Managing Anxiety with CBT For Dummies

by Graham Davey, Kate Cavanagh, Fergal Jones

Don't panic! Combat your worries and minimize anxiety with CBT! Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a hugely popular self-help technique, which teaches you to break free from destructive or negative behaviors and make positive changes to both your thoughts and your actions. This practical guide to managing anxiety with CBT will help you understand your anxiety, identify solutions to your problems, and maintain your gains and avoid relapse. Managing Anxiety with CBT For Dummies is a practical guide to using CBT to face your fears and overcome anxiety and persistent, irrational worries. You'll discover how to put extreme thinking into perspective and challenge negative, anxiety-inducing thoughts with a range of effective CBT techniques to help you enjoy a calmer, happier life. Managing Anxiety with CBT For Dummies gives you the tools you need to overcome anxiety and expand your horizons for a healthy, balanced life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Mental Health

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book immensely helpful. I've highlighted and annotated my copy a lot and will definitely be coming back to it frequently to touch on the subjects I found most helpful. I don't usually find self help books all that useful, but this one has really surprised me and has given me many new ways to look at things and as such I would recommend you read this if you're struggling with anxiety. This is brilliant for bridging the gap between being referred for CBT and starting the course as it gives you a great overview of anxiety, what it's made up of and how to begin to start adjusting your thought process. It also begins to discuss overcoming anxiety and how to break out of old habits and thought patterns. This was just incredibly useful and surprisingly enjoyable to read.

[Ciarán · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book does contain useful information, it didn't provide much that I didn't already know before. I found the practical advice to be a bit overwhelming. It felt very 'homeworky'. I didn't bother with that aspect of it. However, this book did serve to reaffirm me in a lot of my good anxiety busting habits. There are probably better books out there for dealing with Anxiety and CBT.

[K.R. Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began reading this book just before I started working for a mental health project last year, mostly because I'd been out of the full-time mental health field for a few years and had never previously worked with CBT. I chose the "for Dummies" series because I read NLP for Dummies as a young teen, and know that the layout works for me. It also helped that two of the authors were lecturers at my University during my first degree.

As a newbie to CBT, this was a really useful introduction to the techniques I now teach others in my job. I was surprised to find that actually reading the book made me feel anxious in parts, but then I guess I'm human, and we all have things which cause us worry sometimes. It didn't help that I was managing family illnesses, two house moves and the new job when choosing to actively think about all my worries, but at least I feel that I've given the book a fair try with so many examples!

I took notes throughout, as I knew I'd need to have a full understanding of the tools for my job role, and this book covered most of the techniques I needed. On top of the The Little CBT Workbook I reviewed last year, this gave me some more of the scientific background along with practical exercises and tips.

For someone wanting a good, thorough background to anxiety-specific CBT treatments, I'd recommend it.

[Snorki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t really suffer from anxiety myself but read this to help others who I know who are more prone to anxiety. I found this a very accessible book with lots of useful explanations and exercises.

[Harold Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't panic! Combat your worries and minimize anxiety with CBT!

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a hugely popular self-help technique, which teaches you to break free from destructive or negative behaviors and make positive changes to both your thoughts and your actions. This practical guide to managing anxiety with CBT will help you understand your anxiety, identify solutions to your problems, and maintain your gains and avoid relapse.

Managing Anxiety with CBT For Dummies is a practical guide to using CBT to face your fears and overcome anxiety and persistent, irrational worries. You'll discover how to put extreme thinking into perspective and challenge negative, anxiety-inducing thoughts with a range of effective CBT techniques to help you enjoy a calmer, happier life.

• Helps you understand anxiety and how CBT can help
• Guides you in making change and setting goals
• Gives you tried-and-true CBT techniques to face your fears and keep a realistic perspective

Managing Anxiety with CBT For Dummies gives you the tools you need to overcome anxiety and expand your horizons for a healthy, balanced life.” (From the Dummies.Com Website)

About the Authors: “Graham Davey is Professor of Psychology at the University of Sussex and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Experimental Psychopathology. Kate Cavanagh is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Sussex. Fergal Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. Lydia Turner is a Consultant Psychological Therapist, and Adrian Whittington is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, both based at the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.” (From the Dummies.Com Website)

My thoughts about the book: Because I now live with severe cognitive impairment I am always on the lookout for books or resources that will help me improve my life in one way or another…and the simpler and easier to understand the better. Well, John Wiley & Sons and the authors of the book Managing Anxiety with CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) have produced a high quality practical, nuts and bolts educational and insightful resource to help people learn how to cope with and live with anxiety. Just as there are many varying degrees of anxiety in individuals so there are many different ways to effectively deal with the matter of anxiety in our lives. And the book Managing Anxiety with CBT offers a vast array of techniques and exercises one can do to help deal with anxiety.

I do want to inform you that anxiety can reach such a level in a person’s life where professional help is needed which might include the use of appropriate medications for the condition of severe anxiety. So if you are reading this and you feel like you are going to literally crawl out of your skin or harm yourself or someone else because of anxiety then seek proper medical attention and treatment immediately. But for those individuals whose level of anxiety has not reached that point and needs some ideas and suggestions to help get through the anxiety, this book will most definitely help.

As an evangelical Christian my first line of defense in dealing with anxiety is my faith in the Lord and prayer, however, I am not a “throw the baby out with the bathwater” sort of Christian that believes resources outside the Christian or churches’ realm can not be helpful because there are many resources and tools we all use to improve the quality of our lives that are not 100% “Biblical” as Christians. There are a number of exercises and suggestions I find to be very beneficial in the book. And what else I find helpful about this book is its simplicity and its practicality. It’s easy and fun to read with eye catching graphics. And it’s the combination of all that the book offers, the total package that can help a person experience relief from anxiety in their lives. This is not just a sit back, drink your latte and read kind of book where after you have read it you set it down and say to yourself, “that’s nice” and then walk away unchanged. Oh no…this is a get down in the emotional trenches and do the hard work and put forth the effort kind of book that will lead you to experience relief from anxiety. And I dare say that what effort you put into it you will get back…so a little time and effort will most likely yield a small measure of success; however, taking what is written in this book seriously and doing what it suggests with a total commitment, and concerted effort you just might find yourself experiencing a new and wonderful freedom from anxiety you never would have never imagined possible.

If you do struggle with the issue of anxiety and are looking for an inexpensive resource with easy to follow and practical suggestions I suggest you get a copy of the book. And what have you got to lose? Yeah, a few dollars but you might just learn how to experience relief from your anxiety and that is worth a whole lot more than just a few dollars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from John Wiley & Sons Ltd. for the purpose of reviewing it. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

[Eszter Beáta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book contains a lot of different methods how can you forget all your problems about stress, fear and panic. It is very useful, when someone really try these methods.

A könyv sok különböző módszert tartalmaz, amik segítségével elfelejtheted a stressz, félelem és pánik miatti problémáidat. Nagyon hasznos, ha valaki tényleg ki is próbálja ezeket.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gearing up to go back to work, in what will likely be stressful conditions, has led me to seek out resources on mental health for myself and my students. I know very little and found this to be a very basic, but quite decent overview. I appreciate the framing of anxiety as just a regular emotion that can sometimes become imbalanced.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few helpful nuggets. Wasn't too long that you got overwhelmed but wasn't too short either

[Garrett Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great self help book or a book to learn more about anxiety as a therapist where the information is shared from a more casual perspective.

[Vivien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful techniques in this book that the subject of my worrying would do well to use!!!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book, although it contains pretty much the same information about anxiety that every other book on the subject does. Good to refer back to when you need it.