From the number one non-fiction bestseller, comes Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast - with everything you need to hear to get on top of your anxiety. This practical and relaxed series explores everything from what anxiety is and why it happens to us, how our brains work and why it's actually very normal to the various tools and techniques necessary for owning it. Author Caroline Foran shares her story, along with some expert input, to help you feel a lot better. Most importantly, this is a series that tackles the reality of anxiety from a refreshing and relatable perspective.
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On this episode I am joined by GQ Jordan to talk about nutrition. Not just the foods we should ease off when we are anxious, or eat more of to support our mental health and nervous system but the cultural noise around nutrition, all or nothing extreme advice and label-related anxiety. Is our health anxiety worsening because we have too much information? Is the information we are receiving blown out of proportion for clickbait reasons? Are we becoming more worried about our nutrition than we need...
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 yo...
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 cop...
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 appro...
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...
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 wo...
For this episode I’m speaking to clinical psychologist and author Dr Alexandra Shaker about her book The Narrowing and about how prolonged stress and trauma can constrict not just our nervous systems, but how we experience our lives and how we can identify when our narrowing might need to open up. When we’re anxious, especially chronically anxious, our worlds can begin to shrink. We say no more often. We avoid certain places. We reduce risk. We make life smaller so it feels manageable. I often d...
On this first episode of my new season it's just me, welcoming you back and filling you in on everything that's been going on for me since I've last shared an episode plus I include an exclusive excerpt from my new book which offers readers and listeners reassurance from the other side: the very words I so desperately wanted to hear when I was in the depths of despair with crippling anxiety. Welcome back! New book discount for podcast listeners: Foran10 when checking out at Eason online. Order y...
Welcome back to Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast. This fifteenth season of the series will begin on March 2nd with weekly episodes each Monday. The series coincides with the launch of my latest book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap Back To Yourself which you can order here on Eason or here on Amazon. 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 ...
For this episode I am joined by the incredible Dr Joanna Fortune who has been a guiding light through my experience of supporting my child with significant anxiety (separation anxiety in particular). We discuss different types of play therapy, why some might work better than others, the limbic leap for the brain and lots more around anxiety and development. Learn more about Joanna here . Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wish I'd Known About Anxiety: A Roadmap ...
I'm breaking up my output of experts with a first person account of what it's like living with a level of generalised anxiety that can come into play at various points of life. Rosemary MacCabe, journalist and author shares her story which includes her anxiety reaching a crescendo while working in a toxic environment - it was the wrong workplace that lit the match for my own anxiety too. From workplace anxiety to panic attacks to moving to America and becoming a mother, there's a lot to relate t...
Dr. Vanessa Lapointe joins Caroline Foran to explore the profound impact of historical and modern parenting on children's anxiety. They delve into behaviorist parenting, the developing child brain, and the unique needs of sensitive children, highlighting why forcing compliance can lead to long-term issues. Dr. Lapointe shares her three-stage approach for guiding anxious children through nervous system resets, emotional processing, and fostering courage, stressing the importance of flexible boundaries and validating a child's feelings.
Millie Mackintosh returns to Owning It to take a deep dive into her experience of anxiety, with a particular focus on alcohol. Her new book, Bad Drunk , is out now and a wonderful read whether or not you question your relationship to alcohol. In this episode we also discuss how Millie's anxiety shows up and her decision to start taking medication and the unhelpful, societal shame that often goes along with that. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substac...
Join me and returning guest Dr Ethan Kross - neuroscientist, psychologist and NY Times Bestseller - to talk about emotional regulation, what exactly is an emotion, how to reign in the ones that are tough to experience and what power we do and do not have when it comes to difficult emotions. His new book, SHIFT: Managing Your Emotions So They Don't Manage You is out now. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here...
Join me and world renowned expert Owen O'Kane for what I would describe as a lifechanging episode, one that will transform the way you think about anxiety and feel about it too. We talk about anxiety as an addiction - why that makes sense and what we can do to move ourselves out of an anxiety cycle. Addicted to Anxiety is out now. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount...
Chartered statistician and cancer researcher Dr David Robert Grimes returns to Owning It to help me bust through the many myths that are fuelling our health anxiety, from full body health checks to worries about carcinogens and vaccines. What can we safely stop worrying about? David's book, The Irrational Ape is widely available and well worth a read if you like this episode. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substac...
I think I have finally stumbled upon the missing piece of the puzzle to help with my son's severe separation anxiety. A fascinating listen on The Goulding Method and how it's melting away the anxiety experienced by kids. My guest is the Highly Sensitive Child Whisperer, Jen Bunting who works with thousands of families to implement this technique that parents do for their children while they sleep. As someone who is always a bit skeptical of these things, I can say from personal experience that I...
Dr Julie returns to Owning It to talk about her new book, Open When - which offers real time practical advice for a series of anxiety inducing scenarios - as well as her own personal experience with having been diagnosed with breast cancer just last year. When your body feels enormous fear for something as tangible as a health concern, is anxiety something we should even try not to feel? Dr Julie also talks about how to proceed when a friendship is causing you anxiety and plenty more. Her book i...
For this episode, I want to bring it back to the body. How anxiety shows up in your body, particularly in your gut. Here with the help of Dr Sally Bramley, functional health doctor and founder of Tru Health , we get a sense of how she as a practitioner would get to the bottom of YOU. How she would help you get the fullest picture of your anxiety, looking at everything from a holistic perspective, so that you may begin to address it in a way that will actually yield results. She talks through the...
For this episode I chat with psychotherapist Duygu Balan who regularly appears on CNN and Psychology Today among others. She's also the lead author of Confidentially Chill: An Anxiety Workbook for New Adults. We cover everything from the impact that covid had on our collective experience of anxiety - do we know yet what living through a pandemic did to our minds? We also talk about breaking generational cycles around the acceptance of mental health issues as well as how helpful or unhelpful it i...
You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount. Join Dr Russell Kennedy and I to talk about anxiety as alarm in the body, the root causes of it, why he believes all anxiety is separation anxiety, how much anxiety is driven by nature or nurture and so much more. His book The Anxiety Prescription is out now. Order yourself (or for a friend) a copy of my new book, Everything I Wi...
This week my guest is a psychologist and psychotherapist Dr Natalie Cawley who has just released a book called Just About Coping . It reads like a drama but it's her story, her own experience of anxiety while becoming a qualified mental health professional, and what she's learned from both sides of the therapy room. It's peppered with really helpful anxiety advice and Natalie makes it so easy for you to grasp the concepts. If you've ever been curious about the person behind the qualifications an...
Welcome back to a brand new season of Owning It. Join me and author/scientist/lawyer Anu Gupta to talk about the role and relationship between bias and anxiety, the impact bias on us and others and how it's at the root of almost every social and cultural issue we experience. His book, Breaking Bias , is out now. You can support this podcast by sharing it with a friend or signing up to my Substack. Read my personal essays on Substack here with a 20% (lifetime) listener discount. Order yourself (o...
This is a solo episode. I struggled to fully explain it in the title but it's dedicated to a close friend currently in the trenches of health anxiety with plenty of additional anxiety on top. It's everything I want her to know. Everything that might help her ride this wave including a step by step roadmap for overcoming anxiety. If you would like to support this podcast you can do so by subscribing to my Substack (with 20% off for all pod listeners) at this link . Order yourself (or for a friend...
This is one of the hardest areas of anxiety to get on top of: health anxiety. Whether it's general health anxiety where you're prone to spiralling about what could or might go wrong with your health, or you suffer with OCD or body related conditions such as Trichotillomania, this episode is probably the most helpful thing you could listen to. With anxiety expert and CBT therapist Kimberley Quinlan (she's huge on Instagram here ), we go through it all, if it can be overcome and how to manage some...
On this episode of the series I am joined by international bestselling author and reporter with The New Yorker Charles Duhigg who wrote The Power of Habit. Here we talk about his new book Supercommunicators and how to crack social anxiety with some really practical tools and insights. 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 @OwningItPodcas ...
Join me with guest Laura Guckian, life coach, host of 'Momfessions' and creator of Mind Mommy Coaching as we talk about postpartum anxiety, which, for her, was so significant she decided to check herself into a psychiatric hospital. How did the anxiety show up for her? What does a hospital level of mental health support look like? We talk about whether the problem for new mothers is the lack of support or the skewed perception of early motherhood that pervades social media. Read more of my essay...
This week I have a powerful episode with Terence Power, co-host of the super successful Talking Bollox podcast. We try to unpack his experience of anxiety, growing up in an environment affected hugely by poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, crime and violence. How did he cope? How did he come out the other side? Was anxiety behind all of it? Terence talks through his story with such impressive vulnerability, it will no doubt help another young person in a similar position. Order yourself (or for a f...
My guest for this episode is the mega bestselling author of Dopamine Nation and her name is Dr Anna Lembke. She's an American psychiatrist and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University. She is a specialist in the opioid epidemic in the United States. Here we talk about the relationship between anxiety, pleasure and pain. The pleasure pain balance and the way in which we move toward pleasure to solve anxiety and it works short term, but for many of the ...
For this episode we're hearing from someone who's felt severe anxiety and figured out how to manage it. My guest is the brilliant Vicki Notaro, bestselling author of her debut novel Reality Check . A prominent journalist and editor in Ireland, Vicki has an eerily similar story to me, having been floored by anxiety for reasons she struggled to understand at the time, in her mid 20s. Here we unpack where it might have began (hormones might play a significant role) and what works for her today. Sig...
