Hope and Help for Your Nerves (Signet)
by Claire Weekes
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Book Reviews of Hope and Help for Your Nerves (Signet)
Book Review: Now I can BREATHE...
Summary: 5 Stars
Heart palpitations, feeling faint, dizzy, strange sensations all over my body, burning feelings in my chest and arms and head, shaking, scary thoughts, wanting to scream, visual disturbances, shaky legs, nausea, flu-like symptoms, feeling absolutely positive that "I'm going to die at this very moment..."
These are only SOME of the symptoms I experience when I have a panic attack. I have suffered for over 10 years and in those 10 years, NEVER did I find a book so comprehensive and thorough.
This book is also very easy to read because it is broken up into small sections and seems less intimidating than a giant tome.
Dr. Weekes mentions things in this book that I never expected to read in a panic/anxiety book---things that I thought were unique to ME. It seems as though all of those piles of books that I bought about panic are all the same with generic information. People with acute FEAR embedded into themselves feel a set of symptoms and sensations that others do not. This book addresses these manifestations of fear.
I was shocked to read certain things because I honestly thought that I was the only one who felt this way. FEAR can perform some disturbing tricks on a body and we don't fully appreciate or want to accept that something as simple as fear can cause such distress ---NOT JUST AT THE TIME OF PANIC ATTACK, BUT CONTINUOUSLY. Since we are afraid all the time, our bodies are in a constant state of unrest and commotion.
I only WISH professionals (i.e. psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists) would read this book to better understand their patients. Maybe, just maybe, they would know what to say to a patient to help him/her instead of filling him/her with pills that intoxicate the body. I do feel that medication is necessary at times, but all too often it is the first choice for doctors. And it is mostly because doctors DON'T KNOW...but maybe they should find out.
Bottom line, if you suffer from panic:
1. Read this book
2. Find a psychiatrist who has a clue
3. Try not to get discouraged if #2 doesn't happen as quickly as you had hoped.
I think HOPE AND HELP FOR YOUR NERVES is the only book you need if you suffer from nervous illness. It helped me in many ways and now I can breathe.
Book Review: It cured me - I am forever grateful to Dr. Weekes.
Summary: 5 Stars
"It cured me"....this is the first and only self-help book that I think highly enough of to use those words to describe it.
My own experience with anxiety attacks began shortly before I graduated from high school. Back then, not much anyone was talking about "panic attacks" so I had never heard of them. Consequently, I thought my anxiety experience was a prelude to total insanity....no joke. Not wanting to spend my days as a drooling loony locked in a padded room (these were the prevailing stereotypes back then) I actually came to the brink of suicide on more than one occasion.
I suffered horribly with anxiety for about ten years until one day I happened to hear James Dobson mention this book on his daily radio program. He was interviewing Dr. Weekes about this book and as soon as I heard the words "panic attack" I knew immediately she was talking about me so I actually swerved the car over to the side of the road and listened intently to the rest of the show. I couldn't afford to buy the book so I drove directly to the public library and checked out a copy. That book saved my life! It not only reassured me that I wasn't loosing my mind but it outlined a simple mental technique I could use to lose my fear of the panic attack, and thereby avoid the panic attack altogether. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it took only one reading of the book for me to gain nearly total control of my anxiety problem.
It was several years before I experienced another anxiety attack, and then only because I had forgotten Dr. Weekes techniques over time. A second reading of the book put me back in control again. That was fifteen years ago and I have not had a panic attack since.
If you suffer with anxiety or "panic" attacks, let me assure you there ARE ways to return from that dark place and live a normal life again. Today, there are many good books on the market plus a number of different effective pharmaceuticals which weren't available back when I first encountered panic attacks. This book has helped me and many others who were suffering just like you. I give it my highest recommendation with a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Weekes for saving my life!
Book Review: An end to depression and anxiety
Summary: 5 Stars
Some 25 years ago, I suffered from deep depression and anxiety. I hated to go to work because it reminded of my depression but I didn't want to go home for the same reasons. When my wife and I went anywhere, I would position myself by the door so that I could leave when the panic hit. Well, this went on for 2 years until one night while lying in bed I decided that I had had enough.Either I was going to get my life back or it was going to end. I got up and headed for the door when I had an impulse to (sorry about this but it happened just this way)get on my knees and ask for help. Nothing extraordinary happened(no voices,etc), but I did feel a little more relaxed, so I went back to bed. This happened on a Thursday night. The following Sunday, there was an ad in the paper for a book about the problems I was having. The ad was for Dr. Weekes book. I ordered the book and it arrived 2 weeks later. I had often heard the phrase,"it felt like a ton of bricks lifted off of me". When I read the first paragraph, I actually had that feeling.That was the first feeling of peace that I had had in a long time.Just knowing that what was happening to me was like being on a merry go round and that I could get off by floating on a pink cloud whenever I had panic attacks was rather simplistic but I was certainly going to try it. Dr. Weekes said that the time between each panic attack would get father apart until the last one in about a year. And that was about the time of my last panic attack,some 25 years ago. I have never been depressed or had an attack since then. There were times during that year that my wife could tell that I was depressed and she would ask me how it felt. I would describe the feelings and the depression would lift. I don't know why but perhaps I was separating the emotions from the physical sensations. I just know that it worked. I truly hope that my story will help someone else. For me, the book was truly a life saver. My younger brother became depressed several years later and I offered the book to him but he refused because" when I read I get sleepy". He is still on medication.
Book Review: Good stuff
Summary: 4 Stars
I am not one of those people who has read multiple self-help books, in fact-- I've read two, this one and Robin Sharma's The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (which i highly RECOMMEND). I am 18 years old.
I began looking for a self help book after having a good 8 months with light to chronic insomnia. I've had difficulties with anxiety for the past 2 years, have had harsh panic attacks (and sometimes trips to clinics and the hospital), but it wasn't until I had began having trouble with sleep that I had sought help. This was the first "nervous illness" that I could not get a grip on on my own, and after reading reviews here and by various other people, I decided on this book.
I like: That it's not a high-tech vocabulary book. It's simple vocabulary, written carefully by a woman who understands what I was feeling. This is the first time I finally got perspective on what was happening with me, mentally. She deals with various issues, every fear, and describes them fairly accurately. What's best about this book, no doubt, is how it's written. I felt like I was having tea with the lady the whole time.
I didn't like: How it affected me in the beginning. It brought back really harsh and ruthless memories which made me pretty vulnerable. I suggest reading it with someone you trust, or maybe even just in their company, whatever might make you feel more comfortable. I'd also suggest to read it consecutively, maybe not all at once, but I wouldn't stop until you feel soothed and calmed. (because it did eventually calm me)
Her concept of "Floating", which I practice almost every time I'm panic-stricken, takes practice. I still don't have that down, but I feel it work the more I practice. I think "floating" could have been explained better, and elaborated on its definition because it took me a few reads to get even a glimpse on what she meant and what it meant to myself.
I do recommend this book, regardless of age, intelligence, and sex. Definitely worth giving a shot.
Book Review: Panic Attacks--a MUST for those in need
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been meaning to write this review of this lifesaver of a book for some time now. I had come across this book over 10 years ago while I was frantically looking in the bookshop for some explanation of why I was 'going crazy'. At the time I didn't know I was having a panic attack. While I was a college student in LA, I was suddenly taken over by this feeling I was going to die and lose it at the same time. It was a freaky experience to say the least, something I had never experienced before. I had remembered a friend mentioning she had had panic attacks before and at the time I had no idea what she was talking about, I couldn't relate at all...until that night I had experienced it myself! I was studying for finals and had been dealing (or rather not dealing) with family problems, emotional problems, etc. When I flipped thru the first pages I felt the writer was speaking directly to me and telling me to relax and fear nothing cause this will pass. This was the mental crutch that carried me thru over 2 months of not being able to sleep without prescribed medication. Now I realize it was my body telling me that I had to slow down, stop and really look at myself, my life and learn to understand and recognize my feelings instead of stuffing them down inside, ignoring them, hoping they'd just go away. Claire Weekes' words of wisdom and compassion helped me to see I wasn't going mad and to understand my panic attacks and to let them just be and 'float' thru them. Since then I haven't had any attacks, but when I feel I'm on the edge of one, I go back to this book and remember to float and not fight. Fortunately I've been able to pass this book on to 2 people who had been going thru similar attacks and they were just as relieved and grateful that they were going thru something quite normal and natural. Thank you Claire Weekes for writing this book which I hope will find its way into those hands in need.