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Conquering Panic and Anxiety Disorders: Success Stories, Strategies, and Other Good News
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Average customer review:
Product Description
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in America, affecting one in every nine people. Conquering Panic and Anxiety Disorders brings us triumphant tales by those who have overcome them. Men and women of diverse ages and backgrounds share their individual experiences battling anxiety. Offering hope and inspiration, their essays discuss methods for recovery and techniques to manage symptoms. Each account is followed by a therapist’s explanation of the recovery techniques used and how others can apply these techniques to their lives.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #920898 in Books
- Published on: 2002-10-18
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
Customer Reviews
Useful Stories to Enlighten and Encourage
If you suffer from any panic or anxiety disorder, often times you feel very alone in your plight. Many times, you wonder if you'll ever 'see' your old self again. It's a scary place to be, because I've been there.
In these true stories from folks spanning the spectrum of life, you quickly discover that all the feelings associated with anxiety and panic have been felt by countless others. A critical element to this book are the commentaries after each story by Dr. Paul Foxman. He treats each person's story on an individual basis, offering insight to the root of the disorder, and the very clear hope for overcoming it.
In each of the contributing author's stories, I am certain anyone suffering from panic or anxiety- perhaps both, will find comfort in knowing there's someone out there who made it through a very dark, lonely place to the bright side of living a full and enriching life.
This book is not intimidating with technical/medical jargon- rather, it's a book that's easily digested and leaves its mark by teaching someone suffering the power of hope and healing they hold within themselves. Highly recommended.
32 New Friends
At the end of this book, Jenna Glatzer says she hopes the reader will feel like she has made 32 new friends, and that's exactly how I feel. The stories in this book were so inspirational, and I could relate with so many of them! In each of the stories, the writer tells about what their anxiety disorder is like and how they cured it, and then the psychologist gives an explanation about the methods the writer used. I was happy to find out that many of them didn't use medication to get better, because that's what scares me! I don't want to be on medication for the rest of my life. A lot of the people in this book got better through therapy or self-help tapes or their own relaxation methods. I thought I was alone in a lot of my feelings, but now I know I'm not. If you have an anxiety disorder, this book will make you feel like there is hope. I can't wait to be a conqueror, too!
I Lived It
Paul Foxman, Ph.D. and Director of the Center for Anxiety Disorders in Vermont, offers an introduction in which he introduces himself as one who has suffered from anxiety and offers commentaries at the end of each essay. He says "These stories are full of hope and promise for anxiety recovery. May they fulfill their mission to spread the word and inspire many others to conquer their anxieties."
Each chapter is a story and is shown on the Content's page. In addition, Glatzer has organized the topics addressed to make disorders, therapies and feelings very easy to find.
The chapters average about 5 pages each but some are just a couple of pages and a few are 7 or 8 pages in length. The essays are presented as written by the authors so it was not Glatzer's intention to edit them down or "tweak" them.
Glatzer's hope is that people realize they are not alone while reading these 31 essays describing very personal situations and feelings. The authors have opened themselves up to the world. You will find a couple of professional writers, you will read stories by people who just like to write, and others who perhaps never intended to see their story in print.
I found that more often than not most of the authors used some of Foxman's approaches even if they didn't know they were. I like Foxman's commentaries a lot. I like the fact that not only does he explain in a professional way what often times the authors do not do because they are telling their story, but he also talks about how the various conditions came to be (perhaps multiple stresses). He also talks about physical symptoms, which are an important part of this book for people who are seeking help or seeking to understand if they need help.
The book is listed under psychology/self-help on the cover and I would imagine it being used in classrooms. Rarely will a student or an onlooker have a look into what panic and anxiety is like from a first-hand perspective with no clinical jargon or going back to one's childhood to find out the answers to why it happened. Some authors do attempt to figure out the whys, but for many, the whys are much less important than the "what can I do and who will help me" questions.
How do I know this? I am an author in this book. I am not reviewing it to sell it, however. My bottom line is that this is a book of hope and of wanting not only to be heard but also to have others get some relief from their suffering. I wish I had been handed it 20 years ago.
