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al. I think all of us that suffer from anxiety disorders are so happy to find someone who has an inkling of what we are going through that we are willing to give that person five stars, just for their understanding.First the good: I won't go into detail, because other reviewers have done an excellent job of pointing out how comprehensively the author has listed and described the various modalities that can be used to reduce anxiety-he truly presents a holistic approach.Next, the not-so-good: the author is a therapist at heart and by degree, and it shows in his writing. He also dislikes the Xanax (Klonopin, Ativan) family of drugs because they are "addictive" (he means "causes dependence"), that is, if you stop taking them the drug abruptly, you may well suffer a withdrawal, so you are advised to taper the withdrawal from the medication, which is a good idea with many meds. Other antidepressants that patients often have difficulty withdrawing from (after they have waited 6-8 weeks for the drug to do something for their anxiety) include Paxil (which the author mentions) and Cymbalta.The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook may be of use to you if you know nothing about anxiety or if your anxiety is fairly mild-but the book is somewhat dated and contains some misinformation which is presented as fact.
He also recommends a vegetarian diet and eating organic foods-which I am in agreement with from a general health and ethical point of view, but I've never read that organic eggs will bring you peace of mind.The author also states that antidepressants are not "addictive"-which dates this volume: Effexor is notorious for causing "head-zaps" and other unpleasant sensations upon withdrawal. "Antidepressant withdrawal syndrome" is fairly recent as a concern, but it isn't included in this book. You might look at what the Mayo Clinic or other reputable sites have to say about vitamin therapy, if in doubt. This is a well-studied idea, but it just doesn't work, unfortunately.
You might want to check the Web site [.]. There are other examples, but the medication section is a bit weak-and as to the objection that medication just masks "the cause"-the cause may be that you chose the wrong parents and inherited the wrong genes.Another objection is that the author suggests taking mega doses of vitamins for anxiety. Some anxiety disorders, panic disorder for example, really respond much better to medication that therapy, despite the current craze over CBT. are very, very non-toxic).
Remarkably, he suggests taking medications like gabapentin instead, which are vastly more toxic than the Xanax family (but then, that's not hard, Xanax, et. What he fails to mention is that the Xanax family (benzodiazepines) is far-and-away the most prescribed and effective psychoactive set of medications for anxiety disorders. or others for confirmation of that statement.
It includes the gamut---from OCD through Agoraphobia. As a long-time sufferer of Panic Disorder, later complicated by Agoraphobia, I have read many, many books on the subject, and this is by far the best. I highly recommend it. I was frankly surprised (and pleased) that it includes a lengthy section on the spiritual aspect of fighting anxiety. It is comprehensive and familiar. There are exercises and information that will indeed help you to conquer what can be a debilitating and is always a quality-of-life-diminishing disorder.
I'm much better than when I started my journey of healing. 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. 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.
I'm a big fan of workbooks, simply because there's something for everyone. 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 visualizationAs 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. A lot of self-help books are hit or miss because they give you one or two strategies for solving a problem. If you don't like strategy "A", well, then just move on and try strategy "B" or "C". Five stars easy. 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.
Definetly worth buying. If you expieriance any kind of anxiety, panic, or phobia, this book has great insight on self help. It has alot of helpful information.
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