Product Description

Up to 44 in every 1000 adults suffer from a condition known as Generalised Anxiety Disorder. This is much more than the normal worrying we all do – it can be a debilitating disorder leading to significant personal and social problems and sometimes financial loss. Using established and proven CBT techniques, expert clinicians Kevin Meares and Mark Freeston help readers to understand that it is their propensity to worry, not the multitude of problems they worry about, that is the root of the problem. The user-friendly, step-by-step approach explains why they worry, how to recognise what feeds it and develop effective methods of dealing with it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15204 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

About the Author
Dr Kevin Meares is a clinical psychologist and cognitive therapist with nine years of clinical experience. He works at the Newcastle Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies Centre. Professor Mark Freeston is Director of Research and Training at the Newcastle Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies Centre, and holds honorary chairs of Clinical Psychology at the universities of Durham and Newcastle.

Customer Reviews

This book could help you change your life
I am not usually inclined to write book reviews but in this case I simply had to in the hope it gives people like me who used to have problems with worry and anxiety (notice the past tense!) some information on this self help book and how brilliant and effective it can be if you are willing to give it a go and put some effort in. The book itself is practical and easy to follow but encompassess all the latest expert thinking on worry and GAD (the clinical form of excess worry) and the anxiety that it causes. It helped me to go on a journey of self discovery and empowerment so that a year later my attitude to life is different - I thought I'd never say it but I just don't worry about things as much! I embrace change in life, I do things I used to avoid because they would cause worry, don't analyse and watch what I say too much and CAN tolerate the uncertainty life brings. This book will take you through the reasons why you worry, what your life rules are which drive your worry (which are usually not obvious), the behaviours and internal thought processes which spark worry and keep it going and most importantly how to challenge them and how to overcome them methodically and through changing your behaviour and thought processes to worry events. It won't give you that 100% certainty you are always looking for (through reassurance say or checking) that the problems you are worried about won't happen, that's impossible and it's not about that, it's about solving what you can on any given problem and then turning the 'worry dial' down so that you can manage and tolerate the incertaintly that is left and look at the problem from a more productive perspective.
The are many interactive sections of the book which is brilliant because it allows you to slot your own personal reasons and ways you worry into its easy to follow frameworks and then discuss how to improve the situation. It will allow you to recognise when in certain situations it is normal to worry, but in others it is fruitless and driven by a number of habitual thoughts and behaviours. It then shows how worrying can stop you in your tracks, making you indecisive, reluctant to take action and on the defensive looking for 100% answers to problems that aren't always possible to answer or when are simply lead to other problems that need instant and perfect answers (which in turn drives more worry). So if you want to break this cycle then buy this book!
This book is not about just thinking more positively either, that often leads to a false sense of security which doesn't last, moreover a step by step guide or signpost to a better sense of control and attitude. It doesn't focus on the object of your worry (although it does cover many common worry themes), afterall we all know this can change one day to the next, but on the attitudes and beliefs you are holding on to that can be broken like habits.
I had always been a worrier, ranging from a background sense of unease and foreboding indispersed with fully blown bouts of panicky worry and self absorbtion depending largely on what was happening in my life. After deciding I was worrying too much, I researched worry as a problem and decided to take action, hence this book.
Kevin Meares and and Mark Freeston are experts in this field and the book has all the latest thinking and knowledge behind it. A truly life changing book if you want it to be!

A really sensible and helpful book
There is so much advice about overcoming anxiety and worrying that it is sometimes difficult to know where to start and what to believe. This book is brilliant because it helps you understand your problem, and then empowers you to overcome it for yourself. One of the symptoms of anxiety is to search for lots of information, but I would encourage anyone to avoid reading all the anxiety related horror stories on the web - what is the point? Instead, take control of your own life and read this book. It was recommended to me by my cognitive behavioural therapist.

GOOD BOOK ON WORRY/GAD
another excellent book in the overcoming series..full of useful tips for clinicians and general public alike.