424. Modern Anxiety with Noelle McWard Aquino

Anxiety often feels overwhelming, but at its core, it’s your mind and body working hard to protect you.

In this episode, therapist and author of Anxiety Unpacked, Noelle McWard Aquino, unpacks the complex nature of modern anxiety, from the body’s nervous system responses to the thought patterns that fuel it.

Noelle introduces her framework of three root causes: catastrophizing, control, and distorted beliefs, and explains how these show up in daily life. You’ll learn how to tell the difference between anxiety and intuition, and why getting more comfortable with uncertainty can help you build real resilience.

You’ll also pick up practical tools like breathwork, reframing distorted beliefs, and focusing on your values so you can navigate anxiety with more clarity and confidence.

Listen and Learn: 

• A fresh, accessible perspective on anxiety that goes beyond diagnoses, showing how it’s a universal human experience with practical tools to help anyone navigate it
• Why anxiety is not a personal failing but an understandable response to today’s constant threats, information overload, and technology-driven pressures
• How to reframe anxiety, not as a flaw to eliminate but as a signal to honor, by creating space for it, discerning facts from “what if” stories, and guiding it toward purposeful action rooted in values, capacity, and connection
• The five universal truths of anxiety
• How to tell the difference between anxiety’s fear-driven, questioning voice and intuition’s calm, steady, and certain inner knowing
• The three root causes of anxiety: catastrophizing, control, and distorted beliefs, and how understanding these patterns helps address anxiety at its root for lasting change

Resources: 

• Noelle’s book, Anxiety Unpacked: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9781960876898 
• Noelle’s Website: https://noellemcwardaquino.com/ 
• Noelle’s Psychology Today article: When Anxiety Makes Sense: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unpacking-anxiety/202506/when-anxiety-makes-sense  
• Connect with Noelle on Social Media: 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelle-mcward-192473b 
• https://www.instagram.com/noellemcwardaquino/ 

About Noelle McWard Aquino

Noelle McWard Aquino is a Chicago-based therapist who specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. She is the author of Anxiety Unpacked: Discover Your Type and Recover Your Peace, a bestselling book that helps readers identify and work with the specific patterns driving their anxiety. Her work has been featured in publications including Psychology Today and Psychotherapy Networker. Noelle speaks regularly to both clinical and general audiences, training therapists in her framework for understanding anxiety and helping individuals develop more effective, compassionate responses to it.  

Related Episodes:

• 334. Our Polyvagal World with Stephen & Seth Porges
• 313. ACT-Informed Exposure for Anxiety with Brian Pilecki and Brain Thompson
• 250. Anxiety and Perfectionism with Clarissa Ong
• 177. Mind-Body Practices for Stress and Ovewrhelm with Rebekkah LaDyne
• 188. Unwinding Anxiety with Judson Brewer

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