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I’ve Treated 1000+ Anxious Patients and Learned This · Bye Bye Panic

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most therapists see a hundred anxious patients in a lifetime.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've now worked with a thousand people to recover from anxiety.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You've probably tried breathing techniques, meditation, talk therapy, none of this will work.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recovery isn't about just getting rid of worry.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's about changing your relationship with it.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: When that happens, ironically, symptoms go away on their own.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, in this video, I show you how to go from fighting every anxious thought and sensation to effortlessly gliding with them.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here are seven recovery lessons from over a thousand cases.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: The first recovery lesson.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: The problem isn't anxiety itself if the disordered way you respond to it.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most people, including a lot of professionals, think that if you have an anxiety disorder, you're anxious all the time.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're feeling intense panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, intense physical symptoms, you might even feel disconnected, and it's happening all the time.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that's not what makes it a disorder.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anxiety is a normal human function.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we view anxiety as the enemy, this only fuels anxiety and worry.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: What makes it a disorder is that the response loop is disorder.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I mean.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of your body firing anxiety and then calming down once the threat passes, your nervous system stays stuck in on mode, because of how you respond to the signals.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: For example, you experience chess pain.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: You start thinking, what if it's a heart attack?
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: You Google it, avoid exercise, or ask for reassurance.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system now tags that sensation as danger.
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reenforcing the loop.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now here's the thing, the sensation wasn't the disorder.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: the response, which was the fear, the resistance, avoidance.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is what teaches the nervous system to stay hypersensitive.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the good news.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even though it's a disorder response, that's fueling the anxiety.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: The truth is that this can also be unlearned as well.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: What you need to understand is just some mechanics of how anxiety works and learn how to respond to it.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of trying to fix it, instead of trying to fight it, instead of trying to fear it, instead of focusing or getting frustrated on it, you want to focus on responding to it, letting it pass.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Once you learn how to respond to the anxiety,
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And because this is something you can unlearn, that leads me to the second recovery lesson.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anxiety is a nervous system issue.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most people think their anxiety means one of three things.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: A character flaw, I'm just weak, a mental weakness, which is like I don't have enough willpower, or mysterious illness.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Something is medically wrong and the doctors can't figure it out.
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the truth, anxiety is simply a nervous system issue stuck in high gear.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your autonomic nervous system, the fighter flight system, is just overly sensitized.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is why you feel symptoms that are so physical, things like racing heart, dizziness, chest tightness, stomach issues, de-realization,
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not because you're broken, it's because your nervous system is doing his job too well in the wrong context.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: But because there's no danger, because there's nothing wrong, well what this does is that this makes the symptom now dangerous.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you see anxiety as a nervous system issue, this actually shifts everything.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: You stop blaming your personality, you stop searching for hidden diseases, and you start working with your nervous system instead of against it.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, you might be wondering, why is my nervous system sensitized?
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what happens is that your nervous system is designed to handle threats, and it has a specific baseline.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Where if it hits a certain baseline, your nervous system becomes hypersensitive.
• 4:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: For example, when we were living in the wilderness, if you saw a tiger and the tiger started chasing you, your nervous system went on to fight or flight mode.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your body started releasing stress hormones, your respiration went up, blood flow went to the muscles, and you started trying
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, when you manage to escape, your nervous system doesn't always come back to baseline, because your nervous system is very good at one thing, which is keeping you alive.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the chance of using a tiger again, potentially, especially back then, was very high.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, instead of your nervous system calming down, what it did was, is that it became more sensitive to stress.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it started doing everything as a potential threat.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: This was because you were just in a life or death situation.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so what happened was that your nervous system became sensitive.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now you might be thinking, but Sean, there was no tiger to get me.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, this can also happen with small stressors.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it can be a big stressor.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's a life situation.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's work stress.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's relationships stuff.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what happens is that it basically builds up to your nervous system baseline, and what often happens is people experience their very first panic attack.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now if you've had a panic attack, you know it feels like a life or death situation.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so when people don't realize it's a panic attack, their nervous system becomes sensitive, and they're naturally fearful of having another panic attack.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is how the anxiety cycle starts.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's not the fact that there's work stress or relationship stress.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the fact that they're feeling a certain way.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the fact that they know that they can't run away from a panic attack.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so what happens is that the symptoms start showing up more and more.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And a panic attack generalizes.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's not just the panic attack.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might be experiencing intense symptoms.
• 6:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might be getting intrusive thoughts, racing thoughts.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might also be feeling disconnected, feeling off.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now these symptoms are now the problem.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But what fundamentally has happened is that your nervous system is just sensitized.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because every time you resisted, avoided, or panicked about the symptom, your nervous system learned, this really is danger.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Over time, it cranked the alarm sensitivity higher and higher.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recovery lesson number three.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Symptoms aren't problems to fix.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their sensations to allow.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So when your nervous system is sensitized, it throws out strong sensations, chest tightness, skimtarbe, dizziness, stomach issues, racing thoughts.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the trap, you don't just feel uncomfortable, you feel like it's dangerous.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that chest tightness must be a heart attack.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dizziness, I'm about to faint or lose control.
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: In truths of thoughts, what if I act on this?
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: What if I go crazy?
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: What the truth is, these sensations are not indicators of danger.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're indicators of your nervous system that's just revved up.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, they're uncomfortable, but they're not unsafe.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And once you stop trying to solve them like emergencies, the body relearns that they can pass on their own.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, recovery lesson number four is that anxiety thrives on avoidance.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every time you avoid a place, you skip an activity or pull back from life, you confirm to your brain that danger is real.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is why people can fall into the cycle by having a panic attack.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what happens is that the panic attack that's acute, it's start and stop, it's very intense, but eventually ends, it begins to generalize.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's not just a panic attack.
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: You start feeling off throughout the day, a lot of these symptoms become chronic.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is how anxiety generalizes, hence the term generalized anxiety disorder, and the only way anxiety can generalize is through avoidance.
• 8:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: So recovery means leaning back into life even with symptoms, showing your nervous system, the world is safe.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: People try to view healing from anxiety like getting over the flu.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you have the flu, you set it home, you get better and once you
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: but anxiety recovers the opposite.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: You show your nervous system that you can go back to living and even though these symptoms might be uncomfortable, they're not dangerous and they don't stop you from living.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: This teaches your nervous system that the symptoms aren't dangerous.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system begins to desensitize and this symptoms over time disappear on their own.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recovery lesson number five.
• 8:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recovery is about subtraction.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not addition.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most people keep adding more hacks, supplements, meditations, coping strategies, breathing techniques, all these different things to try to make their anxiety go away.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: But recovery is actually about subtracting the fuel.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that means subtracting the constant check-ins.
• 9:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: subtracting the reassurance seeking, subtracting the resistance, and when you stop feeding that loop, the nervous system naturally resets, recovery lesson number six, healing isn't a straight line, don't measure progress by symptoms.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: What happens is people have days where the symptoms aren't that high, and they say that's a good day.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then when symptoms are high, that's a bad day.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: But if you're doing this, you're still monitoring your progress based on your symptoms.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And recovery is in a straight line.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the biggest traps in recovery, which is symptom watching.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel better yesterday, but today is worse.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I must have done something wrong.
• 10:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: But healing isn't linear.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: The nervous system is recalibrating in waves.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good days, tough days, you'll have platos, you'll have breakthroughs.
• 10:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Symptoms don't mean you failed.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: They just mean your nervous system is still learning.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: The real marker of recovery are not fewer sensations in the short term, but less fear when they show up.
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: More willingness to live life anyway.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: A gradually expanding sense of freedom.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So instead of asking how bad were my symptoms today, ask how differently did I respond today?
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the real scoreboard.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And finally, recovery lesson number seven, the life you want is waiting beyond the fear.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So many times, people often pause their lives waiting until they're feeling better.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the irony is, your life isn't on hold.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the path out.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every time you choose to live, even while anxious, you're already stepping into recovery.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: that life you want isn't after anxiety.
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's built in how you respond today.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe the most important thing I want you to know is this.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're not broken.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to fix yourself.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to figure everything out right now the second.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know it feels exhausting to wake up every day with your mind and body screaming at you.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know what it's like to feel like you'll never be normal again.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the truth.
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your nervous system is just cotton loop and loops can be broken.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recovery isn't about chasing some perfect version of yourself in the future.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's about reclaiming your life right now.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: with the shaking hands, with the racing thoughts, with your heart pounding in your chest.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every step you take, even if you're scared, even if it's messy, is proof that you're already healing.
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to get rid of every sensation before you live, you get to live with them.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And in doing that, your nervous system learns safety again.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's how you get your freedom back.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're listening to this and you feel like you're hanging on by a thread, just know you're not alone.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thousands of us have walked through this fire of anxiety and found solid ground again.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can too.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: The life you want isn't just waiting for you somewhere far off.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's right here in the choices you make today.
• 12:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And one day, you'll look back and realize the thing you thought was holding you back became the very thing that's such a free.