Stress & Anxiety Podcasts

BACP Accredited Body Psychotherapist, Shelley Treacher gives “short, inspirational gems of wisdom” in her Stress and Anxiety focused podcasts to her podcast listeners.

Shelley’s podcasts are about disrupting harmful habits, from binge-eating to self-criticism. Learn how to deal with anxiety and stress, the feelings that cause overeating and explore healthier ways to connect.

Madsandwich75 , 28/02/2021

Enlightening – 5*

I’m really enjoying this series. It is full of insightful ideas presented in a compassionate way. I often find myself pausing the playback to reflect on what’s been said and have even made notes, something I never normally do! I found writing a proud list at the end of each day particularly powerful. It gives me something to fight the negative thoughts with and helps me get to sleep.

Shelley helps you to understand the causes of overthinking and how to relax your mind. This podcast explores signs of overthinking and offers strategies to deal with it, focusing on listening to your body to recognise stress, anxiety and an overactive nervous system.

In this podcast:

• Symptoms of overthinking
• Breaking the belief that overthinking is productive
• 3 ways you can challenge overthinking
• 2 exercises that shift your nervous system.

Nowadays, we are more worried than ever, with so many things on our minds. Some anxiety is essential, as it helps us to focus on what’s important and to avoid potential danger. However, we are not often taught how to deal with anxiety, or what it really is.

Here we will look at:

• Podcast Q&A What is compassion?
• Podcast Q&A How can I stop eating?
• What anxiety is
• 10 ways to reduce anxiety

Feeling shame is a common daily experience for us. Feeling ashamed is particularly common, strong, and uncomfortable for people who struggle with binge-eating.

In this podcast:

• What shame and embarrassment mean for us
• How it affects binge-eaters
• Body-shame in our culture
• Ways to release shame (for ANYONE experiencing shame)

If you’ve ever wondered why your partner seems to withdraw after you’ve got on so well, this might be why. This podcast will help you to understand avoidance.

Here we will look at:

• What avoidance is and where it comes from.
• How the fear of being dependent can lead to avoidant behaviour
• Ways to spot avoidance

If you started a diet or exercise regime in the New Year but now struggle to keep it going, it might be because you didn’t understand procrastination.

In this Podcast we’ll look at and cover the following:

• Why you lose control and how to regain it
• The origins of self-control in your brain
• Retraining your brain to take action

Bessel van der Kolk said, “You can be fully in charge of your life, only if you can acknowledge the reality of your body, in all its visceral dimensions”

In this episode

• Podcast Q&A What is a comfort food?
• I introduce you to becoming more aware of your internal body experience, as a way to manage anxiety, stress, or binge-eating
• Personal examples are given

Becoming more embodied helps us to notice how and when we cheat ourselves of being kind to ourselves. Embodiment will help you get to know your system from the inside, so that you can have some conscious control.

In this episode

• Podcast Q&A: Is a craving physical?
• A guided embodiment exercise exploring self-worth and body image

In this episode, we look at ways to regulate the autonomic nervous system to come out of a stress state, depression, anxiety or compulsion.

I also give you a summary of everything I talked about in the first 8 podcasts of 2023.

We cover:

• The psychology and physiology behind stress
• Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory & A Polyvagal exercise
• How we get triggered into a stress state
• 11 ways to regulate the parasympathetic nervous system response

Self-criticism is one of the underlying reasons that people come to therapy. We all experience it. Recovering your self-esteem lies in NOT trying to be perfect.

We explore:

• What self-criticism is & how it shows up.
• The root of self-criticism
• How self-criticism goes hand in hand with binge-eating or compulsions.
• How you can stop criticising yourself so much

Maybe you’re frustrated with yourself for not being able to stop eating. Or maybe you know your triggers are emotional?

We dive into:

• The chemical, genetic, and physiological influences
• The effects of food availability, marketing, society, and habits
• Emotional reasons behind binge-eating

In this podcast, I talk about the biggest mistakes I made when trying to stop binge-eating and lose weight.

In this podcast:

• How being too hard on yourself and going on strict diets is unhelpful
• Why it’s important to learn to be kind to yourself.
• How being aware of how you feel when you eat is helpful

Whiskers and Tears – Healing From Pet Bereavement

Listen and read the transcript here

How to recover from Binge-Eating – 2022 End of Season Summary

Listen and read the transcript here

EmmaABB , 12/07/2020

So helpful

I searched for a podcast that addressed the emotional side of binge-eating, and in the few episodes I’ve learned so much. The practical advice and exercises Shelley gives are easy to implement and practice. Her voice is soothing and calm, and her kind words make me feel less alone with this struggle. Love listening in! Looking forward to the next episode. Thank you, Shelley.

Shelley Treacher BACP Accred

Underground Confidence, with Shelley Treacher, MA BACP Accred.

As seen in ‘The Independent’ & many other UK Publications