support this podcast you can do so by subscribing to my Substack (with 20% off for all pod listeners) at this link.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is one of the hardest areas of anxiety to get on top of: health anxiety. Whether it's general health anxiety where you're prone to spiralling about what could or might go wrong with your health, or you suffer with OCD or body related conditions such as Trichotillomania, this episode is probably the most helpful thing you could listen to. With anxiety expert and CBT therapist Kimberley Quinlan (she's huge on Instagram here), we go through it all, if it can be overcome and how to manage something that feels so all consuming. We also talk about self compassion and how to get it right. Sign up to my Substack Substack, with 20% off forever at this link.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the series I am joined by international bestselling author and reporter with The New Yorker Charles Duhigg who wrote The Power of Habit. Here we talk about his new book Supercommunicators and how to crack social anxiety with some really practical tools and insights.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join me with guest Laura Guckian, life coach, host of 'Momfessions' and creator of Mind Mommy Coaching as we talk about postpartum anxiety, which, for her, was so significant she decided to check herself into a psychiatric hospital. How did the anxiety show up for her? What does a hospital level of mental health support look like? We talk about whether the problem for new mothers is the lack of support or the skewed perception of early motherhood that pervades social media. Read more of my essays on motherhood over on my Substack, with 20% off forever at this link. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I have a powerful episode with Terence Power, co-host of the super successful Talking Bollox podcast. We try to unpack his experience of anxiety, growing up in an environment affected hugely by poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, crime and violence. How did he cope? How did he come out the other side? Was anxiety behind all of it? Terence talks through his story with such impressive vulnerability, it will no doubt help another young person in a similar position. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest for this episode is the mega bestselling author of Dopamine Nation and her name is Dr Anna Lembke. She's an American psychiatrist and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University. She is a specialist in the opioid epidemic in the United States. Here we talk about the relationship between anxiety, pleasure and pain. The pleasure pain balance and the way in which we move toward pleasure to solve anxiety and it works short term, but for many of the things we do to - such as picking up our phone to scroll - we only create more anxiety longterm. we talk about medication, addiction - and not just addiction to drugs or alcohol. We talk about our intolerance of boredom, the importance of what she calls 'pro social shame' and her go-to self binding strategies. Sign up to my Substack and get 20% off forever at this link. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this episode we're hearing from someone who's felt severe anxiety and figured out how to manage it. My guest is the brilliant Vicki Notaro, bestselling author of her debut novel Reality Check. A prominent journalist and editor in Ireland, Vicki has an eerily similar story to me, having been floored by anxiety for reasons she struggled to understand at the time, in her mid 20s. Here we unpack where it might have began (hormones might play a significant role) and what works for her today. Sign up to my Substack with a listener discount here.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this first episode of my new season I am joined by Dr Nicole Vignola, neuroscientist and author of brand new book REWIRE. We talk about the steps required to break the anxiety cycle, understanding the role of our default mode network and how it relates to our executive network, the things that we think won't make a difference but really do and the science behind them and so much more. Sign up to my Substack with a listener discount here. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, the final of this season, I am joined by clinical psychologist Dr Claire Conlon (The Caterpillar Clinic) for a very specific conversation that I hope will be useful for those among you who are parents. This mirrors my own current experience, and my last year and a half. It's about the overwhelming anxiety you can carry as a parent when you're worried about your child and the ways in which they appear to be struggling, when you're not sure what or if something is at play for them, where to go to for support and wondering if it's something that will just pass with time or if it's something you need to look into. We also talk about the problem with self-blame and the importance of regulating yourself as a parent. I draw on my own experience a lot for this. I hope you find this episode reassuring and helpful and I'll be back very soon for a brand news season. If you are looking for more information on things like cost and exactly what to expect from a private psychological asssessment for your ch

Subscribe to my Substack here and get 20% off as an Owning It listener. On this penultimate episode of the season, I am joined by Hannah Daly, an Occupational Therapist and author who I actually worked with privately to get my son's sensory profile assessed. Here she helps me better understand the relationship between sensory issues and anxiety. What comes first, the anxiety or the sensory issue? Is anxiety always at play? Why do we have sensory issues? How do we know when we need to seek professional help? How does it differ from kids to adults? Are social anxiety and sensory issues inextricably linked? Whether you're a parent of a child with sensory difficulties or you're an adult experiencing anxiety as a result of sensory demands in today's world, this should be an informative and helpful episode. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get 20% off my Substack here as a valued listener of Owning It. This episode is with Sabrina Hill, influencer, business owner, Cork woman, hair stylist and mother of two - a ten month old and a twenty two year old. It was really hard to write a title for this episode because we talk about so much: her experience becoming a parent at 20/21 and the psychosis and breakdown which followed, her divorce, her hormonal issues relating to anxiety, a rare reaction to medication and much more. Sabrina so generously shares her story and I can't thank her enough. Follow her here. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get 20% off my Substack here. A solo episode this week, sharing my experience of depression, the surprising function of intrusive thoughts and the heavy bag we carry. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is all about how ASMR could help your anxiety. What exactly is it? What happens to our brains and bodies when we experience ASMR? What does the research show? ASMR is such a new subject, it's hard to find people who know it inside out in an expert capacity but here I am joined by one such unicorn, Dr Craig Richards who founded the ASMR University. He has been involved in studies as well as working with the woman who coined the term itself. He shares everything he knows when you hit play. Try his relaxation podcasts, Sleep Whispers & Calm History: https://www.silkpodcasts.com/Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This bonus episode is brought to you in collaboration with British Airways Holidays who are on a mission to make all of us take our holidays a little more seriously! I’m joined again by Dr Claire Kambamettu and we dive into our complicated relationship with rest, and the importance of setting firm boundaries when on holiday. We discuss the anxiety we feel around taking time off, the guilt we feel around having to be productive every minute of every day, and how holidays can be the perfect way to get that bigger rest, to complement our daily micro rest requirements. British Airways Holidays encourages everyone to prioritise their well-being by taking their holidays seriously. Alongside competitive pricing, their offerings include a 24-hour  helpline, carefully selected hotels, ATOL protection, and a generous 23kg per person baggage allowance. Moreover, you can secure your holiday from a £60 per person deposit, so customers can relax, rejuvenate, and switch off. Search Ba.com/holidays for more.Support this

Solo episode this week. I'm answering your questions around medication and other people's stigma about it, how anxiety isn't always to blame for our every niggle we feel and exactly what I do if a tsunami of anxiety washes over me. Episodes referenced in this podcast were my Owning It Real Time audio guide for dealing with anxiety first thing in then morning, my solo episode on the fear of going backwards and ones on medication. Please join me on Substack for more.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Buy Sophie White's book My Hot Friend here. Sign up to my Substack with 20% off for more Owning It related content and to connect personally HERE. I am joined here by award winning bestselling author and columnist Sophie White. Sophie shares her story with me, the pivotal moment at the age of 22 that changed everything, the diagnosis of bipolar II she would later receive, the anxiety of needing psychiatric care versus what it was really like and how she eventually began to own her mental illness. I want to include a trigger warning (TW) here as Sophie does discuss a particularly tough point of suicidal ideation that she reached in her mid 20s. Now a mother of three and an incredibly successful writer, I hope that Sophie's story gives reassurance to those struggling with mental illness, whether or not it is bipolar or just more chronic anxiety as was the case for me, that it won't always define you or be all that you do. There's so much to discuss with Sophie, we decided towards the end to make this a two part