The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It

Review by Rebecca Johnson for The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It
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“When talking about anxiety and how to control it, it is important to understand that the nervous system is automatic and operates without your control, but you can take it over on purpose.” ~ pg. 11

“The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques” is one of the most helpful books on anxiety I’ve ever read. Margaret Wehrenberg believes in using the brain to change the brain. She is well qualified to write this book as she once suffered from panic attacks and worry.

There are many practical ways to avoid panic and one of them was surprising. Avoiding coffee or other beverages with caffeine can help you avoid panic attacks. To read more about this subject look for Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America’s #1 Drug. It was also interesting to read about avoiding aspartame (stevia is better and natural) because it increases anxiety. I was surprised to also read that mitral valve prolapse (a heart condition one doctor told me I had) can trigger panic.

Margaret Wehrenberg gives good advice about how to deal with cell phones and e-mail. She suggests a few essential oils you can put in the tub to help you relax. Emptying the mind by making a list also seems to be calming. While these things work, the best part of the book is about breathing deeply.

If you are suffering from anxious thoughts there is a way to stop them even if you think that is impossible. By persisting and using the techniques in this book you can see good results. There is a section on the importance of positive self-talk and how to deal with perfectionism.

Since drugs have unwanted side effects you may want to try out some of the techniques in this book that deal with panic attacks, social fears and worrying. While Margaret Wehrenberg doesn’t go into detail about exercise and stretching, I think Yoga works best to calm the mind and the effects are cumulative. I can highly recommend Crunch – Candlelight Yoga. By calming the body you also calm the brain.

~ The Rebecca Review

Review by Carly for The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It
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I’ve had super-strong anxiety all my life, on and off with depression. Everybody knows the best way to help yourself permanently is a combination of medicine and behaviour modification, so after years of only doing the former, I set out to find the best information to tackle the latter.

I looked at a million books online and in the library, bought a few, but by miles this is the best one of the lot. If you can only buy ONE book in your life to help you, make it this one.

It is a fascinating read from beginning to end. I came to it not really caring why or how my brain was making me anxious- I just knew I wanted to stop how I was feeling. In fact, the most interesting part of the book is explaing how and why your brain causes your anxiety. Far from being a dry medical monologue of terminology and bio-chemistry, the information and the way it was presented was more like watching a fascinating documentry on Discovery Health. The information is solid and presented in a passionate and entertaining way (without dumbing anything down either, I might add) which says something for the author’s talent and style. I found myself smiling or chuckling sometimes when she’d explain a concept and why it works, and while I’m turning the page my brain is yelping, “Yeah, but so what! What if x, y or z is happening to you, then it’s not going to work is it!?” only to read on the next page when she continues that she’s ALREADY thought of my secret protestation, and goes on to shoot it down with logic and facts. Very funny!

This isn’t a top 10 list like an extended Oprah magazine article, nor is it a finger wagging book telling you things like if you are feeling anxious to go write in your gratitude journal or take a bubble bath and give yourself affirmations in a mirror. These are very real, true ways that work with how a human brain naturally works itself: you are teaching yourself ways to override the chunk of your brain that is causing the anxiety response with another physical area of your brain that will control another action- your brain simply is not built to do both styles of things at once. You are forcing it by will to complete another task so it is unable to fire out those messages of anxiety. It really is an unbelievable read. After being this way my entire life from childhood to adulthood, I can say that after putting these techniques into practise that I am not that same person anymore, my life has improved dramatically and I am happier, more calm, less prone to depression and all-around a healthier person. Just buy the book. It is impossible that you won’t find it helpful, yourself.

Review by Susan Livingstone for The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It
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Nobody likes taking medication. They especially don’t like it when the side effects are unpleasant, and the best results you can expect are a quick and fleeting fix, at best.

So with medication quickly falling out of favor with people who suffer anxiety and panic attacks, this guide to the 10 best methods for dealing with the condition is like a breath of fresh air.

Not only does the author speak from experience, but the methods she suggests, from dietary changes (bye bye caffeine and aspartame) to changes in habit (taking control over emails) and ways to induce physical relaxation (aromatherapy and breathing exercises) are all common sense, easy-to-implement techniques that anyone can put into effect and quickly improve their condition – even if they suffer from the more severe symptoms of anxiety.

It takes persistence, but author Margaret Wehrenberg really makes you believe it’s possible.

This comes highly recommended by me.

Review by DKDC for The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It
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I got the impression reading the reviews that this book was against using medication. After reading the chapter on drugs, in fact, the book is very open to meds and specifies when they are recommended in addition to the techniques which are the heart of this book. That coincides with what I have read from NIH researchers, and a little of the other professional literature. Norman Rosenthal in his book on emotions says in particular that panic is better dealt with without meds, but he often gives meds out of compassion in addition to recommending therapy.

I am in no way an expert or well read on the subject, just sharing my 2 cents since I think others may get the wrong impression from the reviews here. Medication has an important place and I think it should not be devalued based on one’s own personal experience. There are many people who have no respect for psychologists based on their experience, but that is not very rational or scientific either.

The best therapy is often both medication and psychological help.

Review by C. Johnston for The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It
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This book provides an overview of how the different parts of your brain interact to perpetuate anxiety, fear and worry. It then gives specific techniques for handling the physical symptoms, the troubling thoughts and the behaviours that make things worse. What I like the most is that she points out where people can go wrong using these techniques and how to avoid common pitfalls in trying to apply them. She also recognizes that some issues require more than a self help approach. No matter your theoretical background, you can find something useful in this book.

Massage Therapy! Good massage therapy has amazing lasting effects.

A once a week massage is more powerful than any drug. If you are looking for one on the cheap, try looking up your local massage therapy school. All schools have a student clinic where students work on you for a deeply discounted price (sometimes as low as $16 for an hour massage).

Other good places to find legit therapists are at chiropractor’s offices, or referred from chiropractors.

For me, prayer really works. Of course, you have to have a relationship with God to understand that He really is in control and is a loving and caring God. If I am getting really tense about things, I need to pray and then remind myself to let God deal with it. I use certain mental images to remind myself that I can’t take that worry back.
The image doesn’t affect anything except my perception, of course, it is just a reminder that works for me.

You can also try calcium tablets. They really do have a calming affect. Read the labels of any other drugs you’re taking to see if calcium will interfere with them. Be sure you are getting a good multivitamin with all the Bs in it, too.

I started meditating years ago because I was having terrible trouble with panic attacks and day round anxiety to boot – and I felt impaired. And I have to say that it works pretty well. I have much less daily stress and I haven’t had a panic attack in a while.

BUT I did practice it nearly everyday. I made a discipline of it, and I was dedicated to doing it. I suggest it to a lot of folks, but the majority want instant gratification, and thats not what meditation is about

There are herbal tinctures that are helpful for anxiety; you would have to go to a qualified naturopath to get a prescription for them. [Where I live, you can take a prescription for herbal medicines into any pharmacy and have them filled, but I don't know what pharmacies in the States carry.]

Another suggestion is B vitamins — if you are deficient then this will help you.

Exercise is also a very, very good way to work off nervous energy and you should be getting a good regular physical workout no matter whether you are taking medicines or not.

Try taking what the body actually needs….GABA

Gamma amino-butyric acid – which is an amino acid the brain ACTUALLY produces, yet production radically drops as we age, not to mention the food process methods these days make us more deficient in everything.
Clear clinical studies has linked anxiety/depression disorders straight to a complete lack of proper GABA productions.

You want to spend $1000′s on drugs to make things worse? Of course not…how about $20 a months worth of GABA- take 1000mg a day, you’ll feel just fine.

how about trying some relaxation and meditation? It helps for me to relief my depression that I had fought for more than 14 years ago, start with breathing meditation then om, they really helps hope it helps for you too:

A really good remedy is to take Tart Cherry. You can find it on line or at your local health food store. Just make sure its “flash pasteruized” so that the goodness isn’t cooked out of it. You can find it in liquid form or capsule form.

You can take one or two every four hours if you want. Works well for anxiety.

Hi there I found some great tips on deling with anxiety and stress on this site

http://healthmad.com/mental-health/10-great-ways-to-beat-stress/

Hope this helps !