How To Turn Off Anxious Self-Scanning and Checking | EP 354How To Turn Off Anxious Self-Scanning and Checking | EP 354
The Anxious Truth - A Panic, Anxiety, and Mental Health Podcast
Drew Linsalata explains why anxious self-scanning and checking can’t simply be turned off and shares how practising courageous shifts in attention can reduce their impact. The discussion highlights acceptance, self-compassion, and incremental change as practical tools for anxiety and recovery.
29:16•7 Oct 2026
Why You Can’t Switch Off Anxious Self-Scanning (And What You Can Do Instead)
Episode Overview
- You cannot directly switch off anxious scanning and checking, because they are automatic thoughts tied to threat detection.
- Recovery work focuses on disengaging from the scanning process and returning attention to real-life tasks in front of you.
- Small, repeated experiments in courageous refocusing help build a new blueprint for the anxious mind over time.
- Your brain’s overactive scanning does not mean you are broken; it shows a normal safety mechanism that is currently overused.
- Self-kindness and accepting that progress is incremental are crucial, as you cannot be actively "recovering" every minute of every day.
“You can stop asking how to turn off scanning and checking. You cannot. All you can do is act to minimise the impact it has on your day.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This episode of The Anxious Truth looks at a habit that many people in anxiety and recovery circles recognise instantly: constant self-scanning and checking. From monitoring heartbeats and stomach sensations to obsessively reviewing thoughts, it can feel like living with a permanent internal alarm system.
Drew Linsalata, a therapist specialising in anxiety and a former sufferer himself, talks openly about his own brain’s tendency to scan and check, even though he considers himself fully recovered. He uses his experience of migraine aura as a vivid example, explaining how his mind automatically hunts for signs of another episode, despite knowing he’s safe.
His key message is blunt but strangely freeing: "You can stop asking how to turn off scanning and checking… because you cannot." Rather than trying to flip a switch that doesn’t exist, the episode focuses on changing how you respond to that mental surveillance. Drew explains that scanning and checking are forms of thinking that happen automatically, especially around what feels threatening or important.
The real skill lies in noticing that process and choosing to keep attention on everyday life – making lunch, walking the dog, talking to a friend – instead of letting anxious checks “drive the bus”. You’ll hear why this approach is simple but hard, why courage is required, and how small, incremental experiments can slowly retrain the brain.
Drew stresses self-kindness throughout, reminding you that this overactive threat system means your mind is working as designed, not that you’re broken or failing. If you’re sober or cutting down on alcohol and find anxiety rushing in to fill the gap, this episode may help you see that scanning and checking don’t need to control your day. Could practising tiny shifts in attention be the next step in your recovery toolkit?
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