133: Why These Popular Hacks Won't Heal Your Anxiety
Ever pushed yourself to eat clean and work out, hoping it would calm your anxiety, only to feel even worse? Here’s why it happens…In this episode, I dig into why gut health, exercise, and diets, while helpful, aren’t the cure for chronic anxiety. They can lower the intensity, but they don’t touch the root. The real work is creating safety in your nervous system and reconnecting with the younger version of you that still carries the alarm. I talk about the trap of chasing quick fixes, how hypervigilance keeps us stuck, and why small daily practices of safety can shift everything. By building that foundation, all the other healthy habits finally have a place to stick.You’ll Learn:The reason gut health alone won’t heal chronic anxietyWhat happens when diet and exercise are used as coping strategies instead of real healingThe surprising link between childhood hypervigilance and constant feelings of danger in adulthoodWhy quick-fix solutions like probiotics or gluten-free diets often fall shortThe damage of forcing yourself into rigid health routines without emotional regulationWhat it feels like to create “islands of safety” in your body for the first timeHow connecting with the younger version of yourself shifts the foundation of healingWhy safety is the real supplement for anxiety, not another pill or trendThe critical role of nervous system regulation before diet and exercise can truly helpTimestamps:[00:00] Introduction[02:59] Why gut health alone won’t heal chronic anxiety[06:49] Building safety as the real foundation for healing anxiety[12:31] Why focusing only on gut health misses the deeper work of anxiety healing[17:10] Healing anxiety by creating safety and reconnecting with the inner child[20:47] Why safety and inner child connection must come before gut health and exercise in healing anxiety[23:49] Healing anxiety by reconnecting your adult and child self through safetyFind more from Russell:Russell Kennedy | LinkedInRussell Kennedy | Facebook The Anxiety MD | WebsiteThe Anxiety MD | InstagramThe Anxiety MD | YouTube
--------
25:36
--------
25:36
132: What Burnout Really Is & How to Prevent It
What if burnout isn’t failure, but your body’s protective shutdown?In this episode, I open up about burning out as a doctor and why it went far beyond just being tired. Burnout showed up as a split between my mind pushing forward and the younger part of me saying, “I can’t do this anymore.” The mask of “Dr. Russell Kennedy” gave me income, status, and validation, but it also crushed my sense of self. I get into how burnout differs from stress and depression, and why rest only scratches the surface before it pulls you back under. Healing started when I finally listened to the alarm in my body, reconnected with the child in me, and practiced things like yoga nidra, breath work, and inner child work.You’ll Learn:The real reason burnout can feel more like a spiritual crisis than simple exhaustionHow early childhood experiences of not being heard can set you up for people-pleasing and burnoutThe surprising link between external validation and staying too long in a career that’s hurting youWhat it feels like when your mind drives your body far past its limitsWhy leaving a job can trigger shame and how to work through itThe quiet damage of tying your identity to your professionHow burnout differs from depression in symptoms and recoveryPractical ways to reconnect with the “younger version” of yourself to begin healingWhy burnout can be your body’s last attempt to get your attentionHow practices like yoga nidra, breathwork, and inner child work can help rebuild safety in your bodyTimestamps:[00:00] Introduction[01:17] How chasing external validation led to burnout and identity loss[06:39] The cost of tying identity to caregiving and medicine[10:10] When identity and overwork lead to burnout and breaking points[14:25] The difference between depression and burnout as self-betrayal[16:22] How people pleasing and endless demands drive burnout[17:47] Healing burnout by reconnecting with the younger self and bodyFind more from Russell:Russell Kennedy | LinkedInRussell Kennedy | Facebook The Anxiety MD | WebsiteThe Anxiety MD | InstagramThe Anxiety MD | YouTube
--------
23:52
--------
23:52
131: 5 Things That Are Preventing You From Healing Anxiety
What if the very things that feel like they’re protecting you are actually keeping you stuck?In this episode, I break down the five unconscious strategies that block healing from anxiety. I call it MADDS: medication, addiction, distraction, dissociation, and suppression. Each of these starts as a survival tool, but over time they numb us, disconnect us from our bodies, and cut us off from the younger self that needs our attention. I get real about the role medication plays, why worry itself can become addictive, and how dissociation becomes a default setting for many of us. Most importantly, I show how awareness, acceptance, and compassion can start to break the cycle so we can finally move toward real healing instead of just coping.You’ll Learn:The five nervous system strategies that quietly block anxiety healingWhy medications can help in crisis, but often numb long-term emotional recoveryThe surprising link between worry and the brain’s dopamine reward systemHow addictions form as self-medication for the body’s stored alarmThe subtle ways distractions like social media pull you further from your bodyWhat it feels like to live in dissociation and why it’s so hard to stopHow suppression of emotion can lead to deeper anxiety and physical illnessThe role of awareness and acceptance in breaking the anxiety coping cycleA simple ABC method to reconnect with your younger self and release the need for coping strategiesTimestamps:[00:00] Introduction[03:30] The role and limits of medication in healing anxiety[09:17] How addictions and worry become coping mechanisms for anxiety[13:00] How distraction masks anxiety and deepens disconnection[14:58] How dissociation protects us from pain but blocks healing[17:10] How suppression of emotions leads to disconnection and illness[19:11] How awareness and self-compassion break the cycle of anxiety coping strategiesFind more from Russell:Russell Kennedy | LinkedInRussell Kennedy | Facebook The Anxiety MD | WebsiteThe Anxiety MD | InstagramThe Anxiety MD | YouTube
--------
23:53
--------
23:53
130: Why Anxious People Can't Manifest Their Dream Life (And How To Fix It)
Why does manifestation backfire when you need it most?In this episode, I look at why affirmations and vision boards don’t land when your body is stuck in protection and alarm. That state makes it almost impossible to think positively, no matter how many times you repeat the words. The nervous system drives what you’re able to manifest, and when it’s wired for survival, positivity just slides off while negativity sticks. Real tools like hypno meditations, visualization, and the physiological sigh can shift the body out of alarm so the mind can believe what it’s saying. That’s when manifestation stops feeling fake and starts working.You’ll Learn:Why manifestation often failsThe tools I use to regulate my body first so that my mind and body can align and manifestation can take rootThe surprising link between childhood disconnection and difficulty creating positive changeHow the nervous system shapes what you notice, and why it can trap you in a negative echo chamberWhat it feels like to try affirmations that your body doesn’t believeWhy regulating your body first makes manifestation more powerful and sustainableHow your reticular activating system filters your reality based on what you expectThe quiet damage of bypassing discomfort with positive thinkingHow breath work, hypno meditations, and somatic tools can align your body and mind for changeWhat really happens when you manifest from connection instead of protectionTimestamps:[00:00] Introduction[02:02] Living in self-protection blocks manifestation. Focus on connection instead.[05:32] Rewiring the unconscious mind with visualization and hypno meditations[08:17] The science behind the chronic alarm system and why it blocks manifestation and reinforces negativity[11:04] How to align your body and mind before working on manifestation[14:48] Using somatic practices and inner child work to make manifestation real[16:49] Healing anxiety by reconnecting with love and creating a positive echo chamberResources Mentioned:MBRX Program by Russell Kennedy | WebsiteAnxiety Rx by Russell Kennedy | Book or AudiobookFind more from Russell:Russell Kennedy | LinkedInRussell Kennedy | Facebook The Anxiety MD | WebsiteThe Anxiety MD | InstagramThe Anxiety MD | YouTube
--------
19:29
--------
19:29
129: The Reasons Why Everyone Feels More Anxious Nowadays
In this episode, I cover why chaos feels so familiar and why we keep getting pulled into it even when it makes us anxious.Today’s uncertainty from news, politics, money issues, AI, and climate change mirror the unpredictability many of us grew up with. That early wiring can make us attracted to chaos, even as it increases our alarm. The pull of distraction, overstimulation, and loneliness keep the body’s alarm system activated… but what helps? Reconnecting with the younger version of ourselves who didn’t feel safe, meeting their needs now, and finding ways to calm our alarm from the inside, no matter what’s happening in the world — this is a good place to start.You’ll Learn:Why uncertainty in world events can spike old childhood anxietyWhat happens when distraction and overstimulation become your nervous system’s default stateThe link between growing up in chaos and feeling drawn to global chaos todayWhy financial stress often triggers a survival-level alarm in people raised with scarcityHow AI and not knowing what’s real can recreate the same insecurity you felt as a childThe quiet damage of loneliness, even when you’re surrounded by peopleWhy accepting love and connection can be harder than you thinkHow climate change anxiety taps into early feelings of helplessness and griefThe specific practices that help you reparent the part of you that never felt safeWhy real relief comes from changing your inner world, not waiting for the outer world to calm downTimestamps:[00:00] Introduction[02:00] Why uncertainty fuels anxiety by mirroring childhood chaos[07:36] How childhood scarcity shapes money anxiety and safety beliefs[09:41] How AI fatigue and overstimulation trigger old childhood fears[12:19] How healing loneliness through self-connection reduces anxiety[15:11] How climate grief and ancestral trauma mirror childhood powerlessness[18:43] How connecting with your inner child creates peace in a chaotic worldResources Mentioned:Anxiety Rx by Russell Kennedy | Book or AudiobookFind more from Russell:Russell Kennedy | LinkedInRussell Kennedy | Facebook The Anxiety MD | WebsiteThe Anxiety MD | InstagramThe Anxiety MD | YouTube
I am an anxious doctor. Or at least I WAS an anxious doctor. After literally decades of suffering from intractable anxiety, and seeing over 50 different types of healers I found my way to heal my anxiety through very unconventional (for a medical doctor at least) means.
In 2013 I was so anxious I considered suicide and a friend suggested I try LSD, and although that scared the crap out of me it showed me the path to healing. You don't have to do LSD to heal, I took it for you! I'm a medical doctor, neuroscientist and intuitive. (I know, common combination!)
I found my way out and it is counterintuitive and very non conventional (but not scary!).
I will show you the way out too, you just have to listen to me, dammit!
South Africa