Overcome your anxiety with these self-help books ♥

We all experience anxiety. Unfortunately, some of us develop it more acutely than others, to the point that it interferes with our ability to live our lives. Even such seemingly small tasks like going out in public or having to make a telephone call can fill us with very real dread or panic. And even though these feelings are common, over three-quarters of the people who live with anxiety will never seek the help they need to overcome it.

We all require self-care. Our mental health is important, and it’s something we need to learn how to nurture. The following books to help with anxiety are among the best to provide that care. They teach us how to regain control of our thoughts and to prevent our anxiety from ruling our lives.

While talking to a professional is always the best step you can take, there is a lot of valuable information in the books below that can help to improve your mental health. Use them to become a healthier, happier, more confident you.

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Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

by Susan Jeffers

From the publisher: The phenomenal classic that has changed the lives of millions!

Are you afraid of making decisions . . . asking your boss for a raise . . . leaving an unfulfilling relationship . . . facing the future? Whatever your fear, here is your chance to push through it once and for all. In this enduring guide to self-empowerment, Dr. Susan Jeffers inspires us with dynamic techniques and profound concepts that have helped countless people grab hold of their fears and move forward with their lives. Inside you’ll discover

* What we are afraid of, and why
* How to move from victim to creator
* The secret of making no lose decisions
* The vital 10-step process that helps you outtalk the negative chatterbox in your brain
* How to create more meaning in your life

And so much more!

With insight and humor, Dr. Jeffers shows you how to become powerful in the face of your fears–and enjoy the elation of living a creative, joyous, loving life.

What Critics Say

“Should be required for every person who can read! I recommend this book in every one of my seminars!” – Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul

“It’s a must! The most practical guide to personal empowerment I have ever read. Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway goes to number one on my recommended reading list.” – Jordan Paul, Ph.D., co-author of Do I Have to Give Up Me to Be Loved by You?

“Living is taking chances, and Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway has helped so many people, both men and women, to achieve success.” – Louise L. Hay, author of The Power Is Within You

Length: 240 pages
Genre: Self-Help, Psychology
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Average customer review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (25,161 ratings)
Buy it: Amazon

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Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

by Dr. Daniel G. Amen

From the publisher: In this breakthrough bestseller, you’ll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You’re not stuck with the brain you’re born with. Here are just a few of neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen’s surprising—and effective—”brain prescriptions” that can help heal your brain and change your life:

To Quell Anxiety and Panic:
* Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil

To Fight Depression:
* Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts)

To Curb Anger:
* Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage

To Conquer Impulsiveness and Learn to Focus:
* Develop total focus with the “One-Page Miracle”

To Stop Obsessive Worrying:
* Follow the “get unstuck” writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exercises.

What Critics Say

“Revolutionary. Dr. Amen shows how your brain can become your worst enemy, and how with the proper treatment, your best friend.” – Martin Stein, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry, George Washington University

“Opens the door to assessment and interventions that can change your life.” – Robert D. Hunt, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Vanderbilt School of Medicine

Length: 352 pages
Genre: Mental Health, Psychology
Publisher: Harmony
Average customer review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (8,649 ratings)
Buy it: Amazon

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My Age of Anxiety

by Scott Stossel

From the publisher: A riveting, revelatory, and moving account of the author’s struggles with anxiety, and of the history of efforts by scientists, philosophers, and writers to understand the condition

As recently as thirty-five years ago, anxiety did not exist as a diagnostic category. Today, it is the most common form of officially classified mental illness. Scott Stossel gracefully guides us across the terrain of an affliction that is pervasive yet too often misunderstood.

Drawing on his own long-standing battle with anxiety, Stossel presents an astonishing history, at once intimate and authoritative, of the efforts to understand the condition from medical, cultural, philosophical, and experiential perspectives. He ranges from the earliest medical reports of Galen and Hippocrates, through later observations by Robert Burton and Søren Kierkegaard, to the investigations by great nineteenth-century scientists, such as Charles Darwin, William James, and Sigmund Freud, as they began to explore its sources and causes, to the latest research by neuroscientists and geneticists.

Stossel reports on famous individuals who struggled with anxiety, as well as on the afflicted generations of his own family. His portrait of anxiety reveals not only the emotion’s myriad manifestations and the anguish anxiety produces but also the countless psychotherapies, medications, and other (often outlandish) treatments that have been developed to counteract it. Stossel vividly depicts anxiety’s human toll—its crippling impact, its devastating power to paralyze—while at the same time exploring how those who suffer from it find ways to manage and control it.

My Age of Anxiety is learned and empathetic, humorous and inspirational, offering the reader great insight into the biological, cultural, and environmental factors that contribute to the affliction.

What Critics Say

“Tying together notions about anxiety culled from history, philosophy, religion, sports, and literature with current neuropsychiatric research and his extensive personal experience, Stossel’s book is more than an astounding autobiography, more than an atlas of anxiety. His deft handling of a delicate topic and frustrating illness highlights the existential dread, embarrassment, and desperation associated with severe anxiety yet allows room for resiliency, hope, and transcendence.” – Tony Miksanek (Booklist)

“Stossell manages to describe the most painful and embarassing experiences in a style that is candid but not melodramatic, heartrending but not self-pitying, wry but not cute … My Age of Anxiety is the rare memoir that tells an entirely compelling story and the rare self-help book that really helps. You, and many thousands of readers along with you, will laugh until you cry.” – George Scialabba (Bookforum)

Length: 416 pages
Genre: Mental Health, Memoir
Publisher: Knopf
Average customer review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (5,548 ratings)
Buy it: Amazon

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The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook

by Edmund J. Bourne

From the publisher: The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook has already helped over one million readers make a full and lasting recovery from generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, specific phobias, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other anxiety-related issues. Packed with the most effective skills for assessing and treating anxiety, this workbook can be used alone or as a supplement to therapy to help you develop a full arsenal of skills for quieting worried thoughts and putting yourself back in control.

This new edition has been thoroughly updated with the latest anxiety research and medications, and also includes new therapeutic techniques that have been proven effective for the treatment of anxiety and anxiety-related conditions. Each worksheet in this book will help you learn the skills you need to manage your anxiety and start living more freely than you ever thought possible.

With this workbook, you’ll learn a range of proven methods for overcoming anxiety, such as relaxation and breathing techniques, challenging negative self-talk and mistaken beliefs, and imagery and real-life desensitization. In addition, you will learn how to make lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise changes and cultivate skills for preventing and coping with and preventing panic attacks.

What Critics Say

“[Five stars] … this is a concise, practical, and comprehensive directory on how to reduce anxiety. A highly regarded and widely known resource.” – Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health, Revised Edition

“A great resource for a holistic approach.” – Reid Wilson, author of Don’t Panic

“Extremely well done.” – Christopher McCullough, author of Managing Your Anxiety

“Any who’ve struggled with panic attacks and fears will find this packed with self-help exercises and guidelines to overcoming anxiety and stress, from understanding how to assert oneself to creating a positive recovery strategy.” – Midwest Book Review

“This workbook offers a practical and comprehensive guide to anyone struggling to cope with the many-faceted manifestations of panic and anxiety.” – Child & Behavior Therapy

Length: 496 pages
Genre: Self-Help, mental Health
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Average customer review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,371 ratings)
Buy it: Amazon

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The Highly Sensitive Person

by Elaine N. Aron, PhD

From the publisher: Are you a Highly Sensitive Person?

Do you have a keen imagination and vivid dreams? Is time alone each day as essential to you as food and water? Are you “too shy” or “too sensitive” according to others? Do noise and confusion quickly overwhelm you? If your answers are yes, you may be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).

Most of us feel overstimulated every once in a while, but for the HSP, it’s a way of life. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Elaine Aron, a clinical psychologist, workshop leader, and an HSP herself, shows you how to identify this trait in yourself and make the most of it in everyday situations. Drawing on her many years of research and hundreds of interviews, she shows how you can better understand yourself and your trait to create a fuller, richer life. Updated with a new Author’s Note, including the latest scientific research, and a fresh discussion of anti-depressants for HSPs, this edition of The Highly Sensitive Person also includes:

* Self-assessment tests to help you identify your particular sensitivities.
* Ways to reframe your past experiences in a positive light and gain greater self-esteem in the process.
* Insight into how high sensitivity affects both work and personal relationships.
* Tips on how to deal with overarousal.
* Information on medications and when to seek help.
* Techniques to enrich the soul and spirit.

What Critics Say

“Elaine Aron’s perceptive analysis of this fundamental dimension of human nature is must reading. Her balanced presentation suggests new paths for making sensitivity a blessing, not a handicap.” – Philip G. Zimbardo, author of Shyness

“Enlightening and empowering, this book is a wonderful gift to us all.” – Riane Ensler, author of The Chalice and the Blade

“This remarkable book … gives a fresh perspective, a sigh of relief, and a good sense of where we belong in society.” – John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

Length: 251 pages
Genre: Mental Health, Self-Help
Publisher: Citadel Press
Average customer review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,003 reviews)
Buy it: Amazon

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Rewire Your Anxious Brain

by Catherine M. Pittman & Elizabeth M. Karle

From the publisher: Do you ever wonder what is happening inside your brain when you feel anxious, panicked, and worried? In Rewire Your Anxious Brain, psychologist Catherine Pittman and author Elizabeth Karle offer a unique, evidence-based solution to overcoming anxiety based in cutting-edge neuroscience and research.

In the book, you will learn how the amygdala and cortex (both important parts of the brain) are essential players in the neuropsychology of anxiety. The amygdala acts as a primal response, and oftentimes, when this part of the brain processes fear, you may not even understand why you are afraid. By comparison, the cortex is the center of “worry.” That is, obsessing, ruminating, and dwelling on things that may or may not happen. In the book, Pittman and Karle make it simple by offering specific examples of how to manage fear by tapping into both of these pathways in the brain.

As you read, you’ll gain a greater understanding how anxiety is created in the brain, and as a result, you will feel empowered and motivated to overcome it. The brain is a powerful tool, and the more you work to change the way you respond to fear, the more resilient you will become. Using the practical self-assessments and proven-effective techniques in this book, you will learn to literally “rewire” the brain processes that lie at the root of your fears.

What Critics Say

“From fears to phobias and panic, this how-to guide unravels the mysteries of worry, then delivers strategies that will lead you to a resilient life.” – Reid Wilson, PhD, author of Don’t Panic

“Fear, worry, anxiety, panic, and depression block individuals from living fully. This book does an excellent job of unraveling the mysteries of the brain and how it causes anxiety, thus allowing individuals to take control of their symptoms and manage their lives more effectively.” – Susan Myers, RN, LCSW, BCD, holistic nurse and board-certified diplomate in clinical social work

“This is a unique contribution to a wide array of self-help books for those who suffer with anxiety. The authors explain what we know about the workings of the brain in a fluid style that neither talks down to nor overwhelms the reader.” – Sally Winston PsyD, codirector of the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland

Length: 232 pages
Genre: Self-Help, Mental Health
Publisher: New Harbinger
Average customer review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (934 ratings)
Buy it: Amazon

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Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks

by Barry McDonagh

From the publisher: There’s a new and faster way for anxiety relief, but few have ever heard it. Most people are advised to either just “manage” their anxiety or medicate it away.

If you’re tired of just managing your anxiety and want a powerful natural solution, then apply the ‘Dare’ technique as explained in Barry McDonagh’s latest book.

Based on hard science and over 10 years helping people who suffer from anxiety, Barry McDonagh shares his most effective technique in this new book. The DARE technique can be used by everyone, regardless of age or background, to live a life free from anxiety or panic attacks.

In this step-by-step guide you will discover how to:

* Stop panic attacks and end feelings of general anxiety.
* Face any anxious situation you’ve been avoiding (driving/flying/shopping etc.).
* Put an end to anxious or intrusive thoughts.
* Use the CORRECT natural supplements to relieve anxiety.
* Boost your confidence and feel like your old self again.
* Fall asleep faster and with less anxiety each night.
* Live a more bold and adventurous life again.

This book also comes with a free App for your smartphone as well as four audios for quick anxiety relief. With these new tools you can apply the DARE Response in any situation that makes you anxious (e.g. driving/shopping/traveling). Help is now with you wherever you go!

Length: 242 pages
Genre: Self-Help, Mental Health
Publisher: BMD Publishing
Average customer review: 5 out of 5 stars (1,085 ratings)
Buy it: Amazon

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Stay in Touch

If you struggle with anxiety, please remember that you’re not alone. There are many people around you who feel the same way, and many more who are willing and able to help you overcome it. We’re all in this together.

If you feel like it, drop us a comment to say hi—we always love to hear from you ♥