Are you plagued by fears, phobias, or panic attacks? Do you toss and turn at night with a knot in your stomach, worrying about your job, your family, work, your health, or relationships? Do you suffer from crippling shyness, obsessive doubts, or feelings of insecurity?
What you may not realize is that these fears are almost never based on reality. Anxiety is one of the world’s oldest cons. When you’re anxious, you’re actually fooling yourself. You are telling yourself things that simply aren’t true. See if you can recognize yourself in any of these distortions:
All-or-Nothing Thinking: “My mind will go blank when I give my presentation at work, and everyone will think I’m an idiot.”
Fortune Telling: “I just know I’ll freeze up and blow it when I take my test.”
Mind Reading: “Everyone at this party can see how nervous I am.”
Magnification: “Flying is so dangerous. I think this plane is going to crash!”
Should Statements: “I shouldn’t be so anxious and insecure. Other people don’t feel this way.”
Emotional Reasoning: “I feel like I’m on the verge of cracking up!”
Self-Blame: “What’s wrong with me? I’m such a loser!”
Mental Filter: “Why can’t I get anything done? My life seems like one long procrastination.”
Now imagine what it be like to live a life that’s free of worries and self-doubt; to go to sleep at night feeling peaceful and relaxed; to overcome your shyness and have fun with other people; to give dynamic presentations without worrying yourself sick ahead of time; to enjoy greater creativity, productivity and self-confidence.
Does that sound impossible? The truth is you can defeat your fears. In When Panic Attacks, Dr. Burns takes you by the hand and shows you how to overcome every conceivable kind of anxiety. In fact, you will learn how to use more than forty simple, effective techniques, and the moment you put the lie to the distorted thoughts that plague you, your fears will immediately disappear. Dr. Burns also shares the latest research on the drugs commonly prescribed for anxiety and depression and explains why they may sometimes do more harm than good.
This is not pop psychology but proven, fast-acting techniques that have been shown to be more effective than medications. When Panic Attacks is an indispensable handbook for anyone who’s worried sick and sick of worrying.

While everyone has the occasional attack of nerves, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 19 million adults suffer from anxiety disorders, i.e., anxiety or panic that is so severe or unrelenting that it interferes with normal life. While psychiatrists often prescribe antidepressants, some of which seem to have antianxiety effects, Burns (psychiatry & behavioral sciences, Stanford Univ. Sch. of Medicine; Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy) recommends cognitive-behavioral therapy, a type of talk therapy in which patients are taught to recognize and deliberately change their negative patterns of thought and action. Although there are many other acceptable titles that can help people do this on their own-including Edmund J. Bourne's The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook and Judith Bemis and Amr Barrada's Embracing the Fear: Learning To Manage Anxiety and Panic Attacks-Burns's book has several features to recommend it. Besides being well written and accessible, with lots of patient narratives to spark interest, it lays out exactly what readers need to do to feel better. In addition, Burns's earlier title on depression, Feeling Good, is much beloved by the self-help crowd, so there will be some demand for this new one. For most public libraries.-Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.