 This week on the anxious truth, we're going to talk about the anxiety cycle and the fact that you are not just being triggered But you're also being tricked. So let's go Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the anxious truth. This is episode number 275 of the podcast We are recording in late September of 2023 in case you are listening from the future If you are new to this podcast and just sort of stumbled in today to the podcast or the YouTube video I am Drew lince a lot a creator and host of the anxious truth This is the podcast and the YouTube channel that covers all things anxiety anxiety disorders Anxiety recovery. So if you are struggling with things like recurring panic attacks or agoraphobia or health anxiety or OCD And this is the place for you. I hope you find the content here helpful and useful in some way And of course, if you are a returning viewer or listener, welcome back I'm always glad that you hang out with me once every week or every other week And I hope that I'm helping you too this week We're going to talk about the anxiety cycle, which is something that we talk about all the time in this community You've probably heard a lot of different Descriptions and discussions of the anxiety cycle or the OCD cycle if you have OCD And we're going to talk about the fact that there's triggers involved and most people recognize the word trigger I was triggered my panic was triggered my OCD was triggered But not only is the cycle about being triggered But it's also about being tricked and over time when you begin to realize that the cycle You have the opportunity to break the cycle once the tricked part comes into full view Before we get into that just a very quick reminder the anxious truth is more than just this this video on YouTube or this podcast episode There's 274 other episodes of the podcast are on the YouTube channel that you can check out There are three books that I've written in anxiety anxiety disorders and anxiety recovery There's all of my free social media content There are courses and workshops that all I think are pretty affordable and try to be psycho educational and helpful in nature All of that stuff can be found on my website at the anxious truth comm So take a few minutes pop on over to the anxious truth comm check it out and avail yourself of all those resources People tell me that it's all helpful which makes me feel good because I'm hoping that it is so go check it out A lot of the stuff is free and even the stuff that is in is pretty reasonably priced So go check it out at the anxious truth comm Let's talk about the anxiety cycle Which is that cycle where you get triggered and then you start to come down and you get triggered again And then you come down and that's going to look different for everybody depending on where you are in this journey But the anxiety cycle certainly involves triggering and I think most of you guys listening to the podcast would understand that like oh Yeah, my I was triggered. Yeah, we all know what it means when you say that you were triggered My anxiety was triggered. My panic was triggered. My OCD was triggered and then once triggered This is especially true of you are new to this and this is kind of just started happening to you My anxiety was triggered. I went into a very highly anxious agitated distress state I did whatever I could to try to figure out how to get through that over time It did subside it came back down again now. I'm always really worried that I might get triggered again I'm always on guard. I'm trying to figure out ways to manage my body and my mind to stop it from happening But then it happens again, and I get triggered again And then I'm worried so you wind up in this sort of trigger cycle where you get triggered You go through a period of really high anxiety fear panic intense distress Whatever that may look like for you then it does come down to some degree And then you spend all your time trying not to be triggered again and the cycle continues Sometimes it goes sometimes that cycle is minutes. Sometimes the cycle is ours Sometimes it's a cycle that goes for days. We don't it's going to change over time But most people would recognize that I'm triggered. I get really anxious then when it's over I'm so thankful that it's over and I try so hard To not have it happen again or to be prepared for when it happens again Then you spend your whole life in this situation where you you see yourself as being in a constant cycle of being triggered Over time And this is where change begins to happen Over time as you begin to maybe investigate this more Maybe you start to listen to podcasts like this one or watch videos like this one Maybe you read books like the books that I write Maybe you have heard of claire weeks or some of the other folks that I collaborate with maybe you have a therapist Maybe you have an anxiety support group that you belong to online and you begin to learn a little bit more about this And you start to hear people say things like it's really scary, but it's not dangerous The way to get through this is to work through it as opposed to running from it or avoiding it Like we're not trying to manage our triggers We're trying to learn to get better at being afraid so that we we learn that we don't have to be afraid You might hear all of the things we talk about in this podcast all the time And when you start to incorporate that information At first you might hear somebody like me say panic is really scary But not dangerous and you will reject that and that's normal. This is not true. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about It feels Horrible and I should never let that happen again And that's okay That's where you're in the beginning where the cycle is just trigger then down then trigger then down worry about trigger trigger down Worry triggered down and it just keeps going But at some point you may say well, I don't know maybe he's got a point here Or maybe the people in this support group have a point or maybe claire weeks had a point when she wrote those books Okay, cool And then you begin to look at it a little bit differently and everybody Kind of takes this journey in one form or another and you might be in the very beginning part Where you hear me say things like it's not dangerous and you still don't fully believe it Then you kind of reject it on an emotional level and that's okay But over time as you consume this type of information and maybe you interact with other people Who are struggling with the same things that you are You begin to start to understand that wait a minute It it happened again And everybody keeps telling me that it's really scary and it's really difficult and it's really hard But it's not dangerous and every time it happens. I still wind up. Okay. I was just really scared Why does it keep happening? Why am I getting fooled into this? And at some point in the process you begin to realize That it is not just being triggered, but your anxiety is also tricking you So in the context that we're in in this podcast, we're always talking about a situation Where your anxiety is essentially driven by itself The source of more anxiety is the anxiety. So i'm afraid of being i'm afraid of panic I'm afraid of those sensations. I'm afraid of my thoughts. I'm afraid of my own body and my mind So it's internally generated and I spend all of my time Trying to get away from my own body and my mind So there really really is no actual danger and in that situation you begin to realize Wait a minute. There is no danger. I kind of get that logically now I can't make my brain believe it on an emotional level because when triggered it all goes out the window And I run and I hide and I call my safe people. I hear you. This is normal part of the journey But you do start to at least recognize that Maybe a maybe I am okay But just knowing that doesn't mean anything But you begin to at least start to consider the possibility That maybe this thing is tricking you And so as you go down the road and you start to hear people And if you're involved in online support groups like this or you're in the this sort of online community You'll start to hear people get really angry at it sometimes Like this makes me so angry. Why can't I get this? And if you're in that mode right now where you're thinking Why can't I get this? I hear what they're all saying. Why can't I get it? Why can't I believe it? Well, now you're starting to get it to the point and time where that cycle begins to look a little different It's not just a triggered cycle now. You start to see it as I was triggered I got through it and then you look back and say I was tricked So think of the cycle is now having another component to it. It's not just trigger Calm down worry trigger calm down worry now. It's trigger calm down There's still worry there, but there's another point on that circle now That's where you can look back and say I was tricked again. I was I was tricked again. It got me again Because I I ran home and I recognized I didn't have to run home I canceled my plans and I recognized that logically I didn't have to cancel my plans. It's tricking me And when you get to the point where you add that other equation into the cycle Oh, wait a minute. I got tricked again. It fooled me again And and I went through this anybody who's ever reached the recovered state went through this journey that I'm describing here When you begin to understand or at least consider That part of the cycle is you get triggered you calm down and then you realize that you were tricked Into thinking that you had to take evasive action. You had to run you had to avoid you had to escape You had to cope you had to use all of your strategies You realize that oh it tricked me again. It tricked me into doing all those things. It tricked me into restricting my life It tricked me into avoiding it tricked me into relying on people that I don't want to have to rely on all of those things That's when you get to the point where you can start to say This is where I will start to use that trick point where I recognize the trickery of disordered anxiety if you will It's a it's a trickster. Dave carbonell. Who's very well regarded in in the anxiety disorder community He writes books on this sort of stuff. He's a working therapist. He's been on the podcast He calls anxiety a trickster all the time like panic attacks or tricksters and he's not wrong about that so It feels so strong But then afterwards you begin to realize at some point Early in the journey all you know is it feels so strong. I have to manage this somehow I cannot imagine anything but trying to stop it from happening Don't talk to me about anything else but but calming down and preventing this but over time you discover Well, that's not working. I keep getting triggered. But then you start to realize. Well, it's oh wait a minute It's tricking me. It's tricking me into going into omg mode. Oh my god. Oh my god catastrophe mode It keeps tricking me into going into catastrophe mode When you begin to recognize that you are being tricked on a reasonably regular basis That's when you can start to make a change It's the point where you realize that there's another point on that circle the circle of the the circle of the cycle If you will maybe put some graphics on the screen if I can get the time to do it Where you can say oh wait a minute. I was triggered it passed and now I recognize that I was tricked Now it's going to inform what comes after that on that path that circular path Traditionally, it would be now. I'm going to worry. I'm going to take evasive action. I'm going to retreat I'm going to try and figure out where the trigger was. I'm going to have to try and analyze all this. What was I thinking? What was I feeling? What did I eat? What did I drink that day? Did I use a new shampoo that day that maybe triggered my panic my allergic to this instead of going down that road again This is where you can begin to veer off Wait, I was tricked and so What if I act like I don't have to worry about this? And that's where you begin to make those behavioral changes that say instead of retreating Let's use panic attack for an example You have a panic attack and instead of saying that was horrible, which it certainly is we can agree with that It's a horrible experience That was horrible. It feels horribly dangerous There's no way I should possibly allow that and so now I must continue along the circle Or I'd spend all of my time and energy Figuring that out trying to stop it trying to manage it trying to fix it trying to cure it And I just stay on the same cycle, but when you can say oh it tricked me again I what if what happens it tricks me into making it the most important thing all the time So what if I start to act like it's not the most important thing all the time? That's the time where that's the point in that cycle where you could begin to peel off the circle a little bit So if you're trapped on a circular road at some point You need a way to peel off that right and go off on a tangent away from that circle to get out of the cycle Circle cycle circle cycle This is a tongue twister of an episode here and the where you find that opportunity is in the point where you begin to realize I've been tricked again So when you see the cycle not just as trigger trigger trigger, but as trigger tricked Trigger tricked at some point you say I want to be tricked again. Okay. Well, it just happened I can't stop that it just happened But what can I do a little differently to not get fooled again the next time? This is where maybe I can start to do exposures that teach me how to how to navigate through that triggered state a little bit differently This is where I can try to engage with my life as best I can even though I feel shaky and vulnerable and afraid that I'm Going to panic again This is where you start to make actual changes and if you are in an early stage of this Where every time you hear me say things like this You kind of do the whole I get it but I get it but there's always a but there's always a reason why you can't apply Or it's too hard or it feels too strong or I forget everything but I'm triggered Give it time because at some point you begin to recognize It tricked me again And I know I'm being tricked and I don't want to be tricked anymore So it's the point that we can insert that other realization into the cycle and we say okay now I'm going to start to peel off this path. I'm talking in very metaphorical terms here I'm talking in 50 000 foot view. I I'm not giving you very specific. Well, what do I do? I know you're going to say, well, what do I do different? Tell me give me steps on what to do I can't because everybody steps are going to look a little bit different and in a podcast environment I can't give you specific advice at exactly what to change But what I can do is make you think about this if you are beginning to at least Consider that you might be fooled by your anxiety It tells you what's dangerous. It makes you feel a certain way and then you follow it Then you're starting to get to the point where you feel like I don't want to follow it anymore because this is ruining my life Or this is causing me all kinds of problems and I don't want to do it like this anymore If you start to recognize. Oh, that's the tricking. It's tricking me and at first that's a very faint voice in your head Maybe it is tricking me, but it feels really dangerous. I can't take the chance So I'll treat it like it's real and then over time that voice gets a little louder and a little louder I got tricked again. Damn it. I was tricked again And then sometimes you get angry at it and you see this sometimes in the community And that's the moment where you could say this is my opportunity to think about what I might do differently And in this situation again, the broad brush in that situation would be Instead of making my entire existence About my anxiety and about trying to manage my triggers and figuring it out and stay safe and worrying and focusing on how I feel and what I'm thinking all the time Because I've treated it like it's so important for so long It's tricking me into doing that. So what would if it's tricking me? Then it's not actually dangerous And what if I take the risk of not making it the most important thing in the room for the next hour? What happens? What happens if I go and walk to the park with my dog while I'm really anxious? What might happen there? Like how can I how can I start to refute the trickery? How can I start to like kind of put my hand back in its face and say no, no, you're not going to get me again That's the moment that we can begin to contemplate making actual changes Those would be behavioral changes routine changes dropping safety behaviors starting to do exposures The list is long and beyond just this one podcast episode But if I can leave you with anything today I would leave you with start to consider that maybe you're being tricked And if you're early on in this process, you might say it doesn't feel like it. Sorry Okay, come back come back in a few months and tell me what you think Tell me if it's any different at that point if you feel any different about the idea of being tricked If you've already started to come to the come to grips with the idea that it's tricking me Well, now it's time to start to consider What can I do with that information if I'm starting to really see clearly like it keeps fooling me Into doing what it wants me to do instead of what I want to do Maybe you're gonna sit down and start to think about what I can do different What little changes can I make today that will make today different than yesterday? This is not to say that that is a light bulb moment and suddenly you change everything And you do a week of exposures and suddenly your effects doesn't work that way But that is the inflection point at which you could start to peel off of that cycle Which means you break it and you go off in a different direction And that's that's sort of the trigger slash trick cycle in a 16 minute nutshell It's a bit of a weird concept I think it might be a little bit hard for you to put your brain around especially if you're in the beginning stages But if you are listening and you feel It fooled me again, and you're getting angry at it I can't believe I'll later do that to me This might be valuable to you use that moment to inform a change To motivate a change to get to to sit down and think carefully like What did I do this time that next time I'm not going to do because I recognize the trickery And I don't want to go through another iteration of the cycle where I get to tricked again and say I can't believe it pulled me in again So what can I do differently before my next trigger? And what can I do differently after I get triggered in that triggered state because I know that if I follow it again I'm going to be angry at myself for letting myself be tricked That's a place where you could start to intervene and make some changes that that might actually Enact long-term change that send you down the road to recovery right because in the end It's not just a thinking fix. We can't fix this by thinking and having new thoughts We have to fix it with new behavior And we this is a way to start to inform that new behavior So notice when you're being tricked because kind of you are and again If you're in the early stages of this process and you're feeling like No way is this a trick. This feels real. It's super dangerous. Stop saying that I get it I'm not trying to offend you put it down for a little while See how it goes learn what you can come back to this concept later on But if you're ready to use this concept, maybe I've given you like a little bit of a lever point You can use to start to make some changes And that is episode 275 of the anxious truth in the books, you know, it's over because The music that's new music. I miss the old music too So for those of you commenting that you miss after glow me too What the stupid youtube algorithm and the copyright thing just makes it so that I can't use it anymore Anyway, I appreciate you coming by today If this episode has been helpful to you or the podcast in general has been helpful to you and you're listening on Apple podcast or Spotify or some platform that lets you rate a review leave a five star rating if you dig it Maybe take a second and write a review because it helps more people find the podcast and more people get the help That they probably need and that's always a good thing Of course, if you're watching on youtube subscribe to the channel hit the notification bell So you know when I upload new episodes leave a comment like the video love to interact with you guys on youtube It's been a whole lot of fun now that I started doing that for the past six months and I will continue to do that And yeah, I'll be back in another two weeks with another episode Not really sure what I'm going to be talking about but I will be and just remember that no matter What small step you can take today doesn't matter how tiny it is if you could take a step in a different direction today Going toward your fear learning that you are capable It counts they will add up and they will get you to where you want to be Down the road be patient be nice to yourself and try something hard today. I bet you could do it even when you think you can See you next time