This week I want to point out a couple of great articles on the internet for you, give you an update on the reference articles on this blog, and give you a peek at some upcoming book reviews.
But first, let me reemphasize how much I welcome your comments. They provide other readers with your insights into a post’s subject, and provide me with valuable feedback to make this blog better and better.
Please take the time to make a comment after you have read an article, or even if you didn’t finish it! I promise always to read your comments, and if appropriate, answer them. Please feel free to ask questions or suggest post topics. I’m listening!
Anxiety Reference Articles
I had intended to start this blog with all the what I call reference articles in place. You can see a list of these on the left sidebar under “Information.” But I was so anxious to start blogging that I couldn’t wait the three weeks required to finish them all. So the reference articles are gradually being filled in. I hope that no one has been too disappointed when all they got for their click was a “coming soon” note!
I posted the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) reference article on Thursday. I’m now working on the Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia) article and hope to have it up early next week. After that, I will tackle Specific Phobias.
With all the research, writing and editing, the reference articles take about 30 hours each to produce. I could take less time, but I want to make sure that every one is as authoritative and up to date as possible. I intend to review these articles regularly and update them as I find more information that could be useful.
I have added Acute Stress Disorder and Separation Anxiety Disorder to the original reference article list. They kept popping up during my research, and although they are less common than, say, Agoraphobia, I felt that articles on them might help someone. Eventually I intend to have reference articles for all the Anxiety Disorders, even the most obscure ones.
Interesting article on OCD for you
There is an interesting article over on Gary Farrow’s WellnessOverDepression blog entitled “OCD Patients Rewire Their Brains.” It is about Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz’s treatment regime, which involves rewiring the patient’s “worry circuit.” As the article states, “The approach is part mindful awareness, learned through mediation; and part cognitive behavior therapy.”
My psychotherapist is intrigued with the mindfulness and meditation techniques coming from the Eastern traditions, and we have discussed them often. He uses many of these techniques with his patients, with good results.
I have ordered Dr. Schwartz’s book, The Mind & Brain: Neuroplasticity and Mental Force, and will be reading and reviewing it here in the near future.
In the meantime, take a look at the article. It’s well worth your time.
An article from the New York Times
The Times had a short but informative article entitled “Extinguishing the Fear at the Roots of Anxiety” by Benedict Carey. It’s about recent research in Anxiety, with a focus on PTSD.
Coming Up
I’m finishing up a couple of books that I will be reviewing soon. I intend to make book reviews a regular part of this blog.
Harriet Lerner’s Fear and Other Uninvited Guests: Tackling the Anxiety, Fear, and Shame That Keep Us from Optimal Living and Loving is a warm and wise book by a psychologist who suffers from Anxiety herself. It’s as much memoir as method, as she describes her own struggles with the illness.
The other is David Burns’ When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life. Burns is a pioneer in the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) field, and this 2006 book gives his latest thoughts on using CBT to overcome Anxiety. This is a BIG book, and I am only a third of the way through, so it will be a few weeks before a review appears.
Have a great weekend!