Anxiety: A Very Short Introduction 1st Edition

This book is a highly readable introduction to anxiety. The authors introduce the phenomenon and briefly review the main theories that have been proposed to explain its origins. The most common anxiety disorders are described in short chapters. The authors explain the essential features that define each disorder. The last chapter discusses the merits of the current approaches for treating anxiety. The authors emphasize the promise of cognitive behavioral therapy.The appendix contains short self-assessment tests for several of the disorders described in the text. The source publications for each chapter are provided.The authors have done an excellent job minimizing technical jargon. Readers with no prior background in psychology or psychiatry should have no trouble nderstanding the concepts.This is one of my favorite books in the VSI series (so far). All these books are about the same length, 120 pages. However I’ve found that some of the books are difficult to get through despite their brevity. The authors of Anxiety maintained my interest all the way to the end. If you are looking for a readable and affordable introduction to anxiety, this book is a great place to start.

When I purchased the book, I turned immediately to the personal accounts of anxiety provided from the author's interviews with Monty Python's Michael Palin and soccer coach Graham Taylor. I thought these first-person stories might yield a few insights that could help me deal with my own chronic anxiety. I was disappointed to find two internationally acclaimed celebrities with highly successful careers complaining about the "anxiety" of stage fright and the horror of the pre-game jitters of professional athletes. Knowing that the author chose these two interviewees because they were personal acquaintances of his did not help to boost the relevance of their stories in my view.I knew I couldn't base my opinion of the book on those two chapters alone. I read the rest and now feel that Mr. Freeman covered a lot of ground and provided a satisfying overview of the major forms of anxiety (from generalized anxiety disorder to phobias, OCD and PTSD), their possible causes and treatment, a history of research and a review of ongoing studies into the disease. He discusses cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoanalytic approaches to treatment, as well as the role of neuroscience and neurochemistry.Anxiety: A Very Short Introduction, is not intended primarily to be a self-help book, but the author provides a very accessible look at anxiety disorder, which can enlighten and perhaps give hope to some of us who suffer from the illness. The book could just as easily be used as a good short textbook for an introductory or mid-level college psychology course. It contains plenty of solid bibliographic references and concludes by giving the full text of several popular tests for assessing various types of anxiety.As a Very Short Introduction to anxiety, the book more than delivers on its promise, even if the chapters about Palin and Taylor weren't very useful.

I'd recommend this book if you have no idea what anxiety is, and want to know more about it. It is explained in an easy to understand language and chapter structure.

Anxiety is a reader friendly explanation of many types of mental health issues. The book provides definitions, examples and reasons for development of varios disorders such as anxiety, depression, OCD and PTSD. It speaks to common medications, treatments, studies, and potential outcomes.This short book is a great source for those interested in the basics of mental health issues. There are also quizzes at the end of book. This A great resource.

The A Very Short Introduction series seems to get it right about 95 percent of the time. This addition to the series is no exception. This meaning that the series has proven helpful once again.The authors explain quite a bit in regard to anxiety in a small amount of space (123 pages). One of the best things about the book is the clarification as to what anxiety actually is. From this initial definition it is then broken down into the different sub-groups that make anxiety what it as as a whole. Going into the book, I was under the impression that anxiety was what is defined in the book as panic attacks. It turned out that this is only one form of anxiety. You will see that anxiety comes in may different forms. Some of these are: phobias, social phobias, PTSD, and Obsessive-compulsive disorder. As each of these topics are mentioned, they receive their own chapter in which the traits of each disorder is explained and how they were first diagnosed, how they are treated and what may be upon the horizon as far as future and more exact diagnosis and eventual better treatments. The book concluded with a self-examination test for all those that may be dealing with or think that they have anxiety issues.This was an informative and quite accessible book in regard to anxiety and all of the forms that it exists in. The beginning of the book was especially helpful because it explained how this phenomena first came to be understood. In other words, we are given a brief history of anxiety. Also, the reader will be quite surprised to learn how much there is to still know.

Although a useful historical overview, rather than “Very Short” intro I’d subtitle it a “Mild and Mincy” intro to anxiety. And despite the “V.S.”, it’s actually excessive given the illustrative material chosen ie, 2 extended accounts of publicly prominent very successful older white guys on their experiences with angst and pointers (some useful, true) derivable for the rest of us. It’s also oddly repetitive and flat. But this aside, it contains a few highly short-sighted statements that tarnish the rest. Eg, regarding inevitability, “Many children suffer appalling trauma without developing anxiety disorders”(ie, later). Um, how about in contexts such as ‘significant other’ relationships where they would be faced with expectations for trust and intimacy starting in adolescence? And regarding “environmental factors” that result in women’s anxiety levels being more than twice that of men: “In many cultures,…girls may be indulged in their fears”, as causative. How about that in many such cultures very many girls are body-shamed, sexualized and punitively suppressed from childhood? An extended interview with one of these women and how she prepares daily to deal with h e r ‘audience’ might better serve this study. Seems to me these authors exhibit some verity-phobia, as well perhaps as fear of depths.

educative

Anxiety or fear is among the basic emotions (with sadness, happiness, anger, disgust), manifest in our emotional repertoire already within the first few month of our life, and certainly connected to the most aversive experiences in life. Anxiety can grip us entirely in thoughts, behaviour, and physiology. As a result, disorders in anxiety responses are manyfold and can be quite debilitating. While anxiety in our mental experiences is clearly adaptive as a protection from taking risks and dangers, it is rather difficult to explain how it is generated.This volume of Oxford University Press' VSI series aims to introduce the phenomenon of anxiety and anxiety disorders to non-specialist readers.The book covers in the first chapters the different theories to explain anxiety and the possible causes of anxiety (genes or environment and learning, or 'nature or nurture'). A substantial section is than dedicated to the different anxiety disorders, of which six types are recognised:- specific phobias,- social phobias,- panic disorder,- generalised anxiety disorder,- obsessive-compulsive disorder, and- post-traumatic stress disorder.The main text is very well organised and written. Especially the different chapters on specific disorders are structured around a definition of this disorder, the commonality of occurance, and a discussion of causes, giving an easy overview of their differences.Probably the greatest strength of the book is that it throughout discusses and evaluates different theories and points of view instead of favouring a single theory to explain anxiety. This gives a very good insight into the complexity and difficulties of anxiety studies. It is also emphasised repeatedly that people experiencing traumas can differ significantly in their response ' they may develop forms of anxiety disorders, but not necessarily so. The discussion of cognitive behaviour therapy, approaching anxiety disorders from an interpretative point, is fascinating. It gives examples of the efficient cognitive behaviour therapy for e. g. specific phobias. Interviews with an actor (Monty Python's Michael Palin) and football manager (Graham Taylor) illustrate the influence and importance of anxiety in front of public and ways of dealing with it in real life (though the book would have worked well also without them).Appendices include a self-assessment questionaire and further literature.There are some weak spots here as well, like the inclusion of only very few figures which are not overly instructive on the subject. The introduction on anxiety as well as the biological background are rather short and could have been elaborated upon. In particular, one gets continuosly rather short hints on the importance of brain areas and neurochemicals involved in anxiety disorders, but the neurobiological basis is not really worked out (e. g., the concept of neurotransmitters like serotonin and synaptic transmission is not explained beyond the term 'neurochemical').As a starting point to learn about anxiety, this is a a good primer on the fundamental issues.

No one goes through life without experiencing anxiety from time to time.This concise book however is about the severe forms of anxiety that would be considered a clinical problem and represent the commonest type of emotional disorder afflicting millions.This is another pithy illuminating review from the Freeman brothers' team who produced a previous account on Paranoia that I thoroughly enjoyed.They have a knack of explaining complex psychological and neurobiological concepts with great clarity and fluency.The text provides a comprehensive look at all aspects of the condition,the theoretical explanations of the disorder, the interplay of genes and life experiences which influence susceptibility,a clinical description of the six main anxiety disorders and finally the treatment options on offer.I particularly enjoyed their account of the cognitive aspects of the disorder.Emotions arise from the way we appraise or interpret events. Anxiety sufferers possess unhelpful schematic beliefs about themselves, overestimating the potential threats of future events and underestimating their ability to cope with them.They tend to use instinctive emotional reasoning.Fear is a product of interpretation as thoughts and feelings are closely related.It seems that " Cognitive psychology" is becoming the dominant paradigm in this field.The neurobiological explanations of anxiety in terms of imbalance of certain parts of the limbic system or the imbalance of the neurochemicals are undoubtedly important but their elucidation have not borne out any great therapeutic results.The practical applications derived from understanding the mistaken beliefs of the sufferer have led to formulate"Cognitive behavioural Therapy" that has been much more effective than treatment with drugs like SSRIs or Benzodiazepines.Unfortunately despite its success very few sufferers receive it because of considerable shortage of trained professionals in the field.I was fascinated to learn that OCD(obsessive-compulsive disorder) is the only anxiety disorder which can be occasionally helped by means of Neurosurgery( cingulotomy)if intractable, as its neurological malfunction circuit is different from the other types.It was also interesting to find out that of all the phobias, blood phobia is the only one that result in a drop of blood pressure and possible fainting.Other phobias if anything put up the heart rate and blood pressure.The text despite its conciseness is full of remarkable insights into this common emotional disorder.I would have liked a bit more information about stress and how it exacerbates the emotional reactions ,nevertheless this has been a thoroughly enjoyable and instructive read.

Anxiety is prevalent in the adult population and many have problems severe enough to be considered as a clinical disorder. Accessible to the general readers, this book demystifies anxiety, major disorders of anxiety and their treatment.Anxiety is an emotion which develops in human within first six months after birth. Its purpose is to alert us to potential threat and thus to react appropriately. Both genes and environment play a role in anxiety.Major anxiety disorders are phobias (persistent and excessive fear), panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (excessive and uncontrollable worry), obsessive-compulsive disorder (regular and distressing impulses) and post-traumatic stress disorder. They are found to be more common in women than men. Cognitive behavior therapy (psychological therapy) is the preferred treatment of choice for anxiety disorders than by medication. Such treatments focus on changing the way people think about their sensations, panics and ability to cope with them.I reckon that the common sense information of anxiety presented in the book is indispensable for all layman!