Category: Anxiety & Fear

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Anxiety as Friend and Foe with Dr. Sarah Denning March 26, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Sarah Denning
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Anxiety can motivate or paralyze, and the difference often comes down to catching it early. Dr. Sarah Denning, Founder of Adaptive Behavioral Therapy, joins Armand DiMele to map anxiety from low-grade nervousness to full panic attacks, introducing a stress scale and practical tools for identifying and lowering anxiety in the moment.

Phobias and Secondary Gain March 20, 2013

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Phobias are never just about the feared object. Armand DiMele argues that every phobia carries a hidden secondary gain, an unconscious payoff such as withdrawal from adult responsibility, and that understanding this dynamic is the real key to treatment. The episode covers agoraphobia, paranoia, and a catalogue of named phobias.

The Physiology of Anxiety and Fear with Dr. William Astwood March 19, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. William Astwood
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

Anxiety, excitement, and fear are physiologically identical. Armand DiMele and Dr. William Astwood break down the fight-or-flight response in plain language, explaining how the sympathetic nervous system drives panic, phobias, obsessions, and social anxiety, and how understanding the body’s mechanics can restore a sense of control.

Why People Worry April 18, 2012

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Identity & The Self

Chronic worry is not random nervousness but a survival strategy rooted in childhood fears of abandonment and rejection. Armand DiMele draws on Jeffrey Young’s maladaptive schema theory to walk through the major life traps, including abandonment, mistrust, dependency, and vulnerability, showing how each one drives the worrying mind.

Safety and Danger in Love March 7, 2012

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Love & Romantic Relationships

Is the feeling of safety in relationships a genuine need or an illusion? Armand DiMele argues that craving safety actually signals underlying anxiety, that chronic worriers cannot truly love, and that real intimacy requires tolerating danger rather than eliminating it. Callers share stories of dependency, caretaking, and long-term relationships shaped by depression and mental illness.

The Many Forms of Paranoia December 13, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Identity & The Self

Paranoia is not one thing but many. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, walk through its distinct forms, from paranoid schizophrenia and delusional disorder to paranoid personality disorder and the quieter, corrosive suspicion that poisons everyday relationships and careers. Fear, memory, and how to face both close the hour.

Sexual Obsession as Anxiety November 9, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Booker Irvin, Kent Robertshaw, Linda Vanella
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, Anxiety & Fear

Sexual obsession reframed not as moral failure but as an anxiety disorder seeking relief through repetitive thought and behavior. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R discuss the cycle with Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, who explains the roles of testosterone, the nucleus accumbens, and serotonin-based medications in treatment.

The Shelf Life of Mental Health October 20, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Old fears and bad habits you thought you conquered have a way of coming back. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, explore why hard-won mental health gains can expire, from the AA concept of the “pink cloud” to the brain’s drive to keep aging people alert through worry, arguing that avoidance, not cure, is usually what we mistake for progress.

The Instinct to Protect August 10, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Joseph, Linda Vanella, Lynn, Tom Bond, Yvonne
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Protecting others often masks an inability to protect ourselves. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, unpack the Enneagram’s three instinctual drives (self-preservation, social, and sexual) as frameworks for understanding why we over-give, and callers share vivid stories of caretaking that costs them.

Fear and Its Many Forms August 9, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Fear sits in the body and shapes behavior in ways most people never examine. Armand DiMele breaks down the spectrum from everyday apprehension to phobia, terror, and paranoia, exploring how distrust functions as a form of fear, how the mind recreates the very dangers it dreads, and why common fears like public speaking and rejection can quietly run a life.