Claire Weekes

[ash1807]

Claire's 2 books keeps on being mentioned on this site. I was just curious how much that has helped people ?

When I first read it, it was just another of a multitude of self-help books on the market.

After more troubles with anxiety recently, I decided to have another look. It has taken a completely new meaning for me now

It would be good to hear what part it plays in people's recovery ?

[pollyanna]

when i first bought her books some 18 years ago, they made so much sense to me and gave me they answers and reassurance i had been seeking elsewhere but had never really found. i still use them today, and would recomend them to anyone suffering from anxiety. i think the good thing with them is that you dont neccessarily need to read the whole book to get a sense of it, you can look up specific sections, like 'dizziness' or' jelly legs', to find the information and reassurance you are looking for.
Claire weekes had so much insight into this condition, although she was a medical doctor, she was not a pyschiatrist, but she had personal experience of mental illhealth and anxiety, which i think carries a lot of weight with other sufferers. I believe she died some years ago, but she has brought help , reassurance and understanding , and will never truely know how big an impact she has made in this area, to past to present and future sufferers.
I personally cant praise her highly enough..

P x

[nutteetart]

I read her books over and over again. Just a paragraph here and there. The strange thing is, is although i have read it time and time, there is always something new to learn. She has been the force in getting me out of bed to fight another day, many times.

I too would highly recommend. Her books are my bibles.
Fay
X

[ladybird64]

Hiya. :)

I bought the 2 Claire Weekes books not that long after I joined NMP, everyone seemed to be of the opinion that they were really good so I thought I would try them, I hadn't bought any other "self-help" material at all.
They did help up to a certain point, I wrestled with the whole notion of "acceptance" and as for "facing and floating"..well lets just say that I don't believe that I am capable of floating through my PA's but they are less frequent nowadays.
I guess that I have "accepted" in as much as I now acknowledge that this is who I am, anxieties, PA's and all. I try and give less importance to these things and although they still happen, I know that I can live with them.
I did find the downloads that were available for the MP3 really beneficial even though Dr Weekes sounded like Dame Edna Everage! I used to play them while travelling, walking along a crowded street etc and they helped me to stay focused. The only drawback I found (and I know I'm being picky) was that I found the tone of the books quite "dated", I duess this why I preferred the downloads.
I don't often pick the books up, not because I'm "cured" but because I know that both the problem and the answer lies within myself..I guess Dr Weekes would be happy that her work has had that effect!

[june]

I still (after many years and many books) suffer Panic attacks and health anxiety.
I use Claire Weeks as a 'friend' when i am panicking or feeling anxious it sometimes helps to go to the relavant page to remind myself that IT IS ONLY PANIC.
Sometimes it works:yesyes: sometimes i end up back at the doctors:weep:
best wishes
June
:hugs:

[Jaco45er]

For me, I read them after trying lots of different things. Even though I tried SSRI's, therapy etc, from the first read I finally started to understand what this illness actually was (which began to lessen the fear of it).

It was the whole "acceptance" and "floating" methology that done it for me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't read it in the morning, have a Eureka moment and by the evening I was giving it the John Travolta's down at the local disco, but I slowly started to adopt her recommendations.

Even in Supermarkets, when I felt dreadful (bright lights, dizzy, churning stomach, derealistion, and that's before I paid at the checkout ;)) I would think about what she said about, let it come, it won't kill you etc etc.

Eventually, the anxiety got that low that now I only get the ole anxiety attacks when under pressure (which I try to avoid like the plague).

So in summary, it's not an overnight success, and like all these remedies, they all need us to play our part and try to help ourselves, but it was the best tenner I ever spent ;)

Jaco

[Veronica H]

:) Ditto Jaco

Veronica

[Maj]

I read Claire's book like a bible and even took it to work with me when I felt at my worse. Through time, and after highlighting specific paragraphs which I would read over and over again, I gradually recovered. I copied down some of her advice on a piece of paper and when I suffered repeated thoughts and obsessions I'd read it to reassure me that I wasn't going mad. My mum also read her book as she suffered from agoraphobia many years ago and she recovered reading Claire's advice. Very occasionally, if I ever feel a wee setback coming, I take the book out again and am instantly reassured that this is only temporary and I get on with my life again. I did a post a while ago to say that I thought Claire should have received a sainthood! So yes, I would recommend her books to anyone suffering from anxiety and depression.
Myra:yesyes: