Managing Your Anxiety: Regaining Control When You Feel Stres

Discusses the causes of anxiety, describes a typical anxiety attack, and outlines a special program designed to help control stress. Reprint.

From To the Reader: This book has been written for those whose lives are limited by psychological stress, chronic worry, anxiety attacks, self-defeating fears, or agoraphobia. . . . It is an invitation to step back from the experiences of anxiety and fear in order to see them whole.

From Chapter 1: . . . Disrupted or disorganized behavior occurs in at least three circumstances: when we perceive ourselves to be under attack and helpless to defend ourselves; when we perceive ourselves to be trapped and helpless to escape; and when we perceive incompatible choices we are helpless to choose between. From the time of Ivan Pavlov on, experimenters have created emotional disruption in dogs and other animals by putting them in such situations. One of the effects of such coercive treatment is that the animals become agitated, forgetful, and unable to pay close attention to their surroundings.

From Chapter 1: People who say anxiety is all in your head simply are not very observant. Anyone who has experienced severe anxiety knows it can involve virtually the entire body.

From Chapter 2: There is, of course, nothing wrong with being a polite, considerate, nice person. However, there is something terribly wrong with struggling to be someone other than who you are. In the first place, it is impossible. In the second place, the effort makes you unhappy. You can never be good enough to satisfy the demands set by your parents insecurities and limitations. You will always be running to catch up. You will always be worried and anxious. You will always believe, I can be relaxed and happy just as soon as everything is perfect, but I can t be relaxed and happy right now.

From Chapter 2 How We Become Trapped in Thought. In our everyday experience, we will search for supposed threats to our survival with a large magnifying lens called either-or thinking. We will attempt to see threats in the future with a powerful telescope called what if thinking. When we feel forced by circumstances into acting or choosing, we will do so only after we don our opaque have to sunglasses. When we tire of wrestling with the largely imaginary threats that we are able to find, we may try to see ourselves and our situation in the distorting mirror of if only thinking.