A Great New Self-Help Book For Women: Free Yourself From Anxiety

Free Yourself From Anxiety, recently published in the UK and available in Australia, has come to my attention. It focuses on self-help for anxiety, ranging from panic and phobias to generalised anxiety disorder, looking at lifestyle (a major contributing factor), setting small goals for ourselves and learning how to recognise anxious thinking and changing it.

If you’ve ever sat around a table with a group of women doing embroidery, sewing, knitting and the like you’ve probably noticed that there’s always a quiet murmur of conversation that settles over the group. It’s a lovely gentle sound.

Often pearls of wisdom come from such murmurings and one day while I was sewing away, an elderly grandmother in the group said ‘you know … nobody ever tells you when you become a mother that you’ll be anxious for the rest of your life … anxious for the baby, the child, the teenager, the adult, their life, their relationships … and then you become anxious about your grandchildren and it starts all over again. That’s just life.’

This kind of anxiety is probably pretty normal, mothers or not. It seems to be the lot of women to always have a bit ‘on board’ given the way we’re wired as care givers and nurturers don’t you think? Having some self-help skills to deal with it or to recognise if things are getting out of hand is a good thing.

I asked the authors, Emma Fletcher and Martha Langley to explain a little more about the connection between women and anxiety …

Why are there more women being treated for anxiety disorders than men? Is it because women are biologically more prone to developing them? Because they lead more stressful lives? Or simply because they are more likely to ask for help?

Factors that may make women more vulnerable include:

• Hormones, pregnancy and childbirth
• Juggling family responsibilities with a job
• Sexual abuse and domestic violence
• Financial hardship
• Living longer – because men die younger women are often alone in old age.

Traditionally our society encourages women to be more open about their feelings than men. Women also spend more time seeing doctors than men do - birth control, pap smears, pregnancy and so on – and are more likely to be comfortable talking to them.

But for every woman who asks for help, there are uncounted others who don’t come forward. It is important to get a proper diagnosis, but sometimes self-help is needed just to be able to see the doctor. And after diagnosis, self-help is a valuable tool for recovery.

Free Yourself from Anxiety explains in detail how to set up a self-help programme. We are involved with anxiety charities in the UK, and over the years we’ve realised both that there is a shortfall in treatment services and that many people can make huge progress through properly structured self-help. (The statistics for women with anxiety in Australia approximate those in England - around one in eleven.)

In the book we use a step-by-step approach, based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy but with many other suggestions which show you how to create an individual programme. We believe that however bad your anxiety, and however long you’ve had it, you can recover. (Martha Langley)

The Authors;

Emma Fletcher is a UK-registered counsellor. She is committed to the self-help principle: much of her work consists of giving her clients the tools to enable them to live more effectively.

Martha Langley is a professional writer and journalist. She has more than 10 years experience as a volunteer on anxiety helplines.

Buy Free Yourself From Anxiety: A self-help guide to overcoming anxiety disorders here.

You may also want to read Be Your Own Best Friend by The Jean Hailes Foundation for Women’s Health and posted earlier on WomensNook.com

back to top