A celebrated science and health reporter offers a wry, bracingly honest account of living with anxiety.
Brave and empowering, this is essential reading for anyone who knows what it means to live on edge..
And she explores the role that genetics and the environment play in mental illness, visiting top neuroscientists and tracing her family history--from her grandmother, who, plagued by paranoia, once tried to burn down her own house, to her young daughter, in whom Petersen sees shades of herself.
She compares psychoactive drugs to non-drug treatments, including biofeedback and exposure therapy.
Woven into Petersen\'s personal story is a fascinating look at the biology of Anxiety and the groundbreaking research that might point the way to new treatments.
Although having a name for her condition was an enormous relief, it was only the beginning of a Journey to understand and master it--one that took her from psychiatrists\' offices to yoga retreats to the Appalachian Trail.
She developed fears of driving on highways, going to movie theaters, even licking envelopes.
She agonized over every odd physical sensation.
With time her symptoms multiplied.
Andrea Petersen was first diagnosed with an Anxiety disorder at the age of twenty, but she later realized that she had been experiencing panic attacks since childhood.
Overwhelming dread.
Difficulty breathing.
A racing heart.
A celebrated science and health reporter offers a wry, bracingly honest account of living with anxiety
