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The Anxious Truth : A Step-By-Step Guide To Understanding and Overcoming Panic, Anxiety, and Agoraphobia
Are you being controlled by anxiety and panic attacks? Are you unable to leave your home or travel too far? Have you tried everything and still found that you can't solve this problem?Change is possible. No matter how long you've suffered with your anxiety issues, you can get better.Written by a guy that's been through it all and came out the other side, The Anxious Truth will explain in a step-by-step fashion how you got to where you are today, why you are not broken or ill, and what the true nature of your anxiety disorder is. The book will walk you through what it takes to solve your anxiety problems, how to make an evidence-based anxiety recovery plan, then how to correctly execute that plan.More than just a book, The Anxious Truth goes hand-in-hand with The Anxious Truth podcast () and the growing and vibrant social media community surrounding it. Read the book, listen to six years worth of free podcasts, and join a large online community of fellow anxiety sufferers that are taking action to solve this problem once and for all.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 10, 2020
116 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Drew Linsalata
3 books84 followersDrew is the creator and host of The Anxious Truth, a slightly unorthodox anxiety podcast that’s been in full swing since 2014 with over 2,000,000 downloads (and growing). The Anxious Truth podcast and the community surrounding it are recognized sources for anxiety education, support, inspiration, encouragement, and empowerment.
In 2020, Drew published two books on anxiety and anxiety recovery. The Anxious Truth and An Anxiety Story have quickly become required reading for anyone suffering with anxiety and in need of education, instruction, inspiration, encouragement and empowerment.
In 2021, Drew published Seven Percent Slower, a simple friendly guide to slowing down and being more mindful to move past anxiety and stress.
In 2020, Drew published two books on anxiety and anxiety recovery. The Anxious Truth and An Anxiety Story have quickly become required reading for anyone suffering with anxiety and in need of education, instruction, inspiration, encouragement and empowerment.
In 2021, Drew published Seven Percent Slower, a simple friendly guide to slowing down and being more mindful to move past anxiety and stress.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 17, 2020
This might possibly be the worst book I have ever read. It is badly written and badly constructed. I owned the book for two days when it literally started falling apart at the binding. It’s written like it was dictated, with much of the content repeated and overlapping. I don’t know how many times I read the words “Trust me”, “I promise!” And “Let’s Go!”, or how many times his Facebook group was mentioned, but it was enough to elicit more than a few eye rolls as I tried to get through reading this.
I expected a modern repackaging of Claire Weekes’ material with anecdotes from Drew’s first hand experience with agoraphobia. I did not expect something like a high school essay, complete with word counts, extra large font, plenty of spelling mistakes and a majority of filler. The ‘What we’re going to learn’ and ‘What we just learned’ sections take up far more space than any actual useful information and the only useful information is just a watered down version of what Dr. Claire Weekes has already written.
Waste of time.
If you’re looking to purchase a book on agoraphobia, stick to the good doctor. You could buy FIVE of her books for the price of this one and I’ve never had one fall apart on me.
I expected a modern repackaging of Claire Weekes’ material with anecdotes from Drew’s first hand experience with agoraphobia. I did not expect something like a high school essay, complete with word counts, extra large font, plenty of spelling mistakes and a majority of filler. The ‘What we’re going to learn’ and ‘What we just learned’ sections take up far more space than any actual useful information and the only useful information is just a watered down version of what Dr. Claire Weekes has already written.
Waste of time.
If you’re looking to purchase a book on agoraphobia, stick to the good doctor. You could buy FIVE of her books for the price of this one and I’ve never had one fall apart on me.
March 20, 2023
Drew explains things well and the book is short and to the point, but if you've already read books about anxiety recovery that are rooted in CBT, you wouldn't need to read this one too. There aren't necessarily any new insights in here. This approach is, however, the definitive way to overcome anxiety through exposure. If you're new to anxiety and haven't read anything by Claire Weekes for example, then this book will be great for you.
July 17, 2024
It's very comforting to hear thoughts and experiences that match your own and that it is possible to move past it without endless medications. Understanding the reasoning behind why anxiety happens on a scientific level made me feel more grounded.
"I am not ill. My situation is not unfixable."
"I am not ill. My situation is not unfixable."
July 13, 2020
A review of this book is purely subjective as what may help one may not help another. The book can be a bit repetitive but it is sometimes needed for anxiety sufferers to be told something several times before it sinks in! I have read numerous websites and a few other books about panic disorder (thanks to Covid) but it was this book that finally freed my brain enough to live again. I recovered from covid after 5 weeks of hell only to have anxiety and panic set in just 2 weeks later. Doctors and websites could only do so much but it was this book that told a simple truth that unlocked a path to recovery. It doesn't cost much for the kindle version and so would be worth a shot to see if it could help you. There's a very strong chance that it will!
February 15, 2025
I listened to the audio version of this book so the mentioned spelling errors in previous reviews were unknown to me. I liked that Drew voiced the book himself, he has a very soothing voice that has a way of also filling you with confidence at the same time. I like the approach he outlines, it's straight forward, to the point and concise. I've also read his other book about his own experience of agoraphobia and panic disorder which I liked too. I'm a fan of the podcast and the general message he puts out to the world.
July 7, 2024
Solid read containing valuable information regarding the CBT approach to healing. However this book can easily be condensed down to less than a hundred pages. The author although provides good information is not very concise in his writing style. He regularly refers to how many words he has written and ends at just over "70,000". Overall a good book but it would have helped for him to include some information in the book rather than continuing to plug his website.
February 4, 2023
? Bizzare
Stop acting like everybody is the same, you have no idea. Things aren’t just innate it’s pretty obnoxious to not account for environment and CULTURE to the extent that this guy does. Really psychology too.. Looking everywhere but what where the problem is..
Basically says some classic 1960’s institute stuff… he’ll decide when you can leave which is apparently never… sounds like has some problems himself which he is addressing vicariously… which is insane…. Says stuff about “safe spaces” which is a term that feels absolutely useless and also incredibly insulting.. and also just stupid.. are you not supposed to feel safe? Do you mean maladaptive mechanisms of addressing trauma? The point is to be courageous, trying to actively feel like you are going to die is not how this works.. conditioning and resilience are other things.. if you try to put yourself in a situation that is unfamiliar, it is not necessary to be in “danger” the whole point is that you understand there really is no danger, which is briefly mentioned, but the resulting net info is that you should feel like you are in danger all the time you get used to it…. Bro… this is the problem with a little bit of information, kind of like genetic variation, people run a muck with bad conclusions. If you are in danger are all the time, what is your net? That is a horrible life. If don’t feel like I am in danger, is that supposed to be a problem?
Resilience conditioning is different that happens overtime… this is just stupid and obnoxious.. “ if you don’t feel like shit you should feel like so shit so you can be more accustomed to feeling like shit” THE POINT IS TO GET THROUGH, but apparently if you are fine, and are in the physiological state for the innate activity of life, there’s something wrong with you, there’s something that you are not addressing, else how could you feel comftorable with yourself if not for your own ignorance? This is so toxic man! In resilience conditioning, you practice the skill of being calm, you get better at it. How do you get better at it? By being calm. It’s a continuous addition of margin. You can go really far with it, but throwing yourself into lava over and over again goes only in the opposite direction. The book can’t hurt me can sound quite toxic at first glance, but it’s really very empowering. You do what you want to do, what you actually want to be doing with your life, knowing that danger is really a construct, you learn to navigate seizing the day with this given so that you can live what you define as tranquil. For that guy, it’s what he wants to do. Everyone is different. This is the opposite: there’s an absolute but undefined amount of resilience depending on what I think you should do which is something but I will not define it, and danger is not a construct but in fact tranquility is a lie. See, can’t hurt me is tranquility in the process, acceptance of growth, this is toxic disempowerment.
“You can’t just decide when you’re done” no no… I really can… I know myself better than you do. Like that’s really aggressive. Trauma doesnt diminish approaching zero. You heal. Then you move on with your life. This stuff is kind of mopey.
You don’t relearn the alphabet every time you read a new book
This is the capitalization of trauma, the same way with other health sciences… watering down and muddying what has been studied and evidenced for decades. Leaves people scratching their heads so you’re running around
TERRIBLE ideas in here that are not scientific, often things that are the opposite of what people should do, and also generally has a vibe on his podcast that is disempowering, and to some extent some guilt and name calling of listeners. Brainwashing into disempowerment. Makes a big deal out of everything, like he’s hyping up what he’s saying. Refuses to accept that there are links to trauma, and that addressing the trauma is how shit works. Yet at the same time talks about cbt… this seems like the definition of ignorance… quite literally no idea what he is talking about…
Watered down versions of others people material. Not only is the podcast not helpful, it is dangerously misinforming. Basically the equivalent of webmd, except, it’s even more vague and misinforming. I didn’t think shit like this was real?
Go see a therapist it will save you a lot of time, and also they will know what they are doing instead of vaguely generalizing about people.
The podcast especially, it’s extremely concerning to me, I really think we need to start vetting our sources more
I am healthy, had nothing to do with this.
BYE
Stop acting like everybody is the same, you have no idea. Things aren’t just innate it’s pretty obnoxious to not account for environment and CULTURE to the extent that this guy does. Really psychology too.. Looking everywhere but what where the problem is..
Basically says some classic 1960’s institute stuff… he’ll decide when you can leave which is apparently never… sounds like has some problems himself which he is addressing vicariously… which is insane…. Says stuff about “safe spaces” which is a term that feels absolutely useless and also incredibly insulting.. and also just stupid.. are you not supposed to feel safe? Do you mean maladaptive mechanisms of addressing trauma? The point is to be courageous, trying to actively feel like you are going to die is not how this works.. conditioning and resilience are other things.. if you try to put yourself in a situation that is unfamiliar, it is not necessary to be in “danger” the whole point is that you understand there really is no danger, which is briefly mentioned, but the resulting net info is that you should feel like you are in danger all the time you get used to it…. Bro… this is the problem with a little bit of information, kind of like genetic variation, people run a muck with bad conclusions. If you are in danger are all the time, what is your net? That is a horrible life. If don’t feel like I am in danger, is that supposed to be a problem?
Resilience conditioning is different that happens overtime… this is just stupid and obnoxious.. “ if you don’t feel like shit you should feel like so shit so you can be more accustomed to feeling like shit” THE POINT IS TO GET THROUGH, but apparently if you are fine, and are in the physiological state for the innate activity of life, there’s something wrong with you, there’s something that you are not addressing, else how could you feel comftorable with yourself if not for your own ignorance? This is so toxic man! In resilience conditioning, you practice the skill of being calm, you get better at it. How do you get better at it? By being calm. It’s a continuous addition of margin. You can go really far with it, but throwing yourself into lava over and over again goes only in the opposite direction. The book can’t hurt me can sound quite toxic at first glance, but it’s really very empowering. You do what you want to do, what you actually want to be doing with your life, knowing that danger is really a construct, you learn to navigate seizing the day with this given so that you can live what you define as tranquil. For that guy, it’s what he wants to do. Everyone is different. This is the opposite: there’s an absolute but undefined amount of resilience depending on what I think you should do which is something but I will not define it, and danger is not a construct but in fact tranquility is a lie. See, can’t hurt me is tranquility in the process, acceptance of growth, this is toxic disempowerment.
“You can’t just decide when you’re done” no no… I really can… I know myself better than you do. Like that’s really aggressive. Trauma doesnt diminish approaching zero. You heal. Then you move on with your life. This stuff is kind of mopey.
You don’t relearn the alphabet every time you read a new book
This is the capitalization of trauma, the same way with other health sciences… watering down and muddying what has been studied and evidenced for decades. Leaves people scratching their heads so you’re running around
TERRIBLE ideas in here that are not scientific, often things that are the opposite of what people should do, and also generally has a vibe on his podcast that is disempowering, and to some extent some guilt and name calling of listeners. Brainwashing into disempowerment. Makes a big deal out of everything, like he’s hyping up what he’s saying. Refuses to accept that there are links to trauma, and that addressing the trauma is how shit works. Yet at the same time talks about cbt… this seems like the definition of ignorance… quite literally no idea what he is talking about…
Watered down versions of others people material. Not only is the podcast not helpful, it is dangerously misinforming. Basically the equivalent of webmd, except, it’s even more vague and misinforming. I didn’t think shit like this was real?
Go see a therapist it will save you a lot of time, and also they will know what they are doing instead of vaguely generalizing about people.
The podcast especially, it’s extremely concerning to me, I really think we need to start vetting our sources more
I am healthy, had nothing to do with this.
BYE
July 14, 2020
Without a doubt the best choice of book if you're someone struggling with panic/anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, monophobia and so on. You'll learn the what, why, how and when so that you can start facing your fear and getting rid of counterproductive habits standing in the way of your freedom ❤️ What other books often lack is the action, the "how". Highly recommended!
Read
March 28, 2022If you suffer from Anxiety with panic attack and/or agoraphobia, this book is for you. It will give you a down-to-earth understanding of the mechanisms of anxiety and how it distorts your grasp of the world and your thinking. It will also give you a solid method that has been tested and proven by the author himself. I highly recommend to accompany this read with Drew's podcast episodes.
June 21, 2022
Having read a few books about anxiety and listened to a bunch of podcasts and youtube videos about it i have to say this book was like a breath of fresh air. I didn’t feel bored even for a second and i it gave me a new perspective and ideas on how to cope better, especially on bad days.
June 15, 2024
This book was a new perspective on mental illness such as anxiety and agoraphobia. While I didn’t agree with everything mentioned in the book, I did get some great tips and tricks to cope with anxiety.
December 7, 2025
Drew is my dude. I didn’t have his particular anxieties but his way of communicating resonated for me. However I suspect he may not for everyone. His podcast is excellent and I love seeing him grow across the years. He’s got a giant heart and it radiates! Love it, thanks for writing this!
November 1, 2022
One of the best no nonsense books on anxiety I have read by an author who has lived it. I have read it twice, bought it for family and friends, and will no doubt read it again!
February 25, 2024
Awesome approach to understand and overcome panic attacks.
October 20, 2024
2.5 stars, didn't like the narrators voice and came across quite aggressive in his reasoning and instructions
January 1, 2026
The most important help I’ve received to aid my personal anxiety journey came from this book and accompanying podcast of the same name.
July 12, 2021
Amazing
Drew is truly a helpful, kind, kick in the pants. In the absolute best way possible. I can’t wait to get started!
Drew is truly a helpful, kind, kick in the pants. In the absolute best way possible. I can’t wait to get started!
August 14, 2025
4.5 / 5 Stars
// Outstanding
// Outstanding
Read
January 4, 2024Lots of great quotes and interesting advice
March 5, 2024
One of the only books on panic attacks I’ve read that is actually helpful.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews