The Anxiety Solution: A Quieter Mind, a Calmer You

by Chloe Brotheridge

'I know what it's like to be stuck in a cycle of anxiety. I used to feel as though fear and worry were a permanent part of who I was... but I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be this way. The truth is, your natural state is one of calmness and confidence - and I'm going to teach you how to get there.'

Therapist Chloe Brotheridge has used the latest scientific research and her own personal experience to create a programme that has already helped thousands of her clients to overcome anxiety. The Anxiety Solution will provide you with simple yet powerful practical tools to help you manage your symptoms and start feeling better every day.

Chloe will help you to understand why we feel anxious in the first place, and equips you with techniques to help manage the symptoms and start living a happier, more confident life. Whether it is social media pressure, perfectionism or fear of failure, this book will show you how to regain control of your life.

If you want to spend less time worrying and restore your confidence, this book is the solution for you. You'll be surprised how quickly you can be back in control and able to enjoy your life once again.

The Anxiety Solution is your roadmap to a calmer, happier and more confident you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Mental Health, Audiobook, Personal Development, Health

256 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2017

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, I'd like to apologise to the author as I can't really give this book a higher rating.

Cons:
- Since I've read quite a lot of self-help books before, I found this book a bit quite hollow. The author kept referring other people's books and quoting some contents without further factual elaboration, as if she's telling me that "because they said it, you need to trust it".

- Some of the contents are duplicated and the organisation of the content is a bit messy.

Pros:
- It's easy to understand

- The author shared quite a lot of personal experience and her clients' condition in order to create resonance to the readers.

All in all, even though I don't find this book helpful (I was trying to find a book that could help me get calmer and less tensed), I believe that this book would be very helpful for people who are new to self-help books. I'm sure that the author is very knowledgable in this field as she digested quite a lot of other professional readings and gained clinical experience of anxiety. Therefore, this book can definitely enable readers who are new to self-help books to grasp the general idea of Anxiety and its solution.

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• Recommended to: people who are new to self-help books and those who are trying to "tackle" anxiety for the first time.

•Not Recommended to: people who have read quite a lot of self-help books (especially the famous ones)

[Viktor Nilsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't figure this is a book aimed at women until I had repeatedly been called sweetheart... Apart from the fact that I don't much fancy taking a bubble bath or tidying my eyebrows, I felt that that 90% of this book could apply to anyone feeling a bit anxious at times, even if it's nothing serious.

I like self-help books over all, and this one follows a time-tested format:
-Theory: What is anxiety, why do we get it, how does it affect us, etc.
-Practice: Take action to change yourself through practical exercises.
-Examples: Both from her clients and her own personal anecdotes, to make it easy to relate.
Different readers will appreciate different parts of this. For me, I find them all good: It's scientific yet easy to grasp, it's doable, and it's engaging.

I feel that some advice in the area of self-esteem is a bit contradictory (if you have issues with self-esteem, that might require a book of its own), but other that that this is a good book. It works very well as an audio book.

[Roxanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carmen's review is pretty much how I feel about this book - it's only worth your time if you've never read a self-help book on anxiety. The book felt like a cut-and-paste job, either desired to demonstrate how much the author had read when she researched for her book or just to bulk up the book given she's got nothing original to say on the topic. Unfortunately, every concept she did quote on was skin deep and hence the problem. If you've never heard of the concept of "flow" or "focusing on the present" and want a summary in one quote from someone's book, then maybe this is the book for you. It's a real shame because the author is an anxiety sufferer herself and works with clients too and I just wished that she made a decision to offer her experience to others rather than quote passages from other people's books.

[Rebecca Travers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading this steadily over the last month or so, reminding myself to look after me and be kind and balance my priorities out. It also had a pretty cool section about food. I love food.

[Angelica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this anxiety book. Many are dry, yet informative. But this one is very informative and not at all dry. It's even made me laugh many times, as it described the very nuances of my own anxieties. It's written in a supportive and uses a rather real conversational style.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, I just couldn’t get into it. I liked that it was written by a woman for a predominantly female audience, and therefore addresses more specific anxiety-feeders like hormones which are sooo often overlooked in generic literature on anxiety. The chapter on food was interesting, as it presented some new ideas that I hadn’t encountered previously, but there was something a little soulless about the book overall. Would probably recommend if you’re picking up a self-help style book about anxiety for the first time.

[Natty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok

The book was ok but I felt like the author just wanted to talk about herself. I did like the mindfulness techniques though

[Marte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great self-help book with lots of tips and tricks on how to tackle anxiety through meditation, time management, food, etc.

[Sofie Dhoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ik heb veel aan dit boek gehad. Ik heb veel onderlijnd en overgeschreven. Ik vond het vooral fijn om dat het down-to-earth is en er veel oefeningen in staan die je makkelijk kunt toepassen. Veel dingen deed of wist ik al maar ik heb er toch ook nog dingen uitgeleerd. En het kan nooit kwaad om eens te herlezen wat ik al weet.

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely different from what I was expecting, for the better.
Not just a self-help book but a book that also brings scientific insight about what anxiety really is and how we can control it using various - and scientifically proven - technics to soothe our anxiety and panic attacks daily.
I have found that this book is mostly focused on women since it talks about PMS anxiety and other female related things, but that it is nonetheless helpful for someone dealing with general anxiety.
A very interesting point of view on modern life and how it affects our nervous system and our habits.

[Maëva · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so exited to read this book! I've had anxiety for many years now and I thought this book was going to be great, where I could recognize myself and have ideas to ease my anxiety. But in the end, reading this book was giving me anxiety as it talks about it over and over. Of course, that's the point of a book about anxiety, right?
Suddenly, I had all of those "solutions" to get rid of anxiety coming to my face, which I have heard about many times on the internet (eat healthier, love yourself, blablabla) + many of "one of my clients", "someone I know" : no! It's weird but I don't enjoy self-help books for that. Exemples of successful people do not help me. I want a book that talks to me, who's for me and don't talk about some random person that is probably completely different from me. Anxiety is something so personal and hard to get. Therefore this book did not help me at all. But I hope it did for others.
I only felt like the book was written by someone who had a miserable anxious life who suddenly change everything and became anxiety-free (again, the problem about most self-help book: just a continuous "look at me I became great, here are 10 things to help you be like me!"). The thing is, anxiety is not something which is awful all the time for everyone. Sometimes, well me at least, people only want ideas to go forward and have less and less anxiety, not everyone is at the rock bottom. That's probably why I did not recognize myself in this book.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can't relate, sorry.

I'm frustrated by being called "sweetheart", it's so needless. I understand the intent here but when you can't be sure of how it will be received why include it?

Also, this lady spent an awful lot of time telling us not to worry about how we look or what we weigh, whilst simultaneously calling someone a "poor woman" because she'd gained weight, and saying we should make sure our nails are manicured and our eyebrows are tidy to make us feel self worth.

Again, I get the intent but it felt extremely skewed and will be going straight in the recycling.

[Jade Harvey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stop calling me sweetheart 🤮

[Sue Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ummmm, I hate to say it 'passive-aggressive female' alert! I can't connect with the author. I can't connect with the book. I definitely wouldn't reco. No substance I'm afraid.

[Marie V · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think other reviews do this book justice.

Yes, the author refers a lot to different well known self help/psychology books, but in a way which made this book to be an all-in-one meaning that I think I shouldn’t have read some of the mentioned books and even scrapped some others off my to-read list because I really do feel like this gem here is a complete anxiety toolbox. At least I personally prefer to cover more topics and to do the inner work based on a few substantial pages of a good book rather than to read a book per topic. So in my eyes this is the one book to read INSTEAD not alongside of all of those other self help help books she refers to or which made this book boring to all the reviewers who have drowned themselves in self-help for years.

Now to the substance of the book:
You’ll get the exact solutions offered in this book from your own personal therapist, but maybe in a less entertaining and heartwarming fashion. The author has done a great job at providing a lot of different perspectives, relatable client stories as well as her own thoughts and exercises regarding how to overcome anxiety as a woman. I don’t think this book would be as relevant to men, then again they apparently don’t suffer from anxiety as much…

[Emily Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here I am again with my non-committal 3 star ratings!!! This book was satisfactory!! Pleasant!!

Realistically the whole thing felt like a very high level summary. Lots of breadth and not a lot of depth. Which probably makes it a great book for people who are new to books on anxiety, or even people who are new to anxiety in general.

But I have read a few better books than this.

I definitely still folded quite a few pages to come back to, and I find even the process of reading a book about anxiety has a soothing effect on me - like the author is guiding me through life while I’m reading their book.

So overall it’s a decent one! Worth picking up. Honestly I would probably recommend this moreso to partners or family members of people with anxiety, to help them learn and understand it better.

[Gracia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always skeptical about self-help books because I always fear they tend to generalize a lot of stuff that is happening to individuals. But I actually enjoyed this book, I guess because it’s written in a talk-to-a-friend kind of way, which is something I appreciate. The author doesn’t seem to be judgy or preachy which makes me feel comfortable reading it. Does this book solve my entire anxiety? Nope. But it helps in several ways and has some solutions that I am actually trying to practice. I journaled a lot more now, which I feel therapeutic, also I’m trying my best to be kinder to myself because I know one of the sources of anxiety is my overthinking-ness and my sky-high expectations with myself, which can be really bad. Of course, there are things that I am a bit reluctant to try, like meditating, which is very hard for me to do, because me focusing on breathing is the reason why I don’t do yoga a lot anymore, my brain will go someplace else. Also, the reason why I don’t particularly like yoga is that even when I go to basic yoga class other yogis seem so advanced and cool and trying new things with their form and posture, and here I am feeling like a little potato who is so stiff and so weird and out of place and I don’t like that feeling. Also, this book has so many exercises. I know you don’t have to do them all, but after I read this I feel like this is sort of like homework, which can be overwhelming. But I enjoyed the book and looking forward to practicing this more.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Anxiety Solution had some helpful tips. I really enjoyed the audiobook version.

I've read quite a few anxiety self-help books before, so I didn't learn too much more. I think this would be helpful as a starting point, but didn't really add much more for me on my journey with anxiety and ocd.

I would definitely reccomend the mindfulness, and will check out the resources that were mentioned in this book.

[Chloë Dowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read and follow the suggestions. Lots of helpful links at the back too. The author also has a great website with useful resources on.

[Ana Sofia Carvalho e Oliveira · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book. Best book about anxiety I have ever read.

[Meghan Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really made me reflect on things and has lots of useful techniques. One I'll come back to again and again when i need it I'm sure.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐️

[Madame Histoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay but nothing groundbreaking. I feel that it was mostly aimed at young women with some anxiety but nothing to the point of anxiety disorder (which, fair enough, could not be solved with reading a book). I found it easy to understand, and by sharing her or her client's struggle, the author aim to make the reader less alone or abnormal. Now the technics and tool recommended are pretty basics and honestly quite cliché, like meditation, yoga, breathing, self-care (massage and bubble bath anyone?), journaling (gratitude and worry time), controlling your environment (aka unfollowing ppl that make you feel bad about yourself on insta) and controlling your self-talk (use daily affirmation, ask oneself 'what your bestie would say about such and such?' -aka be kinder to yourself.) The overall tone and references (what would Beyonce do? it's okay to have children late because Janet Jackson is an example of it being okay) was again, very targeted at a specific young female audience with little experience of searching into self-help. Also keeping on referencing her own website for extra tools gave it a very "I am an influencer with something to advertise" feel.
+ points for being British (most English self-help being US), acknowledging that in the case of women, period does influence your anxiety levels

[Iris Haar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek heeft een goede balans tussen achtergrondinformatie, persoonlijke verhalen en praktische tips bij angst en paniek. Heel fijn! Bevat veel basisinformatie over de psychologie van angstklachten (waardoor ze kunnen ontstaan, wat het kan verergeren, het biologische proces erachter, etc). Dus sowieso een aanrader voor iedereen die last heeft van angstklachten, maar hier nog niet veel van weet. De schrijfster is naast therapeut voor mensen met angstklachten ook ervaringsdeskundige dus ze weet het allemaal op een heel fijne en persoonlijke manier over te brengen. Het voelt nooit als saaie, droge info ook al wist ik het meeste al vanuit m'n studies.

Het boek heb ik op aanraden van iemand gelezen en ik ben blij dat ik deze leestip kreeg! Persoonlijk heb ik héél veel aan dit boek gehad. Zowel qua tips en gewoon doordat ik veel herkenning vond in het boek wat altijd geruststellend is. Het boek richt zich op jonge vrouwen, maar ik denk dat 'The Anxiety Solution' voor iedereen met angst/paniekklachten goed leesmateriaal is.

Tip: staat op Storytel als luisterboek! Al denk ik dat een papieren versie nog fijner is, omdat het boek eindigt met een 'toolkit' gevuld met veeel tips en oefeningen. Dat laatste deel is vooral handig als naslagwerk.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. There wasn't a whole lot of new infromation for someone like me who has been trying to manage my anxiety for several years and who has been to A LOT of therapy. But if you haven't been to therapy och if you are not well read when it comes to mental and/or general health than I recommand this book to get started and familier with helpful stratagies and to learn more about mental health. There are several useful tips and strategies that I have tried myself before reading this, but sometimes it's nice to be reminded of them and to get encouraged to start over with healthy habits that I have been fallen behind on. There is a mix of both the authors personal anecdotes and references to scentific studies which I think is good. We need both to know what has worked for others, and we also need science to back it up and trust that it actually works.

I listened to the audiobook, but I might buy it as an physical book as well so I can look at the excersises agian when I need them and I'm also a huge fan of the book cover and it will look amazing in my shelf! I also recommend to read this more slowly than what I did, give yourself time between the chapters and the exercises. You might not evan have to finish all of the book at once, just read it in your own time.

[Sølvi Goard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly I'm so tempted to DNF this book, for the first time in years, just because so much of it is completely, painfully, out of touch. It's actually making me feel worse. Quoting abusive creep Tony Robbins was probably the breaking point. Agree with the other review that it's most salient points are lifted from other books (where is 'the solution'? Super misleading title). But it also just drips with girlboss white feminism. Don't compare yourself! But also all my main points are lifted from productivity manuals written by hyper capitalists who were successful with trust fund money! The world is getting better actually? Guess we'll just blithely ignore the ongoing ecological crisis and it's evidently catastrophic effects. It just feels like the same gaslighting we get from the government and fossil capitalists. And the thing is some of the points are good, even if I've got them before elsewhere. It's the delivery and the lack of awareness that feels so fucking infuriating and must importantly unhelpful in a time where there are very real reasons to be angry and anxious. I guess it's not written for me, that's the charitable thing to say.

[Alisa Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've found this book both enjoyable, as well as downright annoying at times. Judging by the title of the book, I'd expected something more - both in terms of feeling as well as practical.

While it does a good job at explaining anxiety in simple terms which I quite liked, it also treats it as something very light. Anxiety is not a light issue, at least not for everyone.

With a title as (seemingly) encompassing as this, the author could have taken into consideration far more factors that play into treating anxiety. I'm one of the lucky people who has all the available resources to tackle my anxiety. But while reading this, I kept thinking "what about the overly worked mom? What about the minorities?". Anxiety is not as easily cured as the book suggests it.

To me, this felt like reading a looonggg blog post filled with references to other books.

Still, I did enjoy it, and I'd been recommending it to all my friends.

[Yasmin Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not beautifully written, in fact the language is so coarse that I considered throwing it away. Further, there are insufficient references as if the author couldn’t be bothered to fact-check their own statements (I know that there are no reputable studies at present to back the statement that magnesium can be absorbed through skin). This book screams ‘armchair psychology on Instagram’ and I do not recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading thoughtfully written and science-backed literature.

I have given this book 2 stars because some individuals appear to have been helped by it, and so I guess it’s good that this book exists (although reading it may have increased my own anxiety so I feel a little conflicted).

Edit: I’ve changed my rating to 1 star because every now and again I think about how awful it was to read, and how sad it is that I paid money for it.

[Nani · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Anxiety Solution is a great book for us who feel like life is sometimes a bit too much to handle. This book gives a much needed pep talk, explains why things are like they are and offers many tangible solutions to feel better. The content gives only little new information but as we know, it's recap that gets the wheels turn.

[Britt Wolfe · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s not a lot of substance here. Just another book telling you to do yoga, exercise, eat right and practice meditation - except this time, the author doesn’t have any reliable qualifications to be giving advice.