Dr. Claire Weekes -Self Help for your nerves - REVIEW!!

[hail to the thief]

So, i've finished reading the book.
I had a lot of hope for it, but i didn't seem to have anything in common as to what she was talking about.

It generally looks at panic attacks which i don't have and therefore mainly looks at how to cope with these attacks.

I was looking for more help with literally, stopping my nerves when talking to others. Or gaining confidence. Or keeping a conversation going.



o well. :cry:

[ptncud]

Hey hail to the thief, i haven't read Dr. Weekes book yet but ive listened to several of her recordings before and thought they were informative from a cbt side. I do see where your coming from as there is no magical cure in her teachings but her teachings are pretty good if taken from a cbt context. From this i mean that by following her teachings of acceptance you will gradually desensatize your nerves and become un afraid of your anxiety. At this point the things that you are desiring (gained confidence, stoppingnerves when talking to others) will follow. I have been using cbt and although it has not been an immediate cure since i have started 3 months ago i have made huge strides. One of my greatest fears, having anxiety blank me out when talking to others, has become less and less important to me as ive advanced with my acceptance. This consequently gives me more confidence.
Im going to be starting a thread on the cbt course i have use and will be offering it to anyone who wants it. I found this course on another forum and was amazed by how thorough it was. Its completely free so if you want to give it a try chime in on my thread.
take care, John

[lalaland]

I read Claire Weekes book 'Essential Help for your Nerves' and found it helped me tremendously. Like you, I don't suffer from panic attacks, but experience scary thoughts which i couldn't let go of. I found this book highlighted the kind of thoughts that people do experience and realised that I wasn't the only one. I wonder did you read this book or perhaps one of her other ones? If you haven't read 'Essential Help for your Nerves' I really would advise you to try it.

I am still on anti-depressants and my doctor is thinking about taking me off them in the next two months. However, I don't experience anxiety to the same intensity like I used to, and I put this down to Claire Weekes book and not anti-depressants.

I really hope you find this book useful if you read it.

Best of luck

[Robbed]

I wonder did you read this book or perhaps one of her other ones? If you haven't read 'Essential Help for your Nerves' I really would advise you to try it.

I was wondering the same thing. I have not found that Self Help For Your Nerves focuses on panic attacks. It certainly makes mention of them. But for the most part, it ties to be fairly comprehensive as far as discussion of anxiety. It also talks about many of the other problems that result from 'nervous illness', such as obsessions (ie scary, strange thoughts) and depression, and how to deal with them. I should also mention that her methods are VERY similar to virtually ALL CBT methods that are effective in the treatment of anxiety. And interestingly, she makes absolutely NO mention of traditional CBT (ie thought replacement). Perhaps she knew even back then that it was not an effective treatment for anxiety disorder (although it is a good stress management tool).

Another thing that I find interesting about her understanding of anxiety disorder is that she considers all symptoms to be part of the single problem that she calls 'nervous illness'. This contrasts GREATLY with modern psychiatry, which likes to consider all the various components of 'nervous illness' (such as general anxiety, obsessions, panic, and depression) to be SEPARATE disorders rather than simply components of a single problem. Of course, this results directly from the fact that psychiatry currently defines disease in terms of symptoms rather than pathology. It's kind of like saying you have a cough, runny nose, sore throat, and headache rather than saying you have a cold. It's also like saying that a headache due to a cold has the same underlying cause as a headache due to being whacked on the head, being out in hot weather, or having a hangover. It's just amazing how the treatment of these conditions has actually REGRESSED so much in the past 45 years!