Book Review by Linda Zack Counsellor and Gestalt Therapist
www.lindazackcounselling.co.uk
The Book: “Untangle your Anxiety”
Authors: Joshua Fletcher & Dean Stott
Publisher: Amazon (self- published)
Date of Publication: 2021
ISBN: 9798715728937
No of pages: 174
Rating: 4 stars out of 5.
This self-help book is aimed at those who have an anxiety disorder. I found it to be a good-humoured illustrated introduction to the ‘nuts and bolts of Anxiety and how to deal with it. The authors describe a brief overview of the most anxiety conditions from fear of panic, social anxiety, health anxiety. Agoraphobia, OCD etc. One of their aims from writing the book is normalise the anxiety response i.e.- everyone experiences anxiety and to explain in layman’s terms the biology of the anxiety response.
Joshua Fletcher, a psychotherapist, and Dean Stott, a podcaster, and a contributor on social media (Instagram, @DLCANXIETY) have experienced and overcome anxiety disorders themselves and so are well placed to write this psychoeducational book. The emphasis is on providing hope, reassurance, and enabling you to understand on how and why your anxiety shows up. They explain that’ anxiety is a threat response ‘and that by itself it will not harmful and that learning to turn off the threat response is key to overcoming anxiety disorders.
There are chapters on how to do so and they briefly cover Exposure interventions, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy including reframing, developing self-compassion, cultivating a new approach and wilful tolerance.
Wilful tolerance, as the authors explain is “approaching scary situations willingly” as to demonstrate and reassure ourselves that there isn’t any real danger, and by practising this repeatedly we re- wire our brains.” This is, I believe is the golden nugget of this book and I commend the authors for to describing and explaining this beautifully.
There is a useful chapter giving practical tips and hints on coping with anxiety disorder. There are also personal accounts of success stories which were previously submitted by members of Dean Stott’s Instagram’s anxiety community. I enjoyed reading these and feel that they give hope and encouragement
The book is compact, well organised and I appreciated the illustrations contributed by various artists. Some were self-deprecating cartoons which some readers may well relate to with a wry smile. I certainly did.
I liked it that the authors summarised the whole book in the final chapter with headings and subheadings, allowing readers to signpost themselves to the sections of the book they may want to revisit and implement. I was less keen on the “In conversation “commentary between the two authors on the main themes covered at the end of each chapter but this is a mild criticism on style rather than on content.
In all, I found it an easy read and consider it a good psychoeducational self-help book. Reading about anxiety may feel challenging for some anxiety sufferers but I feel the authors have the tone just right. They have strived to keep it light, and conversational and at the same time impart to the reader useful knowledge and guidance and most importantly- hope and confidence that that anxiety can indeed be “untangled”.