In this episode of Let's Get Emotional, hosts Tatiana Rojas and Dr. Jennifer Martin Schantz explore one of the most common yet misunderstood human emotions: anxiety. While anxiety is often viewed as something to eliminate, this episode explains how anxiety is actually a normal protective response designed to keep us safe and what happens when that system becomes overactive or dysregulated.

If you've ever struggled with chronic worry, racing thoughts, panic, overthinking, or feeling constantly on edge, this conversation provides practical, research-backed insights into what's happening inside your brain and body. Tatiana and Jennifer explain the psychology and neuroscience of anxiety, including how the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, sympathetic nervous system, cortisol, and adrenaline influence the way anxiety feels and why it can be so difficult to "just relax."

You'll learn the important difference between anxiety and fear, why anxiety is future-oriented, how catastrophic thinking and "what if" loops keep anxiety alive, and how cognitive distortions can make everyday situations feel overwhelming. The hosts also discuss how anxiety presents differently across toddlers, children, teenagers, and adults, helping listeners recognize the emotional, cognitive, and physical signs of anxiety throughout every stage of life.

Drawing from neuroscience, psychological research, and clinical experience, Tatiana and Jennifer share evidence-based approaches for managing anxiety, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy, EMDR, mindfulness, grounding exercises, and nervous system regulation. They also introduce simple but powerful tools you can use immediately, including the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique and the WAIT framework to interrupt anxious thought patterns and reconnect with the present moment.

Whether you're navigating generalized anxiety, panic attacks, health anxiety, social anxiety, trauma recovery, ADHD, chronic stress, burnout, or persistent overthinking, this episode offers compassionate guidance and practical strategies to help you regulate your nervous system, build emotional resilience, and respond to anxiety with greater confidence and self-awareness.

In This Episode:

• What anxiety really is and why it's a normal human emotion
• The difference between anxiety and fear
• How anxiety affects the brain, nervous system, and body
• The role of the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, cortisol, and adrenaline
• Why catastrophic thinking and "what if" loops fuel anxiety
• Common cognitive distortions that increase anxious thinking
• How anxiety presents differently in children, teens, and adults
• Physical symptoms of anxiety including racing heart, muscle tension, nausea, and insomnia
• When anxiety becomes a clinical concern and when to seek professional help
• Understanding generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, health anxiety, and social anxiety
• Evidence-based treatments including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy, and EMDR
• The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique for calming the nervous system
• The WAIT method for responding to anxious thoughts with greater clarity
• Practical strategies for emotional regulation, mindfulness, and reducing overthinking

Links & Resources:
Tatiana Rojas - https://getherapyservices.com/

Let's Get Emotional is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not therapy and does not replace mental health care. If you are in crisis or need immediate support, please contact your local emergency services or a crisis hotline in your area.

In this episode of Let's Get Emotional, hosts Tatiana Rojas and Dr. Jennifer Martin Schantz explore one of the most powerful and misunderstood human emotions: love. While love is often associated with romance, this episode reveals that love is much more than attraction—it's a biological, psychological, and emotional system that shapes our relationships, nervous system, mental health, and overall well-being.

Together, they unpack the psychology and neuroscience of love, explaining how love develops across the lifespan—from childhood and family relationships to friendships, romantic partnerships, caregiving, and self-love. You'll learn how love is experienced in the brain and body, why secure attachment matters, and how early life experiences influence the way we give, receive, and protect ourselves from love.

Tatiana and Dr. Jennifer explain the connection between attachment theory, trauma, emotional regulation, and polyvagal theory, showing how love functions as a powerful regulator of stress and safety. They also discuss the roles of dopamine, oxytocin, and the nervous system in creating connection, trust, resilience, and emotional security.

The conversation also explores common barriers to experiencing love, including insecure attachment, fear of vulnerability, shame, people-pleasing, emotional avoidance, and past trauma. Rather than seeing these as signs that someone is incapable of love, the hosts explain how they often represent protective survival responses that can be healed.

You'll also discover evidence-based strategies to cultivate healthier relationships and deeper connection through self-compassion, loving-kindness meditation, gratitude, attachment repair, and intentional acts of connection. As always, the episode includes practical emotional regulation exercises that help you better understand how love feels in your body and how to communicate it more clearly in your relationships.

Whether you're looking to strengthen your relationships, heal from past wounds, improve your emotional health, build self-love, or simply better understand the science behind one of our most meaningful emotions, this episode offers practical tools grounded in psychology, neuroscience, and clinical research.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What love really is beyond romance and attraction
• The psychology and neuroscience of love
• How attachment styles shape relationships
• The connection between love, trauma, and emotional regulation
• How love affects the brain, nervous system, dopamine, and oxytocin
• Why secure attachment improves emotional resilience and mental health
• The difference between romantic love, family love, friendship, caregiving, and self-love
• How shame, fear, and past experiences can interfere with connection
• Evidence-based ways to build healthier relationships
• Practical tools for cultivating self-love, compassion, gratitude, and emotional connection

Perfect for anyone searching for:

• How to build healthy relationships
• Self-love and self-worth
• Attachment styles explained
• The neuroscience of love
• Psychology of love
• Emotional regulation
• Healing from relationship trauma
• Secure attachment
• Nervous system regulation
• Mental health and relationships
• Love languages and emotional connection
• Self-compassion practices
• Emotional wellness
• Relationship psychology

In this episode of Let's Get Emotional, hosts Tatiana Rojas and Dr. Jennifer Martin Schantz explore one of the most fundamental human emotions: fear. While fear is often uncomfortable, it serves an important biological purpose—helping us recognize danger, protect ourselves, and survive threatening situations.

Fear is more than simply feeling scared. It affects the brain, nervous system, thoughts, behaviors, and physical body in powerful ways. Whether you're experiencing fear related to trauma, anxiety, uncertainty, relationships, health concerns, parenting, or major life changes, understanding how fear works can help you respond with greater awareness and self-compassion.

Tatiana and Jennifer break down the psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary function of fear, explaining why fear is a normal emotional response and how it differs from anxiety. They discuss how fear presents across the lifespan—from young children to teens to adults—and explore the physical signs that fear is showing up in the body, including racing heart, tight chest, nausea, hypervigilance, sleep disruption, and nervous system activation.

The conversation also dives into the connection between fear, stress, trauma, and survival responses. You'll learn how the brain processes threats, why fear can become chronic after traumatic experiences, and how patterns such as fight, flight, freeze, and fawn develop as protective responses.

Drawing from clinical experience and evidence-based research, the hosts discuss when fear becomes problematic, how it can interfere with daily functioning, and when seeking professional support may be helpful. They also introduce practical emotional regulation tools rooted in self-compassion to help you work with fear instead of against it.

Whether you're struggling with anxiety, panic, trauma recovery, chronic stress, hypervigilance, people-pleasing, emotional overwhelm, or persistent worry, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable strategies to help you understand fear, regulate your nervous system, and build emotional resilience.

In This Episode:

• What fear is and why it is essential for survival
• The difference between fear and anxiety
• How fear affects the brain and nervous system
• The evolutionary purpose of fear
• Understanding acute fear, chronic fear, and existential fear
• Common physical symptoms of fear in the body
• How fear shows up differently in children, teens, and adults
• The connection between fear, stress, and trauma
• How the amygdala and nervous system respond to perceived threats
• Understanding fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses
• The difference between stress responses and trauma responses
• Why fear can become stored in the body after trauma
• Hypervigilance, panic, dissociation, and survival mode patterns
• When fear becomes unhealthy or interferes with daily life
• Mental health conditions commonly associated with fear
• How EMDR therapy can help process trauma and fear responses
• Self-compassion practices for emotional regulation
• Practical tools for calming fear and identifying unmet needs
• How to work with fear rather than avoid it
• Building resilience, safety, and emotional awareness

Key Takeaways:

Fear is not weakness. It is information.

Fear serves as the brain and body's built-in alarm system, alerting us to potential threats and helping us stay safe. However, when fear becomes chronic, overwhelming, or connected to unresolved trauma, it can significantly impact emotional wellbeing, relationships, physical health, and daily functioning.

By understanding how fear operates in the mind and body, developing self-compassion, and learning effective regulation strategies, it becomes possible to respond to fear with greater confidence, flexibility, and resilience.

Links & Resources:

Tatiana Rojas: https://getherapyservices.com/

Disclaimer:

Let's Get Emotional is for educational and informational purposes only. This podcast is not therapy and does not replace professional mental health care. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or need immediate support, contact your local emergency services or crisis hotline. In the United States, call or text 988 for immediate assistance.