Book review (anxiety)

[TheHusband]

I try to read any anxiety books I can find, in the hope of stumbling across one that can help my wife with her health anxiety. This one in particular I think is excellent, much more so than others I've tried, so I wanted to share it:

Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry
By Pittman & Karle
http://amzn.eu/h3CjRD1
(I'm not on commission! That link is to a normal Amazon page. I bought my copy slightly cheaper off eBay.)

Have a look for yourself using the "look inside" feature on the Amazon website, or read the entire first chapter for free using the Kindle 'sample' (you don't need an actual Kindle tablet; you can read on a free app or your computer).

I had several "aha!" moments reading this. Finally after years I can see why my brain does odd things, and why my wife gets anxious. It all suddenly makes sense. I got quite excited reading it.

This book uses medical words for parts of the brain, and gives references to medical 'papers', which can make some people want to switch off. It's not like a difficult school textbook though! You don't have to memorise the new terminology! It just proves to you this is proper, peer-reviewed, science and you can trust these authors. Skipping over all the technical bits will still give you some amazing insights into how anxiety appears in our brains.

Best of all, the later chapters then tell you how best to cause your brain to re-learn how to behave. I think you need the early chapters to give you a fundamental understanding, which helps you to accept that the retraining activities prescribed are the right ones.

Obviously I haven't suddenly cured my wife's health anxiety with this book, but I strongly believe it is a large step in the right direction, and has provided me with knowledge I need to share with her, to make a difference in her life.

[ckelley116]

I’m glad to hear this! This book has been on my wish list for awhile. I did purchase CBT in 7 Weeks (or something like that) and plan to start it as soon as my current HA episode is over, when I can properly concentrate.

[cattia]

I'm re-reading 'The Phantom Illness' by Carla Cantor which I first read many years ago. For me, this is still the best book for understanding what health anxiety is all about, it really comforts me to read it knowing that I am not alone.

[Magic]

I came across this book yesterday on my daughters book shelf.
stumbling on HAPPINESS by Dane Gilbert. Old book.
I had a scan through it but had not much time to read a lot. In fact my brain would not take it all in. Anyway on the back cover there was a comment written by Stephen Fry. Best book he had ever read. I know he has bi polar has depression in the past. Just a comment from me x

[TheHusband]

Thanks to Cattia above, I ordered a copy of 'The Phantom Illness' by Carla Cantor. I did not realise before i started, that is focusses mostly on people who have real pain, or real symptoms, without any physical illness. So the problems in the body have been created by the mind.

This was fascinating, but absolutely terrifying.

The book was written in the 1990s so I don't know if neuroscience has come a long way since then, or not much. Regardless, it may still be the only book which probes into the topic.

I'm going to go back and read 'Rewire Your Anxious Brain' now, as that is more suited to the problems my wife has (no physical symptoms, other than of the anxiety itself). Hopefully I can summarise the findings for her, and make her feel that following the exercises in the book are worthwhile. Ultimately, I cannot make her try it. But it seems to offer real hope, compared to what CBT could offer her a few years ago.

Some of the solutions the book offers are based on exposure therapy, which basically means practising being calm whilst having that bad thing you dread happen to you. For me, that is the equivalent of sitting at the top of a massive ladder, covered in spiders. I can see why someone might be reluctant to undertake it, despite the speedy progress you can apparently make. It seems that deep breathing is one of the few ways to communicate with that inner part of your brain which is responsible for so much anxiety (the amygdala).

[cattia]

I'm interested (and sorry!) to hear that you found The Phantom Illness frightening Husband. May I ask why? I found it incredibly comforting and reassuring to see examples of how powerfully the body can influence the mind, mainly because I often doubt whether such a range of physical symptoms can originate in the mind and not be due to a serious physical condition, but this book confirms for me the power of anxiety. I know that not every physical symptom is caused by anxiety, but I also have learned that anxiety can mimic almost any physical condition. I totally love the fact that you are so invested in supporting your wife. Wish I could say the same for my husband!

[jojo2316]

I'm interested (and sorry!) to hear that you found The Phantom Illness frightening Husband. May I ask why? I found it incredibly comforting and reassuring to see examples of how powerfully the body can influence the mind, mainly because I often doubt whether such a range of physical symptoms can originate in the mind and not be due to a serious physical condition, but this book confirms for me the power of anxiety. I know that not every physical symptom is caused by anxiety, but I also have learned that anxiety can mimic almost any physical condition. I totally love the fact that you are so invested in supporting your wife. Wish I could say the same for my husband!

I couldn’t agree more! I found it fascinating and reassuring - thank you so much for the suggestion! Xx

[Sparky16]

I'll have to take a look at Rewire Your Anxious Brain. Sounds promising.

I remember when Carla Cantor's book first came out (I'm that old). I really liked it. I believe that's the one that talks about certain people being "amplifiers", people who are sensitive to sensations and can magnify them in their minds so they feel much stronger than they would to another person. I am definitely an amplifier.

Another older book that I don't see mentioned is The Sky Is Falling by Raeann Dumont. I believe it doesn't have a chapter on HA, but it does cover several types of OCD and more classic phobias. It does a good job of illustrating exposure therapy. I wish now I hadn't given it away, as I'm starting to emphasize more with the OCD patients in the book.

I remember the author works with a lady who can't drive a car because she has a fear of hitting a pedestrian. Every time she feels a bump when driving, she thinks she might have hit someone and has to go out and look on the side of the road to check. But she can never be sure, so she spends hours looking through the weeds. There is one point at which they are doing exposure therapy and this poor lady gets out to look in the rain, and she's actually feeling around in a puddle in a pothole for evidence.
Sometimes I feel like her when my HA is really bad.