Anxiety Triggers: When The List Starts To Grow : Foundations of Panic #6 (Podcast EP 287)

Anxiety Triggers: When The List Is Growing
Many members of our community will find that over time their list of anxiety triggers or panic attack triggers is growing. More and more things become triggers, which starts to get frustrating and disheartening. Let's talk about why that happens, and what it means in the recovery process.
Important Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:17 Everything becomes an anxiety trigger when you're in an anxious state
08:08 If you feel like everything is a possible anxiety trigger, remember this
13:15 Learning to face fear requires courage and it requires repetition
Full show notes on this episode:
theanxioustruth.com/287
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🎵 Music Used on My Podcast: AfterGlow by Ben Drake (with permission)
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[@beausmom8863]

I’m not new, I’ve been working through this for 3 years. I was doing a lot better and thought I had beat it…then it came back. I’ve been struggling really bad. This was SO helpful. I’ve been letting strange things trigger me. I’m tired, trigger. I’m not busy so I have time to sit and relax, oddly, BIG trigger. I have health anxiety so since I am not busy and I am SO sensitive right now my body is firing off like crazy and keeping me even more triggered. I needed to hear this. Thanks so much Drew. I will get there again. I know I can because I got there before.

[@user-bd5kr1rg5q]

Drew, you are truly a godsend. Your book and podcast have been the most important thing in my recovery from panic disorder, agoraphobia, and derealization. It's what made me fed up with how I was living (or not living) and what got me to stop thinking, and start DOING. I still have a ways to go in my journey, but I am making so much progress in a short period of time and I have you to thank for the motivation. Thank you for everything that you do.

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

Awwww thanks so much for the kind words. I appreciate them. But do not forget that YOU are the one doing the heavy lifting! Keep at it. Sounds like you're finding your way now. :-)

[@redunkulous9901]

I am grateful for Anxious Truth.

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

I'm glad I'm able to help in some small way. :-)

[@danlazer8762]

Excellent overview, Drew. Even those of us that are seasoned experiencers of all of the different flavors and varieties of panic and anxiety can get a bit lost in the weeds from time to time. We can forget a lot of the things you mentioned. It’s easy to get tricked by creative minds. Deep thinkers I think struggle more with anxiety. It’s like you have trained this powerful brain muscle to do incredible things. To think outside the box, solve challenging problems in work or even with hobbies or other interests, and then just as it can do these valuable things it can also create lousy what ifs that have very little chance of happening. Comes with the territory.

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

The first time Martin Seif was on the podcast he said, "Brains can produce amazing stuff, but also total crap" (paraphrasing). Accurate!

[@lozb1631]

Great episode. You always state the facts and how to then move forward with different behaviours. Last of all you always are hopeful in your words which is what you need to hear when you're in the throws of it!

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

Thank you. I appreciate that feedback. Sometimes I feel like a broken record in these episodes, but just can't make content that keeps telling people that they feel bad without providing some direction on how to address that (even when that direction is hard and scary).

[@AlexisAcevedo-nr7bk]

I feel like if I let my guard down and not worry about my anxiety or scan for it it will catch me off guard and I’ll experience “losing control” because that’s my fear. I feel if I let my guard down the worst will happen. It is so hard but I am trying it just makes me more anxious

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

Keep in mind that you are supposed to get more anxious when you try to let your guard down. The object of letting go is to learn that even though that feels really dangerous (this is why you get more anxious at first), you are still OK and can handle that. The initial rise in anxiety is expected. Its part of the process. It doesn't mean you're doing it wrong or failing. xx

[@judypoyer8380]

Everything triggers me with anxiety don't want to go to stores ,restaurants & have negative thoughts.

[@Auntie909]

Go anyhow, start small.

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

This is the virtually universal experience among folks that share this struggle. And the fact that we move through those things and do what we are afraid to do so we can learn that we are capable of doing that makes this a difficult plan to execute. Its OK to be scared. That doesn't mean you're hopeless, doing it wrong, or permanently broken.

[@sharonstamm6926]

Great Podcast. I am recovered--well, mostly. I just had a small panic attack after several stressful situations--like getting sick on a trip. Ugh! This is a great reminder and because I have the skills, I immediately got over it and didn't focus on it. Thanks, Drew. I have come so far under Claire Weekes and you!

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

This is great! I mean not that you got sick and had a panic attack, but that you were able to quickly move past it. THAT is what recovery looks like. Well done Sharon! :-)

[@alicel6095]

Love this

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

I'm glad it resonated for you in some way. :-)

[@hollybea9676]

7 months in, still not better :( but maybe I’m coping a little better. I feel depressed and don’t want to get out of bed in mornings x

[@AlexisAcevedo-nr7bk]

This episode is also great because it’s true every time I’m happy or excited it turns into anxiety! I get so anxious and feel all my anxiety physical symptoms. I have learned to be scared of every emotion due to anxiety and how I perceive it!

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

That's good insight! Sometimes we get stuck on insisting that there really is a threat or that something really must be wrong. If you can get to the point where you can kinda wrap your brain around the concept that we accidentally learn to be afraid of our own selves , you're taking your first steps!

[@jonathanvroon535]

Hi all! I m in a really bad burnout since some weeks, and panic attacks that mostly took 10 minutes (with acceptance thanks to drew) , now became (after really bad fight with my wife) an episode of HOURS with terrible waves of panic. I never experienced panic so bad and of course couldn’t really sleep. DOES ANYONE RECOGNIZE THIS? 🫣 I can have some encouraging right now 😢🙏🏻

[@DianaVisser-gy2or]

I get panic attacks when I try to nap. My brain senses when the sleep comes and I’ll get anxiety rushes and then that leads to panic. Then when I tried to keep practicing, it also happened at night. So I stopped napping. Because I got scared of falling asleep. And don’t want to risk my night sleep. Now I can sleep peaceful at night. But now I’m always anxious because I can never sleep when I want. Now that might not sound like a problem. But if I get sick… or when I would go on a holiday and have a jet lag… I can’t sleep when I want to. So now I’m all ocd about it. No napping no matter how tired you are. This is very distressing because I don’t want to put my night sleep at risk. It’s like when I panic during the day, my brain remembers that sleep is dangerous. So it will do the same thing at night. How do I deal with that? (Btw, this started when I tapered off benzos, and then napping became a problem. And that’s when the anxiety around napping started. Just to explain, because logically you would reason there is no difference in sleep… whether it’s night sleep or day sleep. But that’s what triggered it). I watched a lot of sleep coach Daniels videos, but this is just a very weird problem. Any sugggestions?

[@redunkulous9901]

You and I are not so different. I have this exact same trigger and Im still trying to overcome it. Paraphrasing what Drew said, but it seems you and I have misplaced a lot of stress about napping because napping is so natural why cant we do something so fcking simple. Then this gives our brains to see naps as trigger and the cycle repeats. I suggest for myself too to let go of the stress of napping and just practice napping until it comes on naturally

[@DianaVisser-gy2or]

Well when I get weird symptoms around napping, for instance, my brain catches my sleep by actually making me aware of the first signs of dreams coming. If that happens, then it happens at night as well. And I get no sleep at all. If I leave it alone for a couple of days, my nights start to be normal again. Although sleep is poor.

[@DianaVisser-gy2or]

Don’t you have the same thing where it starts interfering with your night sleep?

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

I don't see a "weird problem" here at all. You have connected your fear of anxiety and panic (fear of fear) to napping so that makes it feel like a special napping/sleep issue, but is is possible that its just being afraid to experience those anxious sensations? Maybe ask how this is any different than someone who experienced a panic attack in a movie theater and now refuses to go to the movies. It might help to reframe this to take the "weirdness" out of it.

[@DianaVisser-gy2or]

Well that makes sense. But the problem is, that it doesn’t happen at night. Unless I try to nap. Then these adrenaline rushes come and I panic. And then if I have that experience it starts to happen at night as well. As a former insomniac, I’m afraid that will come back. So now I’m all ocd about when I can sleep and when I can’t. Because ‘weirdly’ it doesn’t happen at night. Only during daytime. And you would argue that if you can sleep normal at night your brain will learn it’s safe, so sleep in general is safe. But it works exactly the opposite. If I get panic during a nap. I start to have the adrinaline rushes and panic at night as well. And I’ll go back to insomnia land… where coach Daniel explained insomnia is fear of being awake. But now I fear falling asleep on times my brain won’t have it. That’s what makes it weird for me.

[@Ant6O7]

Recently I’ve been hyper focused on my breathing and thinking I have to breathe manually. Anyone else experience that? And if you did how did you deal with it? It’s like my symptoms keep changing on me

[@jessicar7025]

Apparently that's called Sensorimotor and Somatic Awareness OCD (not diagnosing you but giving you language to search with). There's some videos out there explaining it, but it seems like the treatment is basically the same as always :)

[@Ant6O7]

@@jessicar7025 thank you so much!!

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

Jessica is correct in that the approach is the same no matter what the symptom is. Its the resistance, the frantic attempt to breathe correctly and control it all, that causes the problem. Start by noticing that when you sleep (even for 15 minutes), your body breathes just fine. When you get distracted for a few minutes, your body know how to breathe. Then (oversimplified here) we work on allowing ourselves to be afraid of scary thoughts about not breathing while we let go (feels risky, right) and let reality take over.

[@person2821]

Do you have anything on explaining to a friend what's "wrong" or WHY i have anxiety, he thinks something is wrong

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

This is a 6 year old episode, but you might find it helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKuYhX56mZmXis0

[@Cozmargandescu]

Hello, I have been feeling much much better lately, almost symptom free just a little hyperstimulation now and then BUT i suddenly started having some small nocturnal panick attacks, not as strong as a real one just that they are kinda scary since they manifest kinda suddenly while i dream. I wake up hyperventilating and the sense of inpending doom. I haven't had panick attacks in a long while. Why now in sleep?

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

Nocturnal panic attacks aren't special panic attacks. I know they feel like they need a special explanation and special instructions, but they kinda don't. Try to see them as panic attacks that happen at night rather than mysteries that have to be unpacked. We want to relate to a nocturnal panic attack the same way we would relate to a daytime panic attack. Its OK to be initially triggered into OMG! mode (because you're human), then we work on relaxing into it, dropping all resistance, and letting it run its course naturally. Again, sounds simple, but its hard to do. Its OK if it takes some time to get there.

[@PanickedMomma]

Off topic! Your books saved my life, where can i send them for a signature. Id like a signed book for school, Im also a therapist in training. 📚🎉💭🧠

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

Awww. I would be happy to sign books for you and I am cheering for you as you go through your training! By the time we ship them here and back, it might be less expensive for you to just go here and grab what you want: www.etsy.com/shop/TheAnxiousTruth?sort_order=price_asc&section_id=40629168

[@PanickedMomma]

❤❤❤ thank you!

[@Auntie909]

Looking for a video on phone ocd? Have you done one?

[@TheAnxiousTruth]

I'm not sure I understand the term "phone OCD" but the episode of Disordered I just did with Josh Fletcher talks about the different varieties of OCD and if you just search my channel for "OCD" you'll find some stuff that you might find useful. Remember that while it might seem like you need special rules or instructions for your given obsession, generally speaking the principles remain the same regardless of the focus. www.disordered.fm/the-great-ocd-whistle-stop-tour-of-2024-episode-54/