Introverted Bear

I picked up this book since Lisa over at The Worry Games recommended it. After reading it, I can see where Lisa got her view of anxiety from.

The best part of this book is that it shows you that you're not alone and what you're experiencing is your body's normal reaction to adrenaline.

The worst part of this book is how repetitive it is.

Weekes includes a general treatment plan that includes accepting the physical symptoms of anxiety, letting go of your fear that something bad is about to happen, not giving the feelings any importance, and then repeat for as long as you need. She specifically encourages patients to keep the hope because anxiety attacks are only temporary. You can't die from a panic attack (but long term anxiety that lasts for years can cause health problems).

After she describes the treatment plan. she gives us case studies of her previous patients. Many of the women are house wives, but at least she advocates that the family have compassion for the wife because your body becomes exhausted from being sensitized all the time.

I like that Weekes advocates self compassion and patience. As the saying goes, it always gets worse before it gets better. Although the use of medication is controversial in the public's eye, after reading Weekes book, I became more compliant with my doctor's suggestions and took the gosh dang benzos, and they helped. Granted, one made me feel terrible but the second one was decent. The most important thing is to not fight your doctor and to let them help you. Trust them, and if you don't trust them, find another doctor. Your body is screaming bloody murder that something is wrong, and the thing that's wrong is that it's under so much stress that it's kicking off your flight or fight system. Anxiety is like a fire alarm that warns you of danger, but it becomes a disorder when your fire alarm keeps going off when there is no fire.

I thought it was funny that Weekes said no one ever experiences all the symptoms, the heart racing, headaches, stomach problems, weakness. She has clearly never meant me, cause I got all of them.

The book is outdated but it would be a great resource for someone writing about the history of mental health treatments. Just the historical aspects of Weekes work are fascinating for me.

I think the hardest part of having anxiety is accepting it and accepting to be treated for it. Your fire alarm is going off and the fireman, the doctor, tries to tell you it's a false alarm, there's nothing wrong. But if there's nothing wrong, why does it keep going off? And to some extent, we still don't know why it keeps going off. Weekes suggests it's due to an over heightened sense of everything due to adrenaline. Some people think it's due to genetics. It's probably a combination of both, but in the end it does not matter how you got this disorder. What matters is believing that it can be treated.

I am doubtful that you can use Weekes techniques to essentially banish your anxiety and never have another episode again. However, I think following her suggestions may at least reduce the intensity of the anxiety.

Like all mental health issues, it takes time, practice of healthy habits and thoughts, and the help of those around you.