She got the answer. Felt better for twelve minutes. Then she asked again.

Reassurance-seeking is one of the most common and least-recognized playing-it-safe behaviors. It looks like due diligence. It feels like self-care. And it is quietly tightening the anxiety loop every time you do it.

This episode is for anyone who has ever Googled the same question in six different ways, or sent the same question to three different people to see if the answer would finally stick.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why reassurance feels like relief but functions like a tightening spiral
• What Stanley Rachman's research reveals about why safety behaviors maintain, not reduce, anxiety
• How Michel Dugas's intolerance of uncertainty model explains why more information is never enough
• ACT skills for interrupting the checking loop without white-knuckling through it
• The values-based reason the checking is worth interrupting

Resources mentioned:

• Playing-It-Safe Questionnaire: https://www.thisisdoctorz.com/playing-it-safe-questionnaire/

About Dr. Z: Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona, Dr. Z., is a licensed psychologist, author of eight books, and TEDx speaker who has spent over 18 years helping overthinkers and overachievers stop letting anxiety make their decisions. She is the founder of East Bay Behavior Therapy Center in Walnut Creek, California, and the host of the Playing It Safe podcast. Her TEDx talk "Stop Playing It Safe and Start Living" has over 265,000 views.

If this episode helped you recognize one playing-it-safe move in your own life, a review on Apple Podcasts means everything to me. I read every single one.

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STOP LETTING ANXIETY MAKE YOUR DECISIONS

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