great book on health anxiety

[strawberrie]

hi guys, i just wanted to let everyone know about a great book ive found. ive spent months trying to find a book specifically aimed at people with health anxiety, and i kind of stumbled across this one by accident, so i figured that lots of other people may have missed it too.

It is called It's Not all in your head - How worrying about your health could be making you sick - and what you can do about it),by Gordon J G Asmundson and Steven Taylor. It's £11.99 plus postage from Amazon.

From what i know about CBT i think it is pretty much based on this approach, there are 17 worksheets to do, and there are also relaxation techniques to help you.

There are loads of case studies covering just about every symptom you can think of. Before i read it i could see how some symptoms could be caused by anxiety (e.g. breathing problems or palipitations etc) but i couldnt really see how you can explain other symptoms (e.g. weird moles, lumps, pains etc) in this way. They make you realise that the more you focus on your body the more you notice anything that appears weird, and if you have HA you will most likely see it as a sign of a serious illness, even when the chances are it is not.

They give loads of suggestions on how to view symptoms differently, and also how your behaviour might be making your HA, and your symptoms worse e.g. repetitive checking of your body. Ive already managed to cut down on the checking which was driving me mad!

Theres also sections about how your family can help, and how to deal with doctors. oh, and theres no scary stuff e.g. no lists of symptoms which mean you probably are about to pop your clogs any minute!

sorry to make this sound like a boring book review, but i really think this book could help a lot of people, i will probably have to wait at least 8 months for CBT and i think this book will really help in the meantime.

let me know how you get on! :D

good luck,
mag

[Westy75]

Great, thanks for that Strawberrie, my mum mentioned this to me after reading an article about it in a paper the other day but i threw away the bit of paper i wrote down the details on. Just ordered it!

cheers

Tom

[vernon]

Thanks a lot for the book title, will look it up and buy it. Take care. Vernon

[arethaire]

http://www.dvd.co.uk/product2.asp?id=1572309938&PURL=dvddeals.at/findDVD&P36=3F8AU4&CID=0&CTY=8

The book is cheaper here!

Cath

[Piglet]

Thanks mag - will go and look it up on amazon.

I like worksheets :D

Love Pig xx

[henri]

Great tip, thanks for that!
I reckon you should post your review on the Amazon website - there aren't any for that book and people always find them helpful.
i'm off to buy it!
henri x

[Humly]

Thnak you. I have just ordered it. There is also another book called "Stop worrying about your health" by George D Zgourides which has been recommended. I have ordered this but dont know what its like yet.

[strawberrie]

hi, hope you all find it helpful,

LT, ive tried to get hold of the Zgourides book 'stop worrying about your health' from both amazon and whsmith who both advertise it but neither of them have been able to get it, neither can my local library, if you have any success in getting it please let us know cos it looks good.

Cath - ugh, how i hate it when someone finds a better bargain than me lol! I bet someone else will get it off ebay for 99p next! ;)

take care all,
mag xx

[arethaire]

I use this site a lot to check book prices ..... http://www.find-book.co.uk/

They also have one for CD's too ..... http://www.find-cd.co.uk/


Cath x

[missunderstood]

Hey just ordered 'It's all in your head' from play.com, it's £11.99 and free delivery. Hoping it'll be a good read and help me out! I'll let u know what i think. Thanks for the recommendation! :)

[Meg]

If anyone gets these books and reads them and gets good benefit from them could you let us know so we can add them to our reading page.

We don't usually add things on just one persons recommendation or we'd have 10000's but once a few people have found comfort from one we will do so.

Many thanks



Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[jackie]

just a fear of mine, but does it have any scary stories about the effects of worry on you. i read one of those once and nearly ran to casualty on that basis alone

if it is just advice on how to recover then great, if there is more fear involved then no

could someone read it and tell me
jackie

[Humly]

Just to let you know that I ordered the Zgourides book from Waterstones. However, another book shop told me that it was out of print. I have not got it yet but they took my money and said it would be about 2 weeks. Let you know if I get it. I am surprised that you could not get if from Amazon as they can usually get anything - even if they are second hand or out of print.

[Meg]

Thanks , we look forward to your review.

Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[strawberrie]

jackie, i wasnt quite sure what you meant about the effects of worry - there are lots of examples of symptoms you might experience because of worry, if that is what you mean? But they dont tell you that worrying will cause any damage to your health.

The case studies and examples on the worksheets show the thoughts people with HA might have about a symptom they are experiencing (i.e. scary thoughts) but personally i found this helpful as the point of the examples is to explain why these scary thoughts arent accurate. I did find it quite emotional reading the case studies because some were so similar to my own HA, but i wasnt frightened by any of them.

i dont want to recommend it and then find that it scares you, and i guess it depends on your own particular fears, but from someone who avoids any information about illness cos it petrifies me, i didnt find anything in this book that i found scary.

i hope that helps,
take care,
mag xx

[jackie]

ill order it today strawberry cheers, will let you no how i get on

jackie

[Humly]

I have just finished reading It's Not All in your Head" (by the way £9.71 including delivery from The Book Depository on Amazon) and found it really helpful. I have not done the worksheats yet but I am going to. I definitely recommend it. Whether I will be able to put it into practice is another matter but I will try.

Just want to say that the No More Panic website has been a life saver for me. It should be on the NHS. I wish I'd found it years ago.

[reddevil]

Going to order the book in the next hour.

Thankyou

Tony

[strawberrie]

hey guys,
i was just wondering if other people who ordered it found it helpful? and also LT, did you manage to get the Zgourides book from Waterstones, if so is it good?

take care all,
mag xxx

[Humly]

strawberrie

No I didn't manage to get the Zgourides book from Waterstones. After waiting for 2 weeks they told me that they couldn't get it as it was out of print. However, I then ordered it from Amazon but it has not come yet. I will let you know if I manage to get it.

The other book is so good though that I am wondering if this new one will be more of the same.

ttfn

[cuteliljocey]

Thanks Strawberrie!!! I just ordered the Book. I cant wait till it gets here thanks so much for sharing what u know!

[kellynwv]

I am ordering it today! I work at Amazon :-)

I hope it helps me.