If you (or someone you love) can't stop scanning for signs that something serious is being missed — checking, Googling, asking for reassurance — this conversation names it and offers a real way out. Dr. Karen Cassiday, a clinical psychologist and past president of the ADAA, joins Dr. Adam Rinde to unpack illness anxiety (often called health anxiety): what it is, why it isn't the old, dismissive "hypochondria," and why it can attach just as fiercely to a child's or spouse's health as your own.
Karen explains why reassurance is "gasoline on a fire," how to distinguish anxiety symptoms from genuine red flags, and why more screening — like the $1,000 whole-body MRI — buys anxiety, not better health. She shares the heart of exposure-based therapy, the qualities that make it work, and how snowplow parenting feeds the cycle. She closes with a concrete mid-spiral walkthrough: stop reassurance, slow the body, then do exposure — because "it's sad, but it's not a tragedy. The tragedy is not living well because of your anxiety."
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About Dr. Karen Cassiday
Dr. Karen Cassiday is a lively, sought-after speaker and media commentator on anxiety, featured on outlets including Nightline, The Today Show, Animal Planet, The Joy Behar Show, and public radio, and host of the Moms Without Worry radio show on iHeartRadio. A TEDx speaker, she served as President of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) and is the founder of the Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago — the longest-running clinic to first use modern exposure-based treatment for anxiety disorders in the Chicago region.
She is the author of The No Worries Guide to Raising Your Anxious Child, Freedom from Health Anxiety, and Helping Children and Teens with Difficult-to-Treat OCD, along with numerous peer-reviewed and media articles on overcoming anxiety. A recipient of ADAA's Clinician of Distinction Award and a Clinical Fellow of ADAA, she is also a Diplomate and Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and has trained mental health professionals throughout the world.
LINKS
Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago | https://www.facebook.com/anxietytreatmentcenterchicago
Dr. Karen Cassiday on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/karencassiday/
Anxiety Treatment Center on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/3320303/
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