Let's face it; taking the time to really understand anxiety symptoms is boring. There just isn't anything sexy about the autonomic nervous system. But that doesn't change the fact that it's important. If you can wrap your head around how your anxiety symptoms spring to life then you've won. Remember that scene from The Matrix when Neo is standing in a hallway made of green numbers? That's true badassery. And that can be you. Truly understanding how anxiety symptoms work paves the way towards ultimate freedom from fear, worry, and every
How to Get the Most Out of Therapy
What's so special about therapy anyway? Isn't it just a super long conversation with a stranger? No, it's not. It's much more. It can feel like the millions of conversations you've had in the past but with one major twist. When done right therapy elicits the truth; you know that thing you hide from everybody. Most people aren't totally honest about their inner world because humans are damn good liars, which isn't all bad. Lying serves an important function in that it helps us to keep on a pretty mask so the "ugly" doesn't scare away
Why I Never Took Psych Meds
The reason I never took medication is dead simple. I was scared. I used to think that using psych meds meant risking my sanity, so why push my luck? Sounds dumb now but that's what my mind screamed at the height of my nervous sickness. There was also the issue of control. Actually, I still have control issues. I like to be in control - always have. When I'm in a car, I drive. When I'm on an airplane, I wish like hell that I could drive. So back in the day the more I felt anxiety the more I craved control of my environment and
Hope in the Face of Fear
I'm intrigued by anxious people. What isn't interesting about somebody else's anxiety? In some ways it's like holding up a mirror and confirming, among other things, that you aren't alone in all this. At the same time it's an opportunity to learn about how others manage their symptoms and fears. I just recorded an interview with Jess, a brave soul that wanted to share her story to help you move on, past fear and away from anxiety. What We Covered During the Interview: The origins of Jess's anxiety Her family's reaction to her
Dinner With Panic
I had a friend ask me if anxiety could kill him. He's new to abnormal anxiety so he wanted to know what to expect. I thought about giving him some kind of "how to" tip but something told me that a story would be better. After I told him the story he seemed to understand the nature of anxiety and how he could deal with it. Today I want to share that story with you. I got so excited about telling you this story that I decided to produce a podcast instead of writing about it. I think it explains a pretty powerful idea about anxiety that I hope
My Appearance on the Happy Hour Radio Show
I recently had the privilege of appearing on the Happy Hour Radio Show. I joined Anxiety Gal and her co-host Holly (pictured left) to talk about my past anxiety problems, what I did to get better, and about my work at Anxiety Guru. At one point during the segment, Holly put me on the spot and asked me to explain abnormal anxiety in just a few minutes, and I'm glad she did. It gave me a chance to give a spontaneous and honest answer to a question that I've wrestled with for years. I usually don't have a chance to get introspective about
The AG Phone Line is Now Open!
Based on the amount of email I get regarding the Anxiety Guru podcast it seems to be one of the most popular aspects of this blog. In an effort to improve the podcast and broaden its scope I've setup a dedicated Skype voice-mail that you can call to ask questions or leave comments. For you shy types out there don't worry because no one is going to pick up the line. It's just a recording of me thanking you for your contribution. What I plan to do is take the recorded messages and include them in the podcast itself and address the
Speaking of Anxiety
What's the secret recipe to curing abnormal anxiety? Well. If you've spent anytime on this site than you probably already have a good idea. But given that its taken me almost three years to amass that information, it could take you awhile to dig into it all. So today I got a time saver for you. On December 7, 2010 I gave my first interview. In it, I talk about what I think are the most effective ways to overcome abnormal anxiety. I did the interview for a Canadian organization called Shepell fgi. It was the biggest conference call
Try to Avoid this Anxiety Pitfall
I know that most of the people that read this blog and listen to my podcast do so because their looking for answers. You're all looking for ways to make the anxiety stop, so you can get back to business as usual. So I want to share with you a quick tip to help you along. One the biggest mistakes I made as an anxiety sufferer early on was to waste time. I wasted loads of time pondering, dreaming, and questioning everything, but during all that I wasn't doing much. That's because anxiety has the capacity to put you in a state of stagnation and