This episode features a deep, candid conversation about the journey through severe anxiety, self-mastery, and finding purpose. The speaker recounts his battle with anxiety and depression over six years, leading to what he describes as his darkest moment—a planned suicide attempt on the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver just before his son was due to be born.
About Dennis Simsek AKA The Anxiety Guy
Dennis is a distinguished anxiety expert with over 15 years of dedicated life coaching practice in transforming lives through his groundbreaking methods for anxiety healing. Renowned for his compassionate approach and unparalleled anxiety expertise, Dennis has become a beacon of hope for those grappling with anxiety disorders.
Key Topics and Insights:
The Turning Point: The speaker shares the miraculous, intuitive moment where the word "Hayat" (Turkish for "life") came to him, connecting him to his unborn son and giving him a sudden, renewed sense of hope and a "detour" from the darkness. This experience became the catalyst for his path to true inner healing and self-mastery.
The Nature of Anxiety: Anxiety is described not as an illness or disease, but as a "bundle of habits" and a state of dysregulation in the nervous system. The core mechanism is perceived threat—feeling like a truck is coming at you 100 miles an hour, even in safe situations like a cafe.
The Role of Addiction: A powerful concept introduced is the "addiction to suffering." People remain stuck in anxiety because the suffering state is familiar, and familiarity equals safety to a dysregulated nervous system, even if it's painful.
Social Media's Impact: Social media amplifies anxiety by mimicking the nervous system's algorithms, constantly serving up negative, divisive, or comparative content that reinforces existing fears and negative self-beliefs (e.g., "I'm not good enough").
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Introduction: Anxiety Symptoms and Personal Story
2:27 - The Darkest Moment and Finding a Turning Point
7:35 - The Internal Struggle and Hiding Anxiety
9:36 - Defining Anxiety: Complexity and Patterns
13:55 - The Addiction to Suffering and Familiarity as Safety
17:31 - Explaining Anxiety: Perceived Threat and Chronic State
21:23 - Unrecognized Symptoms: Rushing, Dread, and Hiding
28:01 - Root Causes: Learned Beliefs and Dysregulation
32:54 - The Role of Social Media and the Value of Boredom
40:08 - Coping with Overwhelm: Acknowledging and Feeling Emotions
44:56 - Reframing Anxiety as Unconditional Love (The Bodyguard)
47:07 - Quick Tools: Pattern Interrupt and Thought Re-framing
52:21 - In-the-Moment Relief: Safety Cues and Playfulness
57:51 - Final Message: Hope, Visualization, and Life as a Gift
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Website: TheAnxietyGuy.com
The Anxiety Guy Podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-anxiety-guy-podcast/id1080900600
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