The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition
by Edmund J. Bourne
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Book Reviews of The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition
Book Review: Some really good ideas but a bit incomplete.
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Book Review: Something for Everyone
Summary: 5 Stars
A lot of self-help books are hit or miss because they give you one or two strategies for solving a problem. Not so with this book- that's because its a workbook. This means the book takes a problem, and gives you MANY different strategies and ways of solving it. I'm a big fan of workbooks, simply because there's something for everyone. If you don't like strategy "A", well, then just move on and try strategy "B" or "C". Here's a few more specifics about the book...
-you take a self diagnosis questionnaire to help you identify which anxiety disorder you may be dealing with
-you will learn about the causes of anxiety disorders, including triggers and maintaining causes
-the book proposes a multi-level comperehensive approach that addresses different levels of contributing causes (physical, emotional, behavioral, mental, interpersonal, whole-self, and spiritual
-you can use the weekly practice records to monitor your own program
-the bulk of the book is esentially a bunch of strategies that you can choose from, such as breathing exercises, desensitization, physical exercise (also recommend Exercise Beats Depression for more on that), self-talk, and visualization
As you can see, the book takes a very comprehensive approach to getting the reader better and most are bound to find at least find one or two techniques that will really hit the nail on the head. Five stars easy.
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 4 Stars
I started having severe insomnia a few months ago. No amount of sleeping pills could help. Soon afterwards I started having panic attacks and extreme anxiety. I checked this book out from my library and started reading right away.
The pros of this book are, there are so many good points, from nutrition, to exercise, to stress relief, medications, relaxation, lifestyle changes, improved breathing, psychotherapy, positivity (remember MIND OVER MATTER) etc etc. And the advice really does help alot.
The cons: it's a really thick book and covers a great deal of info from panic, anxiety to different phobias. And it really does require work on your part.
My advice is, find out where you need the most help and just skip to those chapters. But the first few chapters are essential. Remember that you will probably need a COMBINATION of treatments. For me personally, I used: medication, A LOT of exercise and yoga, breathing techniques and just taking it easy! Eventually a person needs to wean off of the meds, so it's important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Good luck, I know its not easy, but remember, that you CAN do this and you WILL.
Book Review: Panic Attacks Suck!
Summary: 4 Stars
I suffered from severe panic attacks for years, and it was really constricting my life. I finally got desperate enough to get one of "those" books - you know, the "workbooky" kind that have lots of self-help exercises and techniques you're supposed to follow to dig your way out of whatever particular hole you're in. I hate workbooks...never believed they did any good. But like I said, I was desperate.
This book really, truly made a difference. It wasn't just educating me on a topic I'd already spent years studying, it convinced me I had to reclaim my life by taking action, and showed me step-by-simple-step how to do it.
Maybe you have to get to a point where you're willing to take action, and before then anything you try just won't work - you're not in the right mindset. But even if that's the case, someone reading this book will be encouraged to believe that change is possible, and then the "chore" of trying to follow the exercises won't seem like work, but like exciting baby steps toward finally curing themselves of this painful, life-sucking disorder.
Definitely recommended.
Book Review: Great Book - Have Had It for Years.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great book and only one of many tools to help us on our journey to help ourselves toward a better quality of life living with panic attacks. There are no sure cure for excessive anxiety and panic attacks. But with a good psychologists help for behavior changes, medications to take the edge off, my faith to give me the courage to try and keep trying even when I fail, education through the availability of information published, and a lot of hard work and self evaluation of my own behaviors and coping skills that I have learned throughout my life; I have lessened the harshness and frequency of the attacks.
Once I learned some of the reasons how I acquired the poor coping skills on how I reacted and saw things to situations in my life I began to start to baby step my way, pray and put the hard work into changing those destructive life coping skills.
I will still have good and bad days for panic attacks and will be learning the rest of my life on how to better deal with them and thats okay. I'm much better than when I started my journey of healing.