cover image Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Pauline Neff, Robert Handly. Scribner Book Company, $16.95 (241pp) ISBN 978-0-89256-276-3

Handly, a Texas human resources consultant, set out, we're told here, to conquer the anxieties that he felt held him back from life, and he writes with Neff (Tough Love) about his success and presents a five-point recovery plan for fellow sufferers. Even though it covers familiar ground, the book is helpful in its discussion of the causes of irrational fear, suggesting ways to tap into alpha brainwave states and alter messages from one's unconscious. By using visualization and affirmative statement, the authors advise, one can learn to avoid negative thought habits that keep confidence low. Physical causes of anxiety, we learn, can also be debilitating; chapters on nutrition and breaking alcohol and cigarette dependencies offer convincing reasons for altering ingrained habits that may lower panic thresholds. The book's mind-over-matter approach is pragmatic and well-explained. November 1