Anxiety for Beginners: A Personal Investigation

I came across 'Anxiety for Beginners' on a library new acquisitions rack. It is one of those books I want to recommend to everyone, because it describes anxiety as I’ve experienced it better than anything else I’ve read, and also want to keep to myself, because discussing it with other people would get Too Real. Like Scott Stossel’s [b:My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind|17737025|My Age of Anxiety Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind|Scott Stossel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1367929729s/17737025.jpg|24906873], it deftly balances personal mental health memoir with socio-medical history. When I reviewed Stossel’s excellent book, my only critique was that the gendered aspects show more of mental illness weren’t discussed. Fortuitously, Morgan’s book is especially strong on this front. She talks about women having higher rates of anxiety in the UK, while men are at greater risk of suicide. Her discussion of treatment options is also much more relevant to the British reader than Stossel’s, as he’s American. He goes into the early history of anxiety in more detail, so Morgan doesn’t need to - she refers to his book several times.

The most memorable parts, though, are her vivid descriptions of anxiety as she has experienced it. What she really gets across, and can be so hard to convey to people who it hasn’t happened to, is that disordered anxiety doesn’t feel like a mental illness. It isn’t just intense worry. It feels resolutely physical, which is one reason it can take so long to realise what's happening. Morgan suffered panic attacks for years before identifying what they were. She talks about how schools should teach some basic mental health material: I definitely agree that people should know the symptoms of panic and anxiety attacks. I also liked her inclusion of interview material to give a range of perspectives, although her own voice is of course strongest. Her discussion of recovery is deeply moving, both pragmatic and hopeful. This is a really good book about a very difficult subject and I do recommend it, even if it hits very close to home. show less