# High-Functioning Anxiety Isn’t Who You Are. Here’s the Truth

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dr-leaf-show-439288/high-functioning-anxiety-isn-t-who-you-are-here-s-the-truth
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dr-leaf-show-439288/high-functioning-anxiety-isn-t-who-you-are-here-s-the-truth.md
Podcast: [The Dr. Leaf Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dr-leaf-show-439288)
Published: 2026-06-04T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://prefix.up.audio/s/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/YAP3791082099.mp3
Audio file: https://prefix.up.audio/s/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/YAP3791082099.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-dr-leaf-show-439288/episodes/high-functioning-anxiety-isn-t-who-you-are-here-s-the-truth
Duration seconds: 2405

## Resource

High-functioning anxiety isn't a personality type. It's a stress response that's gone unchecked. You look calm. You hit your deadlines. You say "I'm fine." But inside, your body is paying a tax that's quietly editing your gene expression while everyone applauds your output. In this episode of The Dr. Leaf Show, Dr. Caroline Leaf breaks down what high-functioning anxiety actually is, what your non-conscious mind has been trying to tell you, and a 4-step framework to start listening. Plus: why your dog's separation anxiety mirrors your own anticipatory anxiety, and a Pick My Brain segment where Dr. Leaf answers your hardest questions about death, grief, and death anxiety. What you'll learn: - Why high-functioning anxiety is built on the "I'm fine" response — and how 40+ years of repressive coping research shows what it does to your heart rate, gene expression, and immune system - The 4 signals your non-conscious mind is sending: emotional, behavioral, body, and perspective — and how to translate each one - The 4-step framework for listening to your non-conscious mind instead of overriding it - Why your dog's pre-departure panic, the suitcase meltdown, the excessive licking — all mirror the same FAS (Fear, Anxiety, Stress) response humans experience - Pattern disruption techniques that rewire your dog's anticipatory anxiety in 6-9 weeks - The neuroscience of grief: why feeling nothing after a death is protective, not broken - Why anticipatory grief makes you grieve twice — and what's happening in the nucleus accumbens during prolonged grief - What near-death experience research suggests about pain at the moment of death Resources: Dr. Leaf's Website: https://drleaf.com Neurocycle Certification: https://drleaf.com (training opens September) 1:1 Coaching with Dr. Leaf: http…

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## Transcript

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