Kimberley Answers Your TOP Questions About Generalized Anxiety Disorder | Ep. 424

In this episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit, we’re answering your top questions about Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), breaking down what makes it different from other anxiety disorders, and sharing powerful, science-backed strategies to help you manage anxiety with confidence.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The key differences between everyday worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
• How GAD compares to social anxiety, OCD, and health anxiety
• Why GAD and depression are often diagnosed together—and what to do about it
• The most effective treatments for GAD, including CBT, mindfulness, and ERP
• How to accept anxiety rather than fight it, and why that shift can change everything
• Practical tips for parents helping children navigate anxiety

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Your Top Questions Answered

Anxiety is a natural part of life. We all feel it from time to time—before a big test, an important meeting, or even a life change like moving to a new home. But when anxiety starts to take over, becoming a constant presence that disrupts daily life, it may be more than just everyday worry—it could be Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

In this article, we’ll answer the top questions about GAD, explore what makes it different from other anxiety disorders, and share science-backed, compassionate strategies to help you navigate it.

What Makes Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Different?

It’s normal to experience anxiety, but GAD is different in key ways:

• It’s persistent. To meet the criteria for a GAD diagnosis, anxiety must be present on most days for at least six months.
• It’s excessive. The worry often feels uncontrollable and disproportionate to the situation.
• It’s broad. While other anxiety disorders focus on specific fears (like social situations or health concerns), GAD is characterized by persistent worry about a variety of topics—work, health, finances, relationships, and more.
• It can feel catastrophic. Many people with GAD experience worst-case-scenario thinking, assuming that if one thing goes wrong, everything else will unravel.
• It’s not focused on a single trigger. Unlike OCD, phobias, or PTSD, GAD doesn’t have one clear object of fear. Instead, it spreads across many areas of life.

How Can I Tell If I Have GAD?

If you’re wondering whether you might have GAD, ask yourself:

• Do I worry most days, even when there’s no immediate threat?
• Do I feel out of control when it comes to my anxiety?
• Is my anxiety interfering with my daily life, relationships, or ability to function?
• Do I struggle with physical symptoms like restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, or difficulty sleeping?

If you answered “yes” to several of these, it might be time to talk to a mental health professional who can provide an assessment.

GAD vs. Other Anxiety Disorders: What’s the Difference?

GAD can sometimes overlap with other conditions, making it tricky to differentiate. Here’s how it compares:

• GAD vs. Social Anxiety: People with social anxiety are primarily focused on fears of judgment, embarrassment, or rejection in social situations, while GAD involves broader, non-social worries.
• GAD vs. OCD: Both involve intrusive thoughts, but OCD includes compulsive behaviors aimed at reducing distress. GAD is more about chronic worry without repetitive rituals.
• GAD vs. Health Anxiety: While GAD may include concerns about health, health anxiety (previously called hypochondria) is specifically centered on fears of having a serious illness.
• GAD vs. PTSD: If anxiety stems from a past traumatic event and includes flashbacks, nightmares, or avoidance of trauma-related triggers, PTSD is a more fitting diagnosis.

Understanding these distinctions can help you and your therapist determine the best treatment approach.

Can You Overcome GAD?

Absolutely. Recovery from GAD is possible, but it requires learning new skills, making small mindset shifts, and taking consistent action. The good news is that these changes are completely doable.

The Most Effective Treatments for GAD

Research shows that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based approaches are the most effective treatments for GAD.

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps people challenge and reframe anxious thoughts while developing healthier behaviors. The focus is on:

• Identifying thought distortions such as catastrophizing and black-and-white thinking
• Testing the reality of fears through cognitive restructuring
• Gradual exposure to feared situations to build tolerance

2. Mindfulness and Self-Compassion

Mindfulness-based strategies help people step back from their anxious thoughts rather than getting caught up in them. Key practices include:

• Observing thoughts without judgment instead of believing every anxious thought is true
• Responding to anxiety with kindness instead of self-criticism
• Using grounding techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or mindful walks

3. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

While commonly used for OCD, ERP can also be helpful for GAD. This involves gradually exposing yourself to anxiety-provoking situations while resisting the urge to avoid or seek reassurance.

Example: If you fear making mistakes at work, you might practice submitting a report without triple-checking every word—learning to tolerate uncertainty rather than trying to eliminate it.

4. Medication: Is It Necessary?

Many people successfully manage GAD without medication, but for some, it can be a helpful tool. The gold standard treatment for GAD is a combination of CBT and medication, but if medication doesn’t align with your personal values, therapy alone can still be highly effective.

How Can I Learn to Accept Anxiety?

One of the biggest mindset shifts for managing GAD is learning to stop fighting anxiety and instead respond to it differently.

Here are three key attitude shifts:

• Be gentle with yourself. Instead of getting frustrated when anxiety shows up, try responding with kindness: “Oh, there’s my anxious brain again. I see you.”
• Just because it feels dangerous doesn’t mean it is. Anxiety often tricks us into believing that discomfort means danger, but that’s not true. Learning to sit with discomfort is key to breaking the cycle.
• Adopt a ‘bring it on’ mentality. Instead of avoiding anxiety, lean into it. Tell yourself, “I can handle this. I refuse to let anxiety control my life.”

GAD and Depression: Why Are They Often Diagnosed Together?

Living with chronic anxiety is exhausting. It can wear you down, drain your confidence, and make life feel overwhelming—so it’s no surprise that many people with GAD also experience depression.

The key is to address the thought patterns that fuel both anxiety and depression while building daily habits that boost resilience.

• Engage in enjoyable activities, even if you don’t feel like it
• Build small moments of self-care into your routine
• Practice self-compassion instead of beating yourself up

Helping a Child with Anxiety: What Parents Can Do

If your child struggles with anxiety, their instinct will be to avoid situations that make them anxious. As a parent, your job is to help them face their fears in a manageable way.

• Create a “Fear Bucks” system – Every time they do something brave, they earn a point that can be traded for a small reward.
• Encourage small, manageable steps – If school is overwhelming, start with attending for half a day and gradually build up.
• Model calm responses to anxiety – Show them that fear is normal but doesn’t have to control them.

Final Thoughts: There Is Hope

If you take one thing away from this, let it be this: You can overcome GAD.

Recovery doesn’t happen overnight, but small, consistent changes make a huge impact. You don’t have to feel “ready” to start—just take the first step.

If you want more guidance, check out Your Anxiety and Panic Toolkit at cbtschool.com/overcominganxiety.

You are not alone.
You are stronger than anxiety.
And you absolutely can recover.

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Transcription: Kimberley Answers Your TOP Questions About Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Today I am answering your top questions about generalized anxiety,  all of the different ways that it’s different to other anxiety disorders. You guys brought so many questions to the table and I’m here to answer them today. Welcome! If you’re new here, this is your Anxiety Toolkit podcast. My name is Kimberly Quinlan.

 

Today we’re here just to deliver you Massive virtual hugs and science based, compassionate, effective skills to help you manage your anxiety. Now, as you probably know, we are doing a month of a magnified, zoomed in look at generalized anxiety disorder and panic, and how you can overcome. those conditions. 

 

I am so excited to zoom in so close and address these really, really close. I wanted to make sure I answered all of your questions and I went to Instagram and asked what your questions were about generalized anxiety disorder and you guys came. in hot with the best questions. I was really shocked at the questions that you guys asked.

 

Many of you asked very, very much the same questions, which made me realize that we have a lot of work to do. So I have my piece of paper here. I am going to do my best to get through as many as we can so that by the end of this episode you Feel fully versed, you know what is and is not generalized anxiety disorder, you know what to do about it, you know the ins and the outs of the nuances and you feel empowered and ready to get going.

 

Now, if you missed last week’s episode, I strongly encourage you to go back and listen where I talk about three attitude shifts that you can make with anxiety. It is so important that you listen to that because those are going to be the key. key points that you take with you, even if you know exactly what is and is not generalized anxiety.

 

You’re going to need those for any anxiety condition that you experience. So go back and listen to that and let’s just get to the questions. 

 

Okay, so the first question was, if everyone gets anxious sometimes, what makes for a diagnosis of GAD? So we’re going to call GAD the short version of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. So we’re really talking about the fact that, yes, everyone experiences anxiety. It’s totally Normal to have anxiety. Anxiety is what we feel in our bodies when we have perceived a threat or a deadline or there’s a test or there’s something that’s high stakes.

 

You might have anxiety about getting married. You might have anxiety about a new house you’re buying because your body is Perceives these as threatening to your overall wellbeing. Maybe your bank account, maybe your friendships. Of course, we all have anxiety. Anxiety in and of itself is not a problem.

 

However, if you’re experiencing anxiety to a degree that it’s impacting your general wellbeing and it’s causing you a significant degree of distress. it’s likely that you have an anxiety disorder. So GAD specifically, to get diagnosed with GAD, you need to have a certain set of criteria. And I’m going to go through that with you just so we’re clear moving forward.

 

So it involves anxiety and worry about Everyday events, right? Work, money, school, friends, relationships, you know, your daily health might be a stressor for you, specifically if you’ve got a health condition. And so that is where the focus of generalized anxiety is. And the frequency is that it has to occur more days than not for at least  So let’s say you’re going through something different.

 

You’re moving and you’re having stress about the moving. That wouldn’t be considered generalized anxiety unless it’s been, been there and consistent for over that six month period. Now, in this case, the person cannot control the worry. They feel out of control and taken over by that anxiety. And it tends often to be that the anxiety is significantly lower.

 

Catastrophic or black and white. A lot of my clients will come in and they’re dealing with real stresses, yes, but their interpretation is catastrophic. The meaning they’re giving this event is catastrophic. Let’s say they’re working towards a big promotion at work, but in their mind, it’s not just, well, if I don’t make this promotion.

 

I’ll keep the same job. They might be like, I’ll get fired, and I’ll lose my house, and I’ll lose my wife, and I’ll lose my kids, and everyone will hate me, and they’ll think I’m a loser. And it’s very much about that catastrophic outcome. That’s very, very typical of generalized anxiety. Now the thing that’s really important here, and a lot of your questions as I looked over this, was like, what about social anxiety?

 

What about OCD? And we will go through those, I promise. But the main thing when we’re looking at a diagnosis as a clinician is that the focus isn’t on Another area. So if it was social anxiety, you would have that irrational, you know, very catastrophic anxiety has lasted for a long time is causing distress, but the focus is on whether people are judging you or the fear of being embarrassed in public or so forth.

 

If let’s say the focus of your anxiety was needles, we would better understand that as a needle phobia than we would. generalized anxiety. Now let’s say you’re spending a lot of time worrying about your health. Yes, that’s a daily stressor, but it’s better understood as health anxiety than it is generalized anxiety disorder.

 

So really the focus of the specific fear can help determine which specific anxiety disorder the person has.  Now, another thing to keep in mind here is it does not include just trauma. Because, again, if there’s a focus on a trauma that is causing this anxiety, That would be better understood as post traumatic stress disorder.

 

The last thing is, is that we can rule out any medical conditions. And this was the case for me personally. As you probably know, I have postural orthostatic tachycardic syndrome. It means that I faint. It means I get dizzy. I’m dizzy. It means I get stomach aches. It means I’m lightheaded. A lot of those symptoms could be anxiety symptoms.

 

So it’s important that I understood what is my medical condition and didn’t just blanket statement that as generalized anxiety. I hope that helps because that’s super important. If you haven’t been to see your doctor, go have your general yearly assessment so that they can rule out any medical conditions. 

 

So the next question is, how do we know our condition is GAD? Well, number one, you’re going to meet most of that criteria. I think the main thing that I would say to a client is, it’s more about what your experience is. If you feel like this is really impacting your life, if you’re suffering at a great degree, Well then, you deserve to get treatment and that diagnosis.

 

So it’s often about you really being honest with yourself about your symptoms and then also going to a trained mental health or medical doctor where they can do a thorough assessment and make sure you get the correct diagnosis. Some people come to me, they’ve self diagnosed themselves and they were spot on.

 

They can tell based on the criteria I just went through exactly what was going on. And yes, of course, that makes total sense, whereas other people do require a formal assessment so that they can feel very confident moving forward.  Someone said, How do we know the difference between GAD and social anxiety?

 

Well, as I said, the symptoms are very, very similar. However, with social anxiety, the focus of the fear is often around being judged, the fear of being embarrassed, the fear of public speaking, it’s often about how people will perceive them and the shame and anxiety that they feel when they’re in public speaking to people, maybe it’s one on one that their social anxiety shows up, maybe it’s in front of a large group, could be at work.

 

Again, it’s very similar to generalized anxiety, but the focus of the fear is very isolated to one topic.  Someone asked, is GAD and OCD more related than we originally thought? So there are dozens of questions here about OCD and the overlap with GAD. But this is what I’m going to say simply. Number one,  both GAD and OCD have obsessions.

 

which is a intrusive, repetitive thought, feeling, sensation, or an urge. With GAD, it tends to be more related to general daily stresses, whereas with OCD it tends to be specific and very, very repetitive and have a high level of urgency and uncertainty seeking.  Or should I say, a lot of Certainty seeking.

 

The other thing here is that with generalized anxiety, there are mental compulsions and avoidant compulsions, maybe some reassurance seeking compulsions, whereas OCD tends to have those plus other behavioral compulsions. Again, they tend to be more urgent, they tend to be to reduce Uncertainty, they tend to be very much focused on and ruminative and cyclic in the way that they play out, but I am going to do a whole specific episode on this exact topic in the next week.

 

It will be a bonus episode because I literally. I needed to make a whole episode just on the OCD GAD overlap. The thing to remember here is most people now think of them as one and the same and similar. The treatment can be very similar also but there are some nuanced differences and it’s important that you do go to see an OCD specialist who can assess you to make sure you’re ruling out one over the other.

 

But again, I’m going to do a whole episode on that so that you’re not walking away feeling confused. As I said, I want this month to be very, very zoomed in and I want it to be as specialized as we can. So let’s move on from there. Going back to the question though, is GAD and OCD more related than we originally thought?

 

One million percent.  Next question. Is it possible to overcome GAD? Yes, I am walking proof of that. It does require you to do some work. It does require you to, um, have to change some things about your day. It does require you to have to stand up to your anxious brain and really respond to it in a very wise, effective way.

 

One of the reasons that we are relaunching this month, which is, for those who are listening, it’s March 1st. of 2025, where relaunching your anxiety and panic toolkit is because there is so much hope. And if you don’t have access to a therapist, there are certain specific skills that you’re going to need to acquire so that you’re not feeding that cycle of generalized anxiety and panic, and that you can break that cycle.

 

And the reason I’m really pushing that this week, this month is,  it’s not That huge of a shift either, it’s just that you have to understand some key concepts that are not going to come naturally, meaning our instinct when we’re anxious is to run away from it, to fight it, to resist it, to push it away, or to ruminate about it.

 

And we have to. to change that and interrupt that pattern and incorporate healthier, wiser, more effective actions. And Your Anxiety and Panic Toolkit will teach you everything that you need in regards to breaking that cycle. If you’re interested in the Your Anxiety and Panic Toolkit, go to cbtschool. com forward slash overcoming anxiety and you can check it out and see if it’s something that would be helpful for you. 

 

All right. Why is GAD and depression often diagnosed together? Well, if you have GAD, you will understand that it’s very distressing. It can take over your life. It can feel like you’re doing the day to day. But everything is harder. You have to work so much harder when you have GAD. It is exhausting, it is frustrating, and it takes away your confidence.

 

And that is one of the most  painful parts of it, is you feel so debilitated and weak and scared and vulnerable. all the time. You’re not. You’re not weak. You’re not vulnerable. But the experience is that. You’re still the most amazing, incredible human being. You’re still strong. You’re still capable and resilient.

 

But the experience in your head and your heart is that the world is really, really scary. I always say to my husband, it feels like the sky is falling. And that is how I can explain it. Like, I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop and for the world to go. sort of go up in flames or my life to go up in flames.

 

And so it’s really important here to understand that when you feel that way all the time, it’s very easy to become depressed. It’s depressing. It feels hopeless. It feels helpless. It takes away your sense of worth and identity. And so absolutely it does make us more vulnerable to have depression. And so it’s really important again that you Identify and understand and acknowledge that that is a normal experience, but that we can use some skills to manage your anxiety so that you don’t feel depressed and hopeless about your future. 

 

Next question. How do I accept feeling anxious all day? We talked about this in the last episode. There are three specific attitudinal shifts that you will need to make. One will be gentle with yourself when you experience that anxiety. Number two will be, just because it feels dangerous doesn’t mean it is.

 

And how can I actually shift my attitude towards this anxiety to  allowing it to be just neutral, be like, oh. There it is again, right? Oh, there it is. Good one, anxiety. You’re trying to freak me out again. And then the third attitudinal shift is bring it on. I am not going to let anxiety take my life away.

 

I’m going to go and do the thing that scares me. I’m going to go and do the thing that makes me uncomfortable. I’m going to do the thing that lines up with my values. And if you practice that every single day,  Within a few months, you will be shocked. You probably won’t even recognize yourself because it’s incredible how much you can get done and what you can do when you’re not leading from fear.

 

You’re leading from your beliefs, your values, what you want in for you for your future.  What is the best treatment modalities for GAD? So the research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness based treatment modalities are the most effective for GAD. We use a cognitive component where we look at our thoughts and how we  We have a behavioral component where we look at our responses and our actions and our behaviors, and we work at improving and implementing more effective, kind, you know, empowering actions that line up with your values, just like we talked about.

 

And then there’s that mindfulness and self compassion piece where you can. Start to observe your thoughts and observe your feelings and learning to really have this internal shift towards them instead of constantly trying to run away. Mindfulness and self compassion are Key to overcoming anxiety. In my opinion, every course I’ve ever made, every podcast episode I’ve ever made is laced with self-compassion and mindfulness, because it’s so, so important for recovery  is there are things such as high performing anxiety.

 

I feel like for those people it can’t be that bad. Actually, quite the opposite.  There are many people who have what we call high functioning anxiety and they’re suffering as much as those who aren’t functioning. It just might appear like they’re happy and smiling, but internally they’re in so much pain, they feel terrible all the time, they’re beating themselves up, they constantly feel like they have to meet the next big goal, they’re exhausted, they have Often very low self worth, it’s equally as painful and I know some people who have had that said it’s more painful because everyone sees them as so high performing when they don’t perform so high.

 

Everybody notices, everybody comments, everyone checks in, and that can be so shaming and so scary for that person. P. S. The reason I know this is because I’m that person.  And I’ve had to work really hard at being honest and actually telling people that I’m actually not okay when I’m not okay. Or go and get help when I’m struggling and step down from trying to be a high performer.

 

This has been a huge part of my own recovery and a huge reason why self compassion is important because it allowed me to treat myself kindly enough to not keep pushing so hard all the time. So it’s super important and that’s a great question.  Does metacognitive therapy work for GAD? Yes, it does. We have tons of research.

 

Metacognitive therapy is a mindfulness and cognitive component of treatment where we learn how to respond differently to the thoughts and feelings. that we experience. P. S.  Again, P. S. Shh. I have some really exciting things coming on that particular topic, so you’re gonna want to stick around for the next two episodes.

 

Okay? You’re gonna love it. I promise. Next question. Can you overcome GAD without medication? You can! It’s just harder.  As you guys know, I’m pro med. I have no problem taking meds and admitting that I take a med for anxiety. I have no shame about that. Lots of my clients take meds because the research shows that a combination of CBT and medication is the gold standard treatment.

 

However, if you do not want to take meds and it doesn’t line up with your values and beliefs, That’s fine. There are millions of people who can recover without medication. It might be a little more difficult. The voices might be a little louder or the thoughts might be louder. The urges to do compulsions might be a little stronger.

 

But you absolutely can. There are some people who can’t take medication for medical reasons. They too can get better. It just really means they have to just do a little extra homework, put in that little extra work to really cross the finish line, but it’s totally possible. And I think that I’ve seen.

 

Both be successful.  How to help my daughter get back to school with severe anxiety. Now this is a very painful situation. When you have a child who has anxiety, their instinct is going to be to avoid, to run away from, just like adults. And so in this case, what we want to do is get them professional care.

 

Or at the least, if you can’t get professional care, teach them the skills that they need because it will be you as a parent to teach them that running away only makes it worse, fighting it only makes it worse, beating themselves up only makes them worse, and there are these other alternatives that you can teach them and empower them to stand up to fear.

 

Maybe they give their fear a name and they say, I’m going to, it’s me against them. Who gets the most points, you can have a point system and you can get a reward for every time you stand up to your anxiety. Maybe you celebrate, maybe you get, you know, fear box where every time you stand up to your fear, you get one fear buck.

 

And once you’ve got 20  fear bucks, you go to the movies or you get ice cream or you get the new. Whatever it is that you want, right? And so that little reward center can help them shift towards a model where they learn to face anxiety. This is true for adults too, but it is very, very effective with children. 

 

All right. Is treating GAD with ERP harmful? or irresponsible. No, it’s not. ERP is not harmful nor is it irresponsible in any correct application.  Often the use of ERP exposure and response prevention for generalized anxiety is having people face the things that they’re avoiding, reduce any reassurance seeking or ruminating or any confessing that they might be doing, maybe googling, going down a rabbit hole of You know, researching, we can still be using those very, very effectively.

 

And we do, it’s a huge part of your anxiety and panic toolkit, the course that we have out. It’s also a huge part about treatment. They mightn’t call it ERP specifically, but it’s still very, very effective, specifically for those who have a more obsessive and compulsive presentation.  Is GAD actually general or do patients find specific anxieties when they go to therapy?

 

Yeah, I mean, I think that everybody has their specific fears and I think our fears are always in line with the things we value the most. I’ve had clients whose generalized anxiety was around dying, or money, or their health, or grades, or Relationships, because those things really matter to them. That’s a huge part of their identity and who they are.

 

And so the idea of losing those things or those things not going well is scary to them. And then the fear becomes catastrophic. And then it takes over and then it sort of spreads in every area of their life. So I have found that usually people’s fear is the strength that it is because they value that thing.

 

They value you know, having a successful relationship or doing well in their schooling or their work or That maybe as a child they were abandoned a little bit or they had a situation with a friend where the friend sort of dumped them and so of course they’re going to be afraid of that happening again and so it might show up in other areas of their life in fear that that would happen again.

 

That is a normal presentation of generalized anxiety disorder. That’s not PTSD unless it was a severe trauma. It’s more that we as children, we learn and we go through difficult experiences and then our brain learns. And the brain wants to try to protect that from ever happening again. And so it sets the alarm off when it thinks it could happen.

 

So it’s really important that we understand that and be super gentle with ourselves when it presents.  When I am in recovery, is there a chance to experience new anxiety symptoms? thousand percent, but that’s not a problem. Again, a huge part of that attitudinal shift is that anxiety is not a problem.

 

What’s most important is how you respond. Are you responding by trying to get rid of it and make it go away or are you responding by saying, okay, I’m going to let it be there. I’m going to be uncertain. I’m going to be kind and I am not going to let it beat me down or take away the things that matter to me. 

 

Last question. Can I have anxiety because of hormones? Yes, you can. In fact, in 2024, we did a whole series on sexual health, and we had an amazing therapist and psychologist and researcher come on talking about the fact that hormones do very much impact our anxiety and depression. For some people, they might not be anxious all month, but then during certain periods of the month, they have a massive wave of anxiety related to their hormones.

 

That is very common for women, but also common for men. Again, that is why it is so important if you’re noticing these shifts of anxiety that you do go and see a medical doctor and make sure they rule out anything medical that needs to be addressed before you start. engaging in any kind of treatment. It can help you understand your condition, it can help you be more mindful, it can help you be more self compassionate, and it can help you to know what skills to implement when and where.

 

So that’s it guys. Those are the top questions you had about generalized anxiety. The main thing I want to stress to you is that you can absolutely recover from anxiety. It is something that is possible, is in within your reach. It’s more of a matter of, are you willing to make small baby changes? Are you willing to feel uncomfortable in a willing way than Are you willing to show up for yourself, disregarding whether anxiety is there or not?

 

Are you ready to do that work? If you are ready to do that work, you have a majority of the skills and tools you need. Then it’s about learning specific skills in the moment to be able to ride that anxiety because it will rise and fall on its own and move through that discomfort kindly, compassionately, gently, lovingly, and from a place that is confident and Determined, and in my case, stubborn, because I get stubborn with anxiety.

 

I refuse to let it win, and that has served me very much in my lifetime. So that’s it, guys. Thank you for being here. Again, if you’re interested in looking into our new relaunch of our course, it’s called Your Anxiety and Panic Toolkit. You can go to CBTSchool.  Like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, cbtschool.

 

com forward slash overcoming anxiety. Thanks so much and I’ll see you next week.  Okay everybody, I hope you found that helpful. Before we leave, I wanted to quickly do the I did a hard thing segment. And this one is from Fabian. Fabian said, this year I decided to surf bigger emotional waves. The biggest in my recovery from OCD so far.

 

And I learned so much. With experimenting in this type of quote unquote water, I now know what I need to adapt in my life. Normally, I try to adapt without the emotional experience, but I know somehow this just wastes my time. So the tools that I used were scripting, flooding. Yoga, walks, and watching YouTube videos.

 

Fabian, this is awesome. You are doing the actual hardest work, which is feeling your emotions, riding those waves. And we don’t talk about this enough. We don’t highlight this enough as being the key components to your recovery. So thank you so much for highlighting that today for us, and I wish you all the luck in the future. 

 

Okay. Now we’ve got one more thing to do quickly, which is the review of the week. And this one is from Kiko G85. They said, amazing. Found this channel about a year ago. And after looking for podcasts that help me deal with major depressive disorder and my general anxiety. I recently listened to episode 385 and learned something new about myself.

 

I absolutely love what I have learned and I feel so empowered. My life has been changed by Kimberly and there are no words to say except thank you so much. You are amazing. Kiko, thank you. Thank you for that review and I am. So on it, truly, I know how precious your time is. I value your time and your energy and attention.

 

And it just brings me so much joy that this podcast, where I’m sitting recording, can benefit so many people. So thank you so much for leaving your review.  Again, if you haven’t left a review, please do so. It is the biggest way that you can help me grow this show. And the more I can grow this show, The more people I can help.

 

So thank you Kiko, and thank you Fabian. And if you want to again leave a review, please do so. I will see you all next week.  Please note that this podcast or any other resources from cbt school.com should not replace professional mental health care. If you feel you would benefit, please reach out to a provider in your area.

 

Have a wonderful day, and thank you for supporting CBTSchool. com.