When Control Becomes the Cage: Letting Go of Anxious Safety Behaviors Artwork

Hidden in Plain Sight - ADHD, ASD, and OCD - The Often Missed Diagnoses Driving Overthinking, People Pleasing, Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, and Burnout

You’re overwhelmed and tired, mentally, emotionally, maybe even physically. You overthink everything, feel like you're never doing enough, and constantly worry about what others think of you. You're stuck in cycles of procrastination, perfectionism, or people-pleasing. Social situations can feel draining, and even rest doesn’t feel restful.

You’re the one who holds it together. You care deeply and try so hard to be good and helpful, while quietly unraveling inside. You get things done, but you never feel done. You never feel rested. You never feel right.

You find yourself endlessly doom-scrolling, withdrawing from others into books or your phone, and struggling to feel motivated. If this sounds familiar and nothing seems to be helping, you’re not alone. You’ve just been hidden in plain sight.

Hidden in Plain Sight is a podcast for people-pleasing, perfectionistic, over-giving women who can't seem to find relief. Hosted by psychologist Dr. Lauren Schaefer, this show explores the hidden diagnoses behind lifelong anxiety, depression, self-doubt, shame, and burnout among women whose symptoms have been written off as "just anxiety and/or depression." This is a podcast for deep-feeling, overthinking women who’ve been called too sensitive, too anxious, too intense, or too much, when really, they’ve just been misunderstood.

We’ll talk about the perfectionism you've developed to hide your ADHD; the obsessive-compulsive personality traits, driven by anxiety, to overcompensate for neurodivergent executive dysfunction; your ability to camouflage in relationships and not knowing who you are outside of your relationships due to years of people-pleasing and masking. We'll explore how emotional intelligence, people pleasing, and hypervigilant masking can hide neurodivergent wiring, leading to late diagnosis and poor self-image.

Here you’ll find language for your exhaustion, compassion for your coping, and a mirror that finally reflects the truth: You were never too much. You were just unseen. This is a place to unmask, unravel, and understand the real reasons it’s always felt harder than it looked.

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Hidden in Plain Sight - ADHD, ASD, and OCD - The Often Missed Diagnoses Driving Overthinking, People Pleasing, Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, and Burnout

When Control Becomes the Cage: Letting Go of Anxious Safety Behaviors

October 27, 2025 • Dr. Lauren Schaefer • Season 1 • Episode 6

In this episode, we dig into the quiet habits that masquerade as “self-care” but actually keep us trapped in anxiety, what therapists call safety behaviors. A safety behavior is anything you do to try to feel less anxious, uncertain, or uncomfortable in the moment. From mental reassurance loops to over-planning every possible outcome, these small acts are our brain’s way of begging for certainty. The trouble is, they work against us in the fight to manage anxiety.

We’ll explore how these patterns show up in everyday life (e.g., checking, avoiding, asking for validation) and how each one reinforces the belief that we can’t handle discomfort or uncertainty. We will explore how to respond more effectively.

This is an invitation to meet uncertainty differently. To stop negotiating with fear and start experimenting with trust. If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “I just need to make sure,” this episode is for you.

See my companion substack (When Control Becomes the Cage) for a written copy of what we review in this episode.

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Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast