Stress isn’t just a feeling—it’s your body mobilizing resources to meet a moment. We sit down with a neuropsychologist to map what stress actually is, how it differs from anxiety, and why chronic activation can make the “on” switch hypersensitive and the “off” switch hard to hit. From there, we wade into depression and apathy in Parkinson’s—two experiences that look similar from the outside but feel very different inside—and why apathy in particular is tough on families and tricky to treat.

We compare roles on the care team—psychiatry for medications, psychology and neuropsychology for therapy and assessment—and talk about why a blended plan often works best. For those navigating young-onset Parkinson’s, we get real about career pressure, parenting, and socially demanding hobbies, and we offer scripts for advocating needs without withdrawing. Hiding symptoms hands the disease more than it took; a single text that asks “What would you like to do with us?” can change the week.

You’ll leave with practical tools you can use today: exposure therapy to unlearn avoidance, mindfulness that’s grounded in sensory cues, and progressive muscle relaxation to pull the only two voluntary levers you have in the stress response—breath and muscles. We round it out with the habits that build resilience—sleep, movement within your limits, honest conversations, and small daily acts of joy—and with the bigger question that shapes recovery: who am I now, and who can I become with this diagnosis?

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• Co-hosts: Judy Yaras & Travis Robinson
• www.INDYpodcast.net