Stopping the Noise in Your Head : the New Way to Overcome Anxiety and Worry

by R. Reid Wilson

If you or someone you love suffers from excessive worry, anxiety, panic, OCD, or phobias, you know how crippling it can be. Of course, worry can be an important asset when it forces our attention on problem-solving. But anxious worrying can cause us to unnecessarily focus on a threat, to retreat and avoid, and to seek reassurance and safety—which is no way to foster a life of growth and excitement. In his fifth published book, Dr. Reid Wilson proposes a groundbreaking, paradoxical approach to overcoming anxiety, worry, OCD, panic, and phobias by moving away from comfort, confidence, and security and willingly moving toward uncertainty, distress and discomfort. Through the use of unconventional strategies, readers will learn how to confront anxiety head-on and step forward into the face of threat. Drawing on a range of sources—from firefighters and fitness instructors to Sir Isaac Newton and Muhammad Ali— Stopping the Noise in Your The New Way to Overcome Anxiety and Worry demonstrates the importance of shifting our perspective and stepping toward our challenges in order to regain control of our lives.

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

373 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2016

Reviews

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The Author of this book, Reid Wilson Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist who directs the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. His approach in this book is to move towards your discomfort, your uncertainty, to do what makes you uncomfortable. He uses examples such as firefighters, professional athletes and vignettes as examples of how to confront anxiety head on. He utilizes a paradoxical approach toward anxiety. He urges readers to change their perspective/thoughts to treat their anxiety. He points out in the beginning of the book that "What you often worry about isn't worth your attention."

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. One might be anxious about an upcoming doctor appointment, your child going away to college, having to make an important decision, asking someone out on a date, etc. But for others anxiety can be crippling and can be an event specific or an everyday thing which can become worse over time. For those with panic attacks, social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, phobias, (to name a few) anxiety can be devastating and affects their life on many levels. How many invitations have those with anxiety turned down, how have they limited their day to day activities, how has anxiety impacted their relationships or their jobs, etc.

The Author encourages people to make a list of what anxiety has caused them and then to make a list or "outcome picture" to show what they want in their lives in the future. What new things they want to try, places they may want to travel, parties they want to attend, jobs they want to apply for, etc. Then they need be uncomfortable, to face their fear, to act, to get the outcome, they desire. He has unconventional ways of achieving this that he believes that if you can welcome what you are feeling it will alleviate your anxiety. For example, when someone is experiencing anxiety he/she may think "I've got to back away from any threat so that I can get rid of my fearful thoughts and feelings." He then wants you to think (tell yourself) "It's fine that they just showed up. I can handle these feelings. I don't have to do anything with them." and "These are exactly the thoughts [of feelings] I want to have." You are not saying that you want the thoughts to continue but you are accepting the thoughts you are experiencing. He urges people to look at their fearful thoughts as noise and not signals. When the thoughts pop up to mentally step back when you have that thought that tells you “Get me out of this" and notice the thought and realize it is there and not to fight it, to accept it. He believes this will make anxiety more bearable because you are dropping your resistance.

I think this book is good for reinforcing what most people might already know. I believe the vignettes may be useful to let the reader know that he/she is not alone. If someone is in treatment for anxiety they be familiar with many of the treatment(s) for anxiety. I like that this book was in layman's terms and stresses not to avoid things but to face them but do so with the attitude that it's okay to be anxious, I will get through this, etc. Easier said than done - his point was to give anxiety less power. You know to feel the fear but do it anyway...such as exposure exercises but while being aware of your thoughts and not resisting them. An example of an exposure exercise is: someone is afraid of elevators should ride elevators to elevate anxiety.

I liked how he showed many automatic thoughts that people think in the beginning of the book. I believe that most readers will identify with a lot of them. Think of something which causes you anxiety. Think of all the thoughts that pop into your mind. Imagine you are going to the doctor because you have a health concern. You don't know what the outcome will be, and you automatically have thoughts about it "What if this is serious", "What if I am really sick", "What if this is incurable" etc. You still go to your doctor appointment even though you are anxious. For someone with a crippling anxiety or fear this is harder to do but you still need to go through it. For example, you have a fear of public speaking and you have been asked to do a presentation at work. You need your job, but your anxiety is crippling. You sweat profusely, your hands shake, your voice trembles, you are embarrassed by this. You fear the humiliation. You fear judgement. You have feelings of dread and automatic thoughts associated with this. The author tells you to accept them. To tell yourself it's OK if my hands shake, I accept that. I am going to sweat, I'm okay with that. He states creating a paradox in your thinking will confuse your anxiety - make it stop and say "what? you are okay with this?" and by doing so your anxiety will lessen.

Will reading this book make your anxiety go away - I do not believe so - but it is a beginning. For some it will be reinforcement, for some a new way of looking at their thoughts, for some it might work for them. I think the important thing is finding what works for you.

Thank you to HCI books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com

[Clumsy Storyteller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am skilled at generating lots of bad feelings alongside many wonderful feelings.

THE STORY OF MY LIFE !!!!!

Many of us adopt these GOALS as close expected standards :

✧ To feel physically and psychologically comfortable
✧ To perceive my world as safe enough
✧ To spend my time and energy on tasks and relationships I enjoy
✧ To feel confident in my decisions and that I am heading in the right direction
✧ To avoid mistakes
✧ To experience a sense of success
✧✧ To feel satisfied and content in my moment-by-moment experiences

And when we fail to achieve them we worry and get anxious because we want security. We want to feel confident and certain, it makes us feel safe and only then we can relax and enjoy our lives, sometimes worry works (the useful kind of worry):

worry is designed to be an initial response, as Step One in the problem-solving process. It should initiate our efforts to find solutions by triggering our analytic process: evaluating the current situation, generating response options, choosing among them, selecting one, and then implementing it. When this progression works well, we get to conclude our analysis with a message like, “I’m worried about
finishing this project, and now I’m going to take action. This is how I’m going to get it done—here’s my plan.” See, that’s the usefulness of worry.

But worrying too much is a problem

When our worries pop up in our minds too frequently, then those thoughts hurt us. Worry leads to anxiety. The more we worry, the more anxious we will become, whether it’s about family, financial issues, work or school, or illness. If we don’t address this type of worry and find ways to control it, we will continue to be anxious.

Anxiety is the cleverest of challengers. Why? Because it studies our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, our needs. It captures our natural responses to threat, exaggerates them, and turns them against us. It hijacks any softness in our personality traits. It feeds us false information, conveying that certain activities are more threatening than they actually are. And it creates a set of beliefs that causes us to back away to safety instead of step forward into the face of threat.

identifying negative emotions and changing our attitude help us face our fears which then makes us more strong and capable of living a stress-free life! very insightful, helpful book for people suffering from Anxiety.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some helpful points made in this book, but overall, there wasn't anything that I think would truly help someone overcome serious mental health issues. I liked the distinction that there are two kinds of worries: signals that tell you there's a problem and require you to come up with solutions or strategies and noises that are just fruitless worries you obsess about that don't serve any purpose for you. The book discusses ways to deal with these types of worries, and I think these points might be helpful for some people who occasionally worry too much. However, I don't think this book would be particularly helpful for anyone with significant anxiety or OCD issues (especially if they're already educated about these disorders). I found myself skimming too often - there were actually too many examples so that the main narrative kind of got lost. Unfortunately, I don't think this book will be stopping the noise in my head anytime soon.

[Megan]

I made a bulleted list of information, but I sort of lost interest in reading it about half way through.

My Notes:
- Anxiety wins when we abandon our goal and return to comfort. We must allow ourselves to experience discomfort and keep moving.
- We become primed for threats after experiencing a 'scary' event.
- "Worry is meant to be a trigger for problem solving."
- Figure out if your worry is a signal or noise.
- Use mindfulness to step back.
- How we perceive things influences our mood and ability to cope with crisis.
- "Love the mat" (Which reminded me of Brene Brown's Rising Strong)
- Don't fear failure.

[Greg’s Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very insightful, informative, and paradoxical book, I would say. My main take away in this book is we have to embrace anxiety so we can stop it from bothering us.

The book is written in a very conversational yet informative tone. Average readers like me can easily understand the concepts; making it easy to read despite the number of pages it has.

A very important part of this book is the one where the author really describe the steps in handling anxiety first, by describing his patients situations and how each of them go through the journey of coming to terms with their own anxiety. The author also presented an appendix for those who need professional help.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions)]

4/14/21 - DNFing at 27%. This is actually a great book when it comes to describing in words what anxiety is like. I want to throw it (or at least the first chapter or two) at every person in my life who either doesn't understand or who seems to understand but has moments when they demonstrate they really don't.

When it comes to helping with my anxiety, though, I don't think this is going to do it, and parts of it actually made me cry a little because they boil down to "the mechanisms you've been using that you thought were making things better may actually be further cementing your anxiety." Do I need to finally sit down and figure out who/what insurance would cover and set up an appointment with someone? Probably yes, so at least this book helped underscore that for me.

[Kristy]

I think these self-help type psychology books are meant for those with no self-awareness and no idea about the basics of psychology. Maybe I've read too many psychology books or maybe the few psychology classes I've taken have given me a greater understanding of our brain and mental health, but I feel most of these self-help books are regurgitating the same facts over and over just using slightly different analogies and personal experiences. If someone has never taken psych or has never read a self-help book before, they may enjoy this read and find it informative; I, unfortunately, did not.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

How ironic that I listened to this on audio - literally a noise in my head.

Repetitive, with copious amounts of sports metaphors, but immensely helpful. And I’d argue the repetition is necessary seeing as how you won’t get it the first dozen times you try.

I would say this is much more helpful for avoidance behaviors than rumination, despite the title, however.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an odd book, not least because it is a rare book written from the point of view of a psychologist that I can wholeheartedly enjoy and appreciate.  The contrast this book makes from the usual book of this fare, with its agendas to push some sort of Buddhist thought and practice, is striking.  And to be sure, the author has his share of mantras, but his writing is more ecumenical in its fashion and one that is very clearly open both to faith and confidence in a higher power (the phrase "Let Go And Let God" finds its way here a few times) as well as to the insights of research when it comes to the tactics of dealing with anxiety and obsession.  Without sacrificing anything when it comes to clinical insights as well as scientific rigor, the author shows that there is a way for psychology to serve the interests of the reader rather than merely to push an agenda, and the book is a lot better for that than it would have been otherwise, had the author simply done what so many have done before [1].

In terms of its contents, this book manages to provide something of worth by giving the reader a new approach to anxiety and worry that is based on the past few decades of research, including the author's own practice, some of which he has tried on himself.  The author recognizes that there is both signal and noise when it comes to panic, and that there are multiple routes by which the amygdala becomes motivated to spread panic throughout the body, but turns the struggle against worry and anxiety into a game with a striking set of rules.  First, one seeks out rather than strives to avoid stressful and anxious situations, then one turns one's attention from the anxious worry to whatever one wanted to do, repeating as many times as necessary until the task is done.  Having spent a lot of time working with people struggling with OCD or some type of panic disorder, the author urges people not to pay much attention to the specific content of the anxiety or obsession, but rather to attend to the underlying mechanisms of it and the desires one has to want to live a better life and take back territory that anxiety has blocked off, viewing anxiety like a diabolical but clever adversary.

And it is the diabolical nature of anxiety that struck me as particularly noteworthy about the author's approach.  By personalizing anxiety, by making it a strategic opponent with wiles that one can outwit, the author manages to effectively anthropomorphize a psychological insight.  This is a book of tactics and mindsets, and the author effectively points to case studies, his own experience, and research to bolster his claims, but ultimately a book like this is meant to be tried out.  If you are someone who struggles with anxiety, this book is focused on what you can do about it, namely to act as though there is nothing wrong with flying in an airplane or driving into a parking garage and then taking steps to ensure that one can get the right messages of safety to make it possible to live one's life again without being crippled by worry and fear.  For struggling with those things is a diabolical struggle that many people face on a regular basis, and any book like this one which provides one some valuable tips of the trade is to be appreciated and applied.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[NerdyBookishBeauty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me, but could help someone else. I never bash a book when it could possibly help someone with something they are struggling with.

[Ann T]

Thank you HCI Books and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

The title of this book drew my interest. Who hasn’t lay in bed trying different strategies to fall asleep when your head is being noisy.

I dipped in and out of this book, reading bits at a time over a number of weeks. The premise of the book is to reframe how you look at your thoughts / worries. To conquer your fears requires a change in attitude and to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

These ideas were not new to me having read extensively on psychology over th years, however for someone suffering from OCD or Anxiety, that has not done prior reading this book offers useful strategies and potentially hope.

[Cody Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was honestly the most helpful book I've read on coping with high anxiety. I thought I was just going to breeze through this book quickly but I read each chapter slowly really taking in every bit of advice.
Each strategy in this book has seriously helped me curb my anxious thoughts and I've seen massive improvements with how I respond to anxiety and worry. I was not expecting this book to have this level of impact on my mindset but I'm here for it.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific book on practical coping mechanisms to get you to stop worrying and lessen your anxiety. I really enjoyed the CDs (since I was listening to the audiobook) while I was in the car. It was nice to Learn new ways to approach difficult or challenging circumstances.

[Hayley Hu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instead of calling for lowering the stress, the book asks the reader to want the anxiety and score against it. It is a very interesting approach.

[Lulu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Who would waste their time reading a self help book about anxiety that has no notes & no bibliography and actually cites their resources as Mary & Bob’s counseling sessions with the author🙄 and his various self help websites &/or Facebook🥱
Utter hogwash 🤥

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book that I found by googling for "books on anxiety" and then seeing what was available for eborrow from the library, this book was better than expected

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally gave up on this about halfway through after trying it several times, BUT I do highly recommend the first half. The principles here are great and helpful; I just don't think the chapters on how to apply this information are very effective. This needs to be paired with mindfulness practice and/or CBT, both of which are much more actionable than what is presented here.

[Kevin Haughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could’ve been an email.

Don’t get me wrong, it feels like a great concept, but I’m not sure I needed 350 pages to get the point.

At first I enjoyed the voice of the author, but several anecdotes and examples mixed in with promises of a radical new theory only to state same main idea was reminiscent of watching an old infomercial, “But wait there’s more!” Only to again reiterate the power of practicing an attitude shift during exposure therapy.

So it was good, but repetitive. A bit wordy, and tended to repeat itself. But made a strong point, over and over again.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read book that helps you stop unneccessary anxiety and worrying . If you suffer from over anxiety, stress, OCD, give this book a read.

[Alpo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the whole book:

1) Move toward any task you predict will generate at least some uncertainty or distress regarding your worried theme.

2) When you notice feeling bothered by doubt or distress (whether before, during, or after that task):
A. Step back and acknowledge that it’s happening (“Ugh. This is hard”);
B. Welcome exactly what’s happening (“Yes, and this is what I’m looking for”); and
C. Subvocalize a message that helps you stay engaged in your chosen activity:
1) Encourage yourself (“I can do this”);
2) Instruct yourself (“Keep moving!”); or
3) Talk in a cunning way to Anxiety (“Give me more, please”).

3) Then turn your attention back to your chosen task, even while you still feel uncertain and uncomfortable.”

Add 10 to 20 pages that explain the above in more detail (mainly why the above is supposed to work). That’s it!

OK. Add another 10 pages for the two cases exemplifying these techniques.

If someone would’ve given me the above, it would’ve saved me going through 250 asking continuously “where is the meat???”

[Eve beinguniquebeingme · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book talks about worries and then the other spectrum of them becoming never quieting and festering thoughts always on our minds, other words anxiety building over time.

It compares anxiety of varying sorts and how it plays away on our vulnerability and thoughts of not coming across in many ways either positive or negatively.

It talks of triggers in life causing anxiety from trauma and situations before where you are now and action g on urges and challenging yourself by putting the reader/us through situational examples within the book.

There are also a few visual diagrams to break up the text in areas to explain cycles of processes throughout.

Overall, this book is a good read if you suffer anxiety or know someone who suffers purely because it's situational and allows the read to feel like they're understood and not judged by how they feel.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me a copy to review!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much of the information in this book is genuinely useful and I truly do think, if you haven't done a whole lot of reading about anxiety already, that it's a good place to start.

With that said, I personally struggled to stay actively engaged with what I was reading. It may be that the writing style just wasn't for me, but I took much, much longer to get through this than I normally would for a book of this length. It gets repetitive--the useful bits definitely could've been condensed. I even switched to the audio version partway through and that's the only reason I managed to finish it (by listening while I was doing other things, admittedly). The 'get stronger' angle really didn't resonate with me either.

[Bruce · Rating 1 out of 5]

In desperate need of a harsh editor

This book was recommended to me as a good book on OCD but I clearly lack the obsessiveness needed to finish it. I got one third of the way through and chucked it in as being unreadable. The other may be a world leading expert in OCD but he is an indulgent writer. He never gets to the point. This book desperately needs to be halved in length and have its main themes exhumed from under the enormous mass of verbiage that the author has burdened them with.

[Griselda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like I would have been satisfied with just reading a simple article. If you like examples, this book is perfect. He goes into his personal case stories of patients. Most of the information I've heard before. What was new was making a game out of anxiety. Very interesting.

[Softwaredeveloperlife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mastering Anxiety For Dummies

Stopping the noise in your head by Dr. Reid Wilson paddles through your worst adversities with an interesting theory by how worries manifest to controlling your life and how you can transform them to taking back control of your life. Given the author embraces personally his theory throughout the worries that he faced to his outdoor activities, such when being a member of CHAOS rowing, to his personal bad days with a toilet, you can tell both implicitly and explicitly that his message is quite genuine.

Although the theory is very simple, it does work out well on generally removing your fears because it addresses our focus on our personal self (compare that to other self-help books which may be too lighthearted or even dismiss that topic completely). If you are too trapped within your worries or worries dominate more than you expected then this book is for you. Be open-minded to this story as it tries to be a little bit honest about what happens inside you. In general, Mrs. Anxiety has taken over you and you were praying all time with "I am one with Anxiety" instead of "I am one with the force". Your already wife Mrs. Anxiety is a different beast than Mr. Immorality. She likes to exaggerate and deceive you with noise just so she can keep sitting on the same old throne. You may have felt all your life in misery because you lost all those chances and opportunities that require uncertainty, risk, and fear. Most likely, you have something meaningful you want to do in your life or else you wouldn't be so worried. If you feel abnormal, your desire may be as simple as getting your life back from your obsessive distractions. Bring Mr. Excitement into you which tolerates the risk for obtaining your goals. Then let the force be with you, bring that executive voice and boldly make a choice by saying "I want that" while stepping into the action. Anxiety will not like that because it wants to stick with the familiar and the old and we should know that this is not going to be an easy battle if we don't believe honestly that we are and were a part of those old habits: "Yes that is the old me, sorry for breaking your heart, we sure did have some time together, but I am already engaged with someone else". Ultimately, it is a matter of faith whether you believe this story in order to control your life, whether you use the other tools you have within your mind as an arsenal. This is basically the main premises of the book that takes you from start to finish.

Now I really feel that this book is very well addressed to a more general audience as well. This formula can be applied as well to people who have worries that may not be so intrusive but can become an obstacle for moving on with their life, whether that is in relationships, career, and life. Maybe those worries are legitimate, maybe most agree that your worries are valid and that you would be crazy if you did otherwise. When I mean crazy, I mean not harming your own self or others, but maybe start up a business, volunteer on good causes, and so on. If your worries still linger for many weeks or months, then I guess we can definitely be sure that you have some form of chronic depression. The bad news is that clinical studies suggest that chronic depression in the long term won't do much good for you. If you are in that state, then no matter what others told you, it seems your executive voice wants you to do that crazy thing anyways. The thing is nobody will give you the green light. You have to be responsible for the liabilities that come ahead of you. I am pretty sure that you did enough homework on your master plan which is kept on your rusty basement that hasn't seen the light of the day. The thing is if your worries manifest so much in controlling your life, it may be much worthier to try your plan and accept the risk of failing. Worrying on those hard obstacles may become a dead end and may not let us ever to take back control of our life and see the outcome of our dreams. Let us keep in mind about that.

Let us make sure that the reader addressed is one whose mind is dominated by worries. Some examples in the book discuss athletes that do risky sports that may harm themselves. The other extreme of worry is the extreme of enjoying the fear of getting in extreme danger. In politics, we have extreme left and extreme right parties. In psychology, we have highly reserved and highly carefree people. Let us just hope that somebody carefree reading this doesn't attempt doing the next Guinness monster truck stunt record. If any of you who do not fall being a worrier in life, I know you will never become worried even if I told you, but please repeatedly read this disclaimer a dozen times: "Please don't try this at home". Nevertheless, these risky athletes give us a good role model for the worried mind. It is more like "Look how those people perform! They are outrageous!", yet we cannot even try something small on our end that may not harm us so much. We can get uncomfortable, embarrassed, ridiculed literally. However, we can still step back up to our feet after all that. For those athletes, they may not be able to literally stand up again for their rest of their life. If we do not have a courage for the small stuff, what can we say to our self, compared to those athletes that try to do the impossible?

I don't know why you are worried in life as each of us have our own story. Maybe you watched too much "Pinky and the Brain" and saw how carefree Pinky messed up all the master plans Brain did. Then you have to wonder why they always go along together. What matters is that worrying and doing "play" together, they don't dominate each other. This book will teach you how to make worries not dominate you. This book may be one of the last to read as a homework for taking more control of your life. Or it may still be for a while "one of the last of the last" until you figure it out that you have to say "at last!".

[Erin Leventhal · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book recommendation came from a therapist friend who treats OCD and anxiety as a suggested read before I board my first flight in 24 years. The real irony is that I am flying to attend a workshop that focuses on Cognitive approaches like CBT and SFBT--and yet I need to utilize both to live my big life and travel!
The author, Reid Wilson, actually lives just down the highway and runs an anxiety clinic in two nearby towns. He is an adjunct professor at a local university (UNC-CH) and has written a book/curriculum to help people overcome their fear of flying. I went into this with a really open mind, hoping to add more tricks to my toolkit. In the end, I learned some new tricks and some new ways of thinking. However, overall, this book felt like a miss for me.
Great takeaways:
-Think of anxiety like a noise to signal ratio--some of what your Anxiety is saying to you is just NOISE--extraneous thoughts that only ramp up your worry, while some of what your Anxiety is saying is a SIGNAL--a sign that you need to act. Learn to discern the two and you are on the right path.
-Make friends with your Anxiety (personify it)--invite it in, challenge it to give you more than you think you can handle (because you CAN handle it), treat it like a competitor in a game--every time Anxiety rears its ugly head and you meet it by saying "Not Today" or "Feel the Fear and do it anyway", you win a point and Anxiety loses (also, see misses--this part of the concept was not my favorite).
-Change your way of speaking--Anxiety and Excitement are both arousal states. Instead of declaring yourself anxious, state your excitement as a reframe.
The misses:
-Reid's methods are a bit unconventional--two pillowcases over the head, secured with packing tape sounds like a thriller, not a strategy to overcome claustrophobia on planes and in parking decks. He also discourages using a crutch, soothing object, or medication to get you through stressful, panic inducing events. (He does address this further at the end and mentions you may need these and can wean off of them, but his original stance at the start of the book was firm)
-The gamifying strategy of dealing with anxiety was a miss for me--I loathe games, so this just didn't land as a viable option.
-The personal accounts were plentiful, but felt like fillers. I was especially bothered by one account when he referenced his own anxiety and then told the reader he would not share what he was anxious about. Self-disclosure goes a long way in counseling people.
-I LOVE self-improvement books. I LOATHE when the author mentions a concept or strategy and then says they will explain it later in the book. In some instances, it felt like later never came. Perhaps this is a psychological tactic, but it was not appreciated by this reader.
So. . . if you read this far--I didn't hate it, I found some things that might be helpful, I don't think I will be visiting Wilson's center right down the road AND I am SO EXCITED about flying soon!! :)

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for more linear thinkers on anxiety, tolerance, and challenging yourself.

Stopping the noise in your head

Pendulum - pressing away the anxiety causes it to come back with more force

Signal vs noise

Biofeedback

Mindfulness and Jon Kabat-Zinn

I don’t know if it’s a signal or if it’s noise, so I’m going to act as if it is just noise.

***People don’t change through talking about change, people change through experience.

***When you take a step back and ask how you feel about something, you have gone up a level in consciousness and are in mindsight

No matter how many times I have to do this, I’m willing to do it until I get strong

Example: riding the elevator and being terrified the whole time - When you’re negative interpretations run wild, they will always trump your courageous action and you will always stay stuck

I want to do this. This is hard and I still choose to do this.

Every time that you can engage in this paradoxical response, and then turn your thinking back to your chosen activity, you score a point against anxiety.

People who live near cobblestones have the best balance- It’s the adversity and hard difficult moments that make someone strong

Love the mat and run towards the roar.

Have clients read chapter 12

Sharma and rock climbing over water- so many people spend so much time focusing on getting to the top, which is sad because the majority of the time is spent in the process of climbing

How to help with OCD and perfectionism
Lower expectations (it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be done.).

Compassionate firm voice of someone saving someone else from a pool.

To get stronger, you have to do things that you don’t think you can do. You do this by not getting rid of the voice that says that you can’t do it, but by adding a voice that says stay.

Briar rabbit example of paradoxical trickery - drown me as deep as you want, but don’t throw me in that briar patch – you don’t have to be stronger or bigger than your competitors, just more cunning

Step back
Want this?
Step forward
Be cunning



Scoring points and clients that work well with that metaphor

Here comes a thought

Anxieties.com videos

Procrastination is not a time management problem, it is a stress management problem.

[Kelly Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s why I found "Stopping the Noise in Your Head" such an excellent book: My mom and dad and I read it together. A true intellectual diagnosed later in life with bi-polar disorder, my 89-year-old dad has developed serious issues with anxiety over the past five or six years. My mom is 85, quite healthy, but seems to have acquired some of his negative anxiety traits fairly recently. We worked this book together, underlining, highlighting and learning page by page. "Stopping the Noise in Your Head" is not about dealing only with adolescents or 50-year-old adults, its applications are broad and helpful to people in every age-group—whether they suffer from anxiety or not (I think we all do to some degree). What I found extremely interesting, is that a lot of the things Dr. Reid has to say about young people and anxiety applies equally to seniors—maybe it’s the “once an adult twice a child” theory in play, but I have definitely observed a regression in both my parents' thought processes and physical reactions and in those of other seniors who develop anxiety issues later in life. After reading the very positive latest review, we have decided to read the book again and refocus on many of the parts that were especially helpful to us when we first read it.

[Karma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. The idea of gamifying anxiety and defeating it, play by play, was right up my alley. The book started off well and then it just became... umm... okay-ish.

It wasn't good, it wasn't bad. It was just too many stories with a very few takeaways. I think the entire book could have been finished in half the words without distorting the message in any way.

I would have probably liked this more if it was the first book I had read in this category. I am an anxious person and am always looking for ways to lessen the anxiety. This means that I have read widely in this category. This book had nothing new and took me forever to finish. But then, it could very well be the book that helps you. Anxiety is a very personal problem and varies so much from person to person that no one strategy can help everyone.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley.

[Rosemary Rey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've suffered from anxiety, depression, panic attacks all my life. I've been able to calm myself down during those attacks and anxious moments. This book gave examples, tips, and exercises to calm your nerves when you're about to suffer or are suffering from a bout. I think the key to getting ahead or stopping panic attacks and anxiety is to be mindful to those signals that threaten to converge into an attack. I think I will use some of these tips and exercises to help my son who also suffers from the condition.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for letting me learn more about controlling this affliction.