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Overcoming Anxiety: Reassuring Ways to Break Free from Stress and Worry and Lead a Calmer Life
STOP ANXIETY FROM TAKING OVER! Anxiety affects all of us in one way or another – maybe you feel anxious from time to time, perhaps it's a constant low-level feeling of doubt and insecurity, or maybe anxious feelings become so frequent that they take over your life. But the good news is that there are ways to manage this spiral of unhelpful thoughts and difficult feelings. LEAD A MORE PEACEFUL, STRESS-FREE LIFE Bestselling personal development author Gill Hasson shows you how to break free from the often debilitating effects of anxiety. With small steps, you will identify ways of managing anxiety that work for you, so you can stop allowing it to control you.With a bonus chapter on building confidence and self-esteem you'll improve your ability to manage anxiety and take back your life. This book helps
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 2, 2015
105 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Gill Hasson
85 books72 followersGill Hasson is the author of Mindfulness: Be mindful. Live in the moment works with people from diverse backgrounds and situations. Her key motivation is her belief in the ability of people to positively change their way of thinking - about life, other people, and themselves.
She is a freelance journalist and writes articles on personal development and relationships for a variety of magazines, including Psychologies and Take A Break, and for a number of websites.
As well as delivering adult education courses in personal development, she is an associate tutor for the University of Sussex where she teaches career and personal development and academic study skills. She delivers training in child and adolescent development to preschool, youth and social workers, teachers and parents.
She is a freelance journalist and writes articles on personal development and relationships for a variety of magazines, including Psychologies and Take A Break, and for a number of websites.
As well as delivering adult education courses in personal development, she is an associate tutor for the University of Sussex where she teaches career and personal development and academic study skills. She delivers training in child and adolescent development to preschool, youth and social workers, teachers and parents.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 28, 2017
Excellent book. Gills rational approach to understanding anxiety and her proposed solutions are very easy to follow. I also love the little examples scattered thoughout the book.
March 30, 2018
4,5⭐️
É um livro com uma abordagem simples e interessante. Este tipo de livros deve mesmo ser assim. Muita informação nestes casos não interessa.
Aprendi a dar nome a algumas coisas e reforcei algumas dicas para tentar levar uma vida mais calma.
Aconselho bastante a que tem ansiedade (beginners).
É um livro com uma abordagem simples e interessante. Este tipo de livros deve mesmo ser assim. Muita informação nestes casos não interessa.
Aprendi a dar nome a algumas coisas e reforcei algumas dicas para tentar levar uma vida mais calma.
Aconselho bastante a que tem ansiedade (beginners).
June 24, 2020
“𝙎𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚, 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙤 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬.” - 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘕𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘩
.
We believe it or not but we all are always surrounded by some dark shadows and some demons who live in the back of our mind. These shadows and demons wait for an opportunity and then they attack altogether. They make you feel so helpless and weak that you don't even feel like yourself. That increasing pounding of heart makes you so uneasy and rapid breathing takes all your focus from the present and takes you either to the past or to the uncertain possibilities of future that are very unlikely to happen. And the worst of all? That feel of heart churning; it causes so much fear that you feel helpless to escape from that darkness and those demons. Sometimes it stays for some moments, sometimes for days and sometimes for years, and during all these times you lose many things you cannot be aware of. Indecisiveness takes over and you find yourself incapable of doing anything that you are supposed to me. And bit by bit this Anxiety, worry, fear, and panic consumes all the light from your life and you finally start to feel yourself falling into the oblivion of darkness.
.
One of the reasons why I can put these feelings so precisely, because when I started this book; I was standing at that point when that darkness and demons were lurking over me. There's no shame to accept that no matter how hard we try to be organized, get our shit together or work hard to make our lives stable, but there's always something—that one thought or doubt— that we fail to fight. But, what matter is, how we deal with it!
.
I am highly recommending this book because it precisely answers all the questions that one can ever have: what causes anxiety? Where does it come from? How our bodies and mind react to it? Why does it react that way? What happens in our bodies during that? How can we fight those demons and darkness? How can we ask for help and offer help to others ? What we should do and don't? This book answers all these questions and prepares you for the worst.
Let's just accept that sometimes we face problems we don't know how to deal with. But there's always something that we can learn and try to deal with it better than we used to. Instead of surrendering, we can choose to fight or find a way to get away from those situations. I want all those people to read this book, whoever felt victimized by their thoughts and anxiety. That might be about your next career decisions, family matters, relationship, or just those 'blank-outs' where you don't know what's happening to you or bothering you, but you know there's something wrong in the sudden change in your behavior or the way you used to feel.
.
Also, let's accept another fact that sometimes people who say "If you ever feel like to talk, I am here" have very little idea about how to deal with things you feel. And even if sharing can make us feel a bit lighter, it still certainly can't solve our problems. In this book, author Gill Hasson presents problems and their solutions very practically and will teach everything that can put yourself at peace. So make the right decision today and just read this book if you face anxiety very often and also if you are completely normal now but want to prepare yourself for the future.
Stay happy and Lots of love.❤️
.
We believe it or not but we all are always surrounded by some dark shadows and some demons who live in the back of our mind. These shadows and demons wait for an opportunity and then they attack altogether. They make you feel so helpless and weak that you don't even feel like yourself. That increasing pounding of heart makes you so uneasy and rapid breathing takes all your focus from the present and takes you either to the past or to the uncertain possibilities of future that are very unlikely to happen. And the worst of all? That feel of heart churning; it causes so much fear that you feel helpless to escape from that darkness and those demons. Sometimes it stays for some moments, sometimes for days and sometimes for years, and during all these times you lose many things you cannot be aware of. Indecisiveness takes over and you find yourself incapable of doing anything that you are supposed to me. And bit by bit this Anxiety, worry, fear, and panic consumes all the light from your life and you finally start to feel yourself falling into the oblivion of darkness.
.
One of the reasons why I can put these feelings so precisely, because when I started this book; I was standing at that point when that darkness and demons were lurking over me. There's no shame to accept that no matter how hard we try to be organized, get our shit together or work hard to make our lives stable, but there's always something—that one thought or doubt— that we fail to fight. But, what matter is, how we deal with it!
.
I am highly recommending this book because it precisely answers all the questions that one can ever have: what causes anxiety? Where does it come from? How our bodies and mind react to it? Why does it react that way? What happens in our bodies during that? How can we fight those demons and darkness? How can we ask for help and offer help to others ? What we should do and don't? This book answers all these questions and prepares you for the worst.
Let's just accept that sometimes we face problems we don't know how to deal with. But there's always something that we can learn and try to deal with it better than we used to. Instead of surrendering, we can choose to fight or find a way to get away from those situations. I want all those people to read this book, whoever felt victimized by their thoughts and anxiety. That might be about your next career decisions, family matters, relationship, or just those 'blank-outs' where you don't know what's happening to you or bothering you, but you know there's something wrong in the sudden change in your behavior or the way you used to feel.
.
Also, let's accept another fact that sometimes people who say "If you ever feel like to talk, I am here" have very little idea about how to deal with things you feel. And even if sharing can make us feel a bit lighter, it still certainly can't solve our problems. In this book, author Gill Hasson presents problems and their solutions very practically and will teach everything that can put yourself at peace. So make the right decision today and just read this book if you face anxiety very often and also if you are completely normal now but want to prepare yourself for the future.
Stay happy and Lots of love.❤️
August 25, 2018
Gill Hasson is a teacher, trainer and writer with 20 years of experience in the area of personal development. She is the author of a number of books, including the Mindfulness Pocketbook, which introduced me to the concept of mindfulness as well as Gill’s work.
In this book, Gill initially goes through the different anxiety disorders and the various manifestations of anxiety (physical symptoms and sensations, negative cognitions/thoughts, and behaviors, including avoidance behaviors).
With regards to the cognitive aspect, she explains the cognitive distortions that feed the cycle of anxiety, illuminating the negative thinking patterns often encountered among sufferers. She then provides ways to change this thinking style and to replace the negative cognitions with positive thoughts; this is of course easier said than done, but it can bring positive results in the medium to longer term.
She goes on to talk about the fight-or-flight response and she explains anxiety and its physical manifestations from a neurobiology perspective. She provides suggestions on breathing exercises that could reduce anxiety in the short term and help calm oneself down.
She also discusses the benefits of following a mindful approach to accept and better manage the distressing feelings and thoughts, whilst emphasizing that it is indeed possible to bring one’s own anxiety under better control without having to take medication.
Finally, she sheds light on behaviors that perpetuate anxiety and provides suggestions on how to change these behaviors.
Overall, Gill’s work is largely based on the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). According to the CBT model, emotions (such as anxiety) and physical sensations (such as those experiences when one is anxious) have direct links with thoughts (including underlying core beliefs) and behaviors. CBT works by changing the thinking pattern and one’s behaviors, which in turn will impact on the emotions and physical sensations.
As a Psychiatrist myself, I believe that psychological approaches (drawing from both CBT and mindfulness) have such an important role to play in the management of a number of emotional and psychological problems, including anxiety.
As a book, ‘Overcoming Anxiety’ succeeds in being psycho-educational, as it explains about anxiety and its management, it helps the reader understand what anxiety is, and encourages them to reflect on their emotional world. As well as being highly informative, it can also be used as a therapeutic tool, since it describes a number of techniques that could help in the management of anxiety.
In this book, Gill initially goes through the different anxiety disorders and the various manifestations of anxiety (physical symptoms and sensations, negative cognitions/thoughts, and behaviors, including avoidance behaviors).
With regards to the cognitive aspect, she explains the cognitive distortions that feed the cycle of anxiety, illuminating the negative thinking patterns often encountered among sufferers. She then provides ways to change this thinking style and to replace the negative cognitions with positive thoughts; this is of course easier said than done, but it can bring positive results in the medium to longer term.
She goes on to talk about the fight-or-flight response and she explains anxiety and its physical manifestations from a neurobiology perspective. She provides suggestions on breathing exercises that could reduce anxiety in the short term and help calm oneself down.
She also discusses the benefits of following a mindful approach to accept and better manage the distressing feelings and thoughts, whilst emphasizing that it is indeed possible to bring one’s own anxiety under better control without having to take medication.
Finally, she sheds light on behaviors that perpetuate anxiety and provides suggestions on how to change these behaviors.
Overall, Gill’s work is largely based on the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). According to the CBT model, emotions (such as anxiety) and physical sensations (such as those experiences when one is anxious) have direct links with thoughts (including underlying core beliefs) and behaviors. CBT works by changing the thinking pattern and one’s behaviors, which in turn will impact on the emotions and physical sensations.
As a Psychiatrist myself, I believe that psychological approaches (drawing from both CBT and mindfulness) have such an important role to play in the management of a number of emotional and psychological problems, including anxiety.
As a book, ‘Overcoming Anxiety’ succeeds in being psycho-educational, as it explains about anxiety and its management, it helps the reader understand what anxiety is, and encourages them to reflect on their emotional world. As well as being highly informative, it can also be used as a therapeutic tool, since it describes a number of techniques that could help in the management of anxiety.
June 21, 2017
I've read a few books on anxiety and this one stood out in its simplicity and practicality. Hasson explains what anxiety is: a combination of physical, cognitive, and behavioural responses. I learned that excitement is identical in physical and behavioural responses to a situation. The difference is only in the thoughts, the cognitive response. Anxiety being negative and excitement being positive. Neither of which is healthy if they distort our perceptions.
In this book, I learned that overcoming anxiety is not a linear progression but rather a cyclical journey. Two steps forward, one step back. One of the first steps is to really understand anxiety for what it is. And understand the habit changes required in order to uproot negative thinking neural pathways.
If this is an area of your life that you need help in, I recommend this read. Some of the key concepts for understanding anxiety presented here are:
- Mindfulnes connection and how to use it to get a foothold
- Cognitive distortions (e.g. mind reading, catastrophizing)
- Learned helplessness and how it keeps a sufferer in a trap of anxious thinking
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Confidence and how it is the opposite of anxiety
- Using Courage, Assertiveness, and Confidence to feel the fear but do it anyway
Hasson also explores CBT as a popular coping method but doesn't limit herself to just CBT. As she states, its all about providing options because some options will be effective for a while and then one has to look for a different treatment if that becomes ineffective.
In this book, I learned that overcoming anxiety is not a linear progression but rather a cyclical journey. Two steps forward, one step back. One of the first steps is to really understand anxiety for what it is. And understand the habit changes required in order to uproot negative thinking neural pathways.
If this is an area of your life that you need help in, I recommend this read. Some of the key concepts for understanding anxiety presented here are:
- Mindfulnes connection and how to use it to get a foothold
- Cognitive distortions (e.g. mind reading, catastrophizing)
- Learned helplessness and how it keeps a sufferer in a trap of anxious thinking
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Confidence and how it is the opposite of anxiety
- Using Courage, Assertiveness, and Confidence to feel the fear but do it anyway
Hasson also explores CBT as a popular coping method but doesn't limit herself to just CBT. As she states, its all about providing options because some options will be effective for a while and then one has to look for a different treatment if that becomes ineffective.
January 31, 2020
I really don’t know how this book got so many positive reviews. This is nothing more than a drug out webMD article, only with significantly less medically backed data; like, zero medically backed data.
From what I’m understanding, the author has no work experience in managing anxiety with clients from a medical standpoint, therefore, I think the author has no business writing this book.
If you actually suffer anxiety, and are looking for ways to cope, I’m not sure this book is the place I would start. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.
From what I’m understanding, the author has no work experience in managing anxiety with clients from a medical standpoint, therefore, I think the author has no business writing this book.
If you actually suffer anxiety, and are looking for ways to cope, I’m not sure this book is the place I would start. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.
November 30, 2021
I picked this book up after reading Mindfulness by the same author. This was quite an insightful book on anxiety and had a lot of practical tips on dealing with it.
I would say that some of it overlapped with the previous book I read as mindfulness can help us deal with anxiety. But it was good to remind myself of ways that can help me feel calmer and more mindful of my thoughts and feelings. Would definitely recommend if you deal with anxiety.
I would say that some of it overlapped with the previous book I read as mindfulness can help us deal with anxiety. But it was good to remind myself of ways that can help me feel calmer and more mindful of my thoughts and feelings. Would definitely recommend if you deal with anxiety.
May 30, 2020
Leave conversations about mental health to mental health professionals unless you're writing specifically about your own journey. This book was an abject waste of time. A string of clichés about anxiety strung together with a dash of mindfulness to be on trend.
January 5, 2021
I certainly do understand my anxiety better now. It was my first time reading in depth about anxiety, fully intending to come up with ways to help myself, and I wasn't dissappointed. It gave me an idea on what to do and what to search for.
July 16, 2018
must read
August 26, 2019
This book really helped me to overcome my long term issue with anxiety. Would highly recommend!
Read
December 21, 2019Amazing book.
Read
May 19, 2020Brilliant book with great practical ideas.
January 3, 2022
Reading this book has helped me understand certain aspects of my anxiety. Definitely helped me figure out why it starts and how I can help myself get to a calm place. Very educational.
August 4, 2024
Solid book, what you’d expect from the title. Straightforward with scientific explanations and actionable steps to adopt.
March 20, 2025
This book is a really good guide to help you over come your anxiety and how to help others, I struggle with anxiety in my relationship and this book has helped me learn better habits.
August 14, 2016
If you feel like what you are going through is unique and you'll never feel better; read this.
March 29, 2019
A good book full of real advises which we are able to follow.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews