362: Anxiety, Panic Attacks & Sobriety362: Anxiety, Panic Attacks & Sobriety
Soberful
Veronica Valli and Chip Somers share raw experiences of anxiety and panic attacks tied to drinking, alongside practical tools for managing fear in sobriety. Their conversation focuses on why alcohol heightens anxiety over time and how support and simple techniques can make early recovery more manageable.
47:20•12 Aug 2026
Anxiety, Panic Attacks and the Hidden Cost of Drinking
Episode Overview
- Alcohol may briefly ease anxiety but ultimately worsens it by disrupting brain chemistry.
- Anxiety and panic attacks are common among people with alcohol problems and often misdiagnosed while drinking continues.
- Talking openly about anxiety and seeking support helps reduce feelings of isolation and being “a freak”.
- Grounding tools like the 5–4–3–2–1 exercise and EFT tapping can calm panic in the moment.
- Staying sober and working on yourself steadily builds confidence; how you feel early on is not how you’ll feel months down the line.
“How you're feeling now is not how you're going to be feeling in six months.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? Here, long-time recovery experts Veronica Valli and Chip Somers chat candidly about anxiety, panic attacks and how closely they’re tied to drinking. The episode centres on a simple but uncomfortable truth: anxiety and alcohol go hand in hand.
Veronica shares how extreme panic attacks and social anxiety shaped her teens and twenties, describing stretches of life where she “wasn’t living, I was surviving,” and using alcohol (and later Valium) to make everything “a bit bearable”. Chip points out how often people with alcohol problems are labelled “anxious/depressed” while they’re still drinking, when in reality the booze is fuelling the symptoms. You’ll hear them break down why alcohol only offers temporary relief.
It eases anxiety for an hour or two, then “doesn’t resolve the problem… it just gives a temporary relief at a big price” by disrupting brain chemistry and leaving you feeling worse the next day. They also talk about the fear of doing things sober for the first time – job interviews, social events, even simple conversations – and how that fear alone can keep people stuck. Alongside their stories, Veronica and Chip share practical tools.
Chip explains the 5–4–3–2–1 grounding method (naming what you can see, feel, hear, smell and taste) to calm surging panic. Veronica talks about using EFT tapping and how, in her experience, it reliably brings anxiety down from “quite a high pitch” to something manageable. Throughout, they stress the value of talking about anxiety in recovery and finding support rather than trying to tough it out alone.
As Chip puts it, “How you’re feeling now is not how you’re going to be feeling in six months.” If anxiety has been steering your drinking, could this be the nudge to start facing it sober, with tools and support on your side?
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