Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast

Solo episode this week to take pause as the book launches. In this reflective episode I revisit the anxiety that punctuated my life since childhood, compare how it was when it was all consuming to how it can appear these days, what it really means to overcome anxiety and why having a hard time now in this chapter of parenting does not mean I undo any of how far I have come with myself. Please please please treat either yourself or someone you love to the new book, out now, linked below.
Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here
Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok here
Subscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another excellent expert episode this week with neuroscientist and psychiatrist Dr Chad Sylvester who specialises in anxiety and comes with a wealth of information as a practitioner but also as a researcher. Here we look deep into the brain state that shapes anxiety, the patterns and sequences that make it harder to move away from and the surprising insights learned from babies as young as a few hours old and what we can learn about anxiety throughout life.
Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here
Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok here
Subscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr Brennan Spiegel, a physician, researcher and author whose work sits at the intersection of the brain, the body and lived experience. Together, we explore why anxiety so often shows up physically, why being told “it’s just anxiety” can feel dismissive rather than reassuring, and how the mind and body are far more interconnected than we’ve been taught. Brennan introduces ideas like mental gravity, interoception and the brain–gut connection, and explains how approaches like virtual reality are being used to treat anxiety, pain and chronic symptoms. This is a validating, perspective-shifting conversation for anyone who has ever felt unheard in a doctor’s office or confused by physical anxiety symptoms.
Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here
Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok here
Subscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one's for the parents. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Naomi Fisher, a clinical psychologist and author known for her work on anxiety, trauma, demand avoidance and nervous-system-led parenting. I adored her books 'When the naughty step makes things worse' and 'A different way to learn'. We talk about why so many traditional parenting approaches — rewards, consequences, charts and pressure — can backfire for anxious and demand-avoidant children, and what it actually means when a child can’t do something, rather than won’t. Naomi explains how anxiety shows up as resistance, shutdown or control, why reducing demands can be regulating rather than permissive, and how parents can shift from power struggles to partnership. This is a deeply validating conversation for anyone parenting a child who experiences everyday life as overwhelming — and for parents who are tired of being told to try harder when things already feel hard enough.
Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here
Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok here
Subscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this particularly helpful episode, I’m joined by Louise Thompson, a career coach who specialises in helping people navigate confidence, leadership and anxiety in the workplace. It's one of the most practical episodes I've done. It's not about when work is causing anxiety, but what to do when you still have to go to work but your anxiety or mental health is getting in the way. Together, we talk about why work is such a pressure point for anxiety, and how to bring more of your human self to work without feeling like you’re compromising your professionalism. We get into the very real fear of being vulnerable at work, how to judge who feels safe to talk to, and how to frame conversations around anxiety, capacity and flexibility in a way that actually supports you. Louise shares practical scripts, questions to ask yourself, and guidance on managing up, down and across — making this a genuinely useful episode for anyone struggling to navigate anxiety at work.
Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap out of the Overwhelm and Back to Yourself here
Follow me on Instagram @CarolineForan and @OwningItPodcast, on Tik Tok here
Subscribe to my weekly Substack here (not always anxiety related, often parenting related)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/owningittheanxietypodcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.