Dr Claire Weekes..continued from page one.
Lets say you are agoraphobic. Some say you need to be less scared of going to a shopping mall alone. I say you need to be less scared of your flight or fight reaction, because it is the harmless symptoms that you are scared off, not the mall.
So what is the answer to this conundrum? How do you escape this cycle and cure your overactive flight or fight response? You start to desensitise yourself not to the object of your phobia (such as a shopping mall or metro train) but to the symptoms. When you are no longer scared of the symptoms of anxiety and panic you will necessarily no longer suffer from anxiety or panic attacks. The only time your anxiety or panic will return is when you actually do need to run away (or fight!). Which is quite natural. And as anyone who has been in a situation where they truly had to fight or flee will tell you, in such situations you don’t actually feel anxiety or panic as such, you tend to focus on the danger.
There is no great difficulty in desensitising yourself to the symptoms of anxiety and panic, no trick, and no gimmick. An Australian doctor called Claire Weekes (now deceased) researched it years ago and wrote several seminal texts on it and also presented various radio programmes that were broadcast in several countries.
There are many books by her available but you don’t need to read them all. I have selected the best books and tapes/compact disks. They alone are enough to allow you to completely control your anxiety, without expensive therapy, drugs, gimmicks, or false promises. I warn you though, these books are not “quick fix” cures or instantaneous. As I said at the beginning you have to work hard but what you will achieve will be with you for the rest of your life. And unlike the gimmicks these books and CDs will work precisely because you have to work. These books/CDs will open your eyes and lead you an exciting path to cure where you are in control!
