I was interested in this book because I have recently realized that much of what I have felt off and on my entire life is very probably anxiety, and because one of my kids suffers from chronic anxiety. I liked that the author (a psychologist who is apparently on Youtube) shared her personal experiences with anxiety and how it has impacted her both physically and mentally. These specific, real-person examples can help us reflect on times when anxiety has impacted them but they thought it was something else, or to see the range of ways that anxiety can affect us. I also thought the sections at the end with suggested coping strategies and coping and relaxation techniques were very helpful in a concrete way.
The aspects I thought didn't work quite as well were first, that the book begins with a chapter outlining a lot of anxiety-related disorders. This was pretty dry for a first chapter; I thought it would be more engaging to start with something less clinical. The descriptions of the disorders also tended to be pretty basic, without giving a lot of information or specifics for some of them, which wasn't super-helpful as a reference. And I also felt that devoting a section to Freud and his anal/oral theory was an odd choice. Haven't these theories been debunked? I didn't think psychology was still taking them seriously as a diagnostic tool, and I certainly don't think they should be considered as a basis for any kind of "neuroses" people are suffering from.
In all, I felt that with a bit more guidance from an experienced editor, this could have been more helpful as an overall guide for dealing with anxiety.
The aspects I thought didn't work quite as well were first, that the book begins with a chapter outlining a lot of anxiety-related disorders. This was pretty dry for a first chapter; I thought it would be more engaging to start with something less clinical. The descriptions of the disorders also tended to be pretty basic, without giving a lot of information or specifics for some of them, which wasn't super-helpful as a reference. And I also felt that devoting a section to Freud and his anal/oral theory was an odd choice. Haven't these theories been debunked? I didn't think psychology was still taking them seriously as a diagnostic tool, and I certainly don't think they should be considered as a basis for any kind of "neuroses" people are suffering from.
In all, I felt that with a bit more guidance from an experienced editor, this could have been more helpful as an overall guide for dealing with anxiety.