Product Description

Since its first edition in 1990, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook has sold more than 600,000 copies. Its engaging exercises and worksheets have helped millions of readers make real progress in overcoming problems with anxiety and phobic disorders. The Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health (Norcross, et al., 2003) gave the book its highest rating and praised it as "a highly regarded and widely known resource." Thousands of mental health and medical professionals recommend this book to their clients and patients every year. Simply put, it is the single finest source of self-help information on its topic available anywhere.

The text of this fourth edition has been fully revised and expanded and includes two new chapters: a discussion of physical conditions that can aggravate anxiety and an overview of the use of mindfulness practice in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and some forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. As in previous editions, the book offers the most up-to-date information on medications, natural supplements, and complementary strategies that can alleviate anxiety symptoms. The sections on relaxation, nutrition, and exercise have all been updated and broadened.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #360 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

From Library Journal
This book excels not only in explaining the cause and nature of anxiety disorders and phobias but also in describing treatments. Director of the Anxiety Treatment Center in Santa Rosa (California), Bourne emphasizes the cognitive-behavioral model of treatment but includes information on biopsychiatry, intense psychotherapy, and spirituality as additional treatment modalities. This is truly a "workbook," with exercises designed to facilitate recovery, either through private use or in conjunction with professional therapy. If your library already owns the 1990 edition and money is an object, you can probably pass on this revision, which updates the definitions of anxiety and phobia so that they conform with the new DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and includes new information on the biological causes of anxiety and related treatment developments. However, if your collection lacks a good lay reader's book on anxiety and phobia, this is an excellent choice.?Jennifer Amador, Central State Hosp. Medical Lib., Petersburg, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Midwest Book Review
Any who've struggled with panic attacks and fears will find this packed with self-help exercises and guidelines to overcoming anxiety and stress, from understanding how to assert oneself to creating a positive recovery strategy. This focuses on handling feelings, including plenty of tips on handling life problems.

Book Info
Practical and comprehensive consumer guide offering help with panic attacks, agoraphobia, social fears, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, or other anxiety disorders. Includes questionnaires and exercises to develop a self-help program. Previous edition: c1994. Softcover.

Customer Reviews

Pretty good.
This book is pretty good except he has me doing tons of stuff to get well. Walk an hour a day, eat better, mediatation, autogenics, downtime, massive vacations, and the list goes on. Come on who has the time to do all that and work and raise a family. Who has the money to take long restful vacations. Certainly not me after paying for the doctor and the SSRI. Preacher wants me to read the Bible through every year, husband wants me to work full time, therapist wants me to utilize this book to the max, mother wants me to take her places, and now this author has me doing tons of stuff. So I give it only 3 stars.

Some really good ideas but a bit incomplete.
As someone who suffers from social anxiety disorder, I have done extensive research and testing on many different things that claim to "cure" anxiety. Because medication and professional therapy is not an option for me (due to lack of insurance), I decided to try a more natural approach to treatment. I picked up this book recently and although it does have some really good ideas, it's a tad bit incomplete.

Let's talk about the positives. First, this does act as a workbook which encourages you to partake in the activities and write down your experiences. Second, the writer suggests quite a few different techniques to help treat you. He discusses meditation, positive thinking, breathing techniques, and he even touches on something that I personally believe is the most helpful-exercise and nutrition.

Furthermore, the author gives specific examples of things to tell yourself if you're experiencing self-doubt. He also describes how to meditate and even what to think about when meditating. If you believe that CBT is right for you, this book does a good job of explaining everything.

And now for the negatives. I understand this is a book for anxiety and phobias in general but some of these things just didn't/won't work for someone in my situation. Because I experience free floating anxiety a lot, it's hard to "talk yourself out of the situation" when you don't understand why the heck you're experiencing anxiety in the first place.

Another thing I disliked is that the author suggests that you correct your negative thoughts and instead change them into positive. What the author doesn't discuss is what to do if you don't actually BELIEVE the positive statement you're telling yourself. For example, if I'm in a situation where I feel that everyone is judging me and I become anxious, it doesn't help to tell myself "Oh don't worry about what they're thinking. They're not even looking at you." when there are, in fact, people looking at you. In terms of the whole imagining yourself in an anxious situation and then actually visiting this place, I don't think this would work for people with my disorder because it's all on a case by case basis. Whereas sometimes I'll feel uncomfortable standing in line in a certain grocery store, I'll be fine in other stores. It's not the actual place but the people you're around.

Although I do think there's a wealth of information on this book, I don't think all of the ideas work for every person with anxiety issues. There are books out there that are more "understanding" than this one so just search for one that is specific to your phobia.

very detailed
This is an actual "workbook". It doesn't just say that you should do certain things to overcome anxiety. It gives specific details about specific techniques you can use. There are pages that you fill out to assess your specific breed of anxiety, and it recommends certain techniques for each type of anxiety. This book is written in a way that the general public can understand. The beginning has an overview of the types of anxiety/phobias. A lot of information is repeated in different sections, but that just helps reinforce the knowledge. This is great in conjunction with Lucinda Bassett's book, From Panic to Power.