cover image The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens: CBT Skills to Overcome Fear, Worry, and Panic

The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens: CBT Skills to Overcome Fear, Worry, and Panic

Jennifer Shannon, illus. by Doug Shannon. New Harbinger/Instant Help, $16.95 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-62625-243-1

This straightforward self-help book uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques to help readers grapple with different forms of anxiety. Rather than reduce anxiety to a list of symptoms or disorders, Shannon spends the first few chapters discussing its biological origins; describing the instinct to worry as "the monkey mind," governed by a fight-or-flight response, she covers the thought processes that can perpetuate anxious rumination. Practical activities for acknowledging and reducing such thoughts appear throughout, along with links to online materials, as Shannon explores various types of anxiety in greater detail, including social anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Supportive, specific, and well-articulated advice may ease the minds of readers who seek to better understand their own habits and behavior: "When you respond to monkey chatter by worrying, you are saying, You are right, monkey. This is something I need to worry about. You are giving your monkey a banana%E2%80%94training it to view the imagined threat as a real one." This resource has the potential to both enlighten and empower. Ages 13%E2%80%93up. (Sept.)