Reimagining Love with Dr. Alexandra Solomon Managing Anxiety: Three Root Causes To Help You Find Relief with Noelle McWard Aquino
6 snips
Sep 23, 2025 Noelle McWard Aquino, therapist and anxiety expert who wrote Anxiety Unpacked, maps three root causes of anxiety and how to spot them. Short conversations explore anxiety’s function, avoidance versus change, and how catastrophizing, control, or core shame show up. Practical strategies for relationships and partners are highlighted, with a hopeful, action-oriented tone.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Visiting My Son's Fear Instead Of Fixing
- Noelle describes supporting her 24-year-old son through a difficult episode and learning to "visit him in his fear" rather than fixing it.
- She contrasts her hopeful stance with his fear and practices tolerating discomfort to be a more trustworthy support.
Three Root Causes Make Anxiety Treatable
- Noelle developed a three-root-cause framework (catastrophizing, control, distorted beliefs) from decades of client patterns to tailor interventions to each anxiety type.
- Clients reliably identify their type and clinicians can target distinct needs and objections for more effective therapy.
Feelings Change Last So Act First
- Feelings are the last thing to change; you cannot directly command them to shift but you can change your thoughts and actions while still feeling anxious.
- Noelle emphasizes intentional practice: alter thinking and behavior, check back in, and feelings will gradually follow.
