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The Anxiety Audit

Seven Sneaky Ways Anxiety Takes Hold and How to Escape Them

Published by Health Communications Inc
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Anxiety expert Lynn Lyons, whose advice appears regularly in Psychology Today and the New York Times, offers an eye-opening look at the 7 sneaky ways that anxiety and worry weave their way into our families, our friendships, and our jobs, and provides actionable steps to reverse the cycle and reclaim our emotional well-being.

Ask people to describe anxiety and they’ll start with the familiar physical symptoms: racing heart, sweaty palms, difficulty breathing. Anxiety, they might add, is “freaking out,” a panic attack, or a frightening loss of control. But anxiety isn’t always what we think it is, especially now. Anxiety has become the new normal, constant and simmering, disguising itself in patterns and responses we don’t even recognize as anxiety. These patterns include:

· Ruminating and worrying (and mistaking it for problem solving)

· Going global, or seeing the world through an overwhelming, all-or-nothing lens

· Isolating and disconnecting, all too common in our "new normal"

· Creating chaos and “busy-ness”, for example, over-scheduling and multitasking

· Embracing your irritability

· Confusing self-medication with self-care

The Anxiety Audit is a guide for us all: with no overly scientific or diagnostic language--just real talk and time-tested tactics from a respected therapist--it is a relatable and practical guide to untangling yourself from the grips of worry and fear.

Using case studies, real-world examples, and helpful dialogues to retrain the way you think and react, trusted anxiety expert Lynn Lyons helps you recognize the sneaky ways these anxious patterns and cycles of worry take hold in your life. By making small and consistent adjustments, you can reverse their negative impacts and move forward with renewed clarity and confidence.

About The Author

Lynn Lyons, LICSW, is psychotherapist in Concord, New Hampshire. She has been in practice for 30 years specializing in the treatment of anxiety in adults and children. She travels internationally as a speaker and trainer on the subject of anxiety, its role in families, and the need for a preventative approach at home and in schools.

She is a sought-after expert, being interviewed for her insights in the New York Times, Time, NPR, Psychology Today, and other media outlets.

With a special interest in breaking the generational cycle of worry in families, she authored several books and articles on anxiety, including with co-author Reid Wilson Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous & Independent Children, and the companion book for kids, Playing with Anxiety: Casey’s Guide for Teens and Kids.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Health Communications Inc (December 8, 2022)
  • Length: 224 pages
  • ISBN13: 9780757324253

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Raves and Reviews

"An ideal choice for a DIY instructional guide to dealing with the manifold stresses and uncertainties of daily life in the world today, "The Anxiety Audit: Seven Sneaky Ways Anxiety Takes Hold and How to Escape Them" is exceptionally well written, organized and presented for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in dealing with anxiety and chronic worrying."

—Self-Help Shelf, Midwest Book Review

"Recommended for all collections."

– Library Journal

“Once in a while a book comes along that instantly changes the way you think and act for the better. The Anxiety Audit joins this club. I challenge you to put it down and not move through your day differently. Buy this book—it will guide you along the journey to being the person in relationships, and inside yourself, that you are hoping to become.”

Rachel Simmons, bestselling author of Odd Girl Out and Enough As She Is

“Today’s uncertain world has created an anxiety epidemic! The Anxiety Audit shows us how not to let it get a grip on our lives. Lynn Lyons’s down-to-earth advice provides simple solutions to help us recognize what’s making it worse, what makes it better, and how to manage our hectic lives and our important relationships. I guarantee you’ll have page after page of ah-ha moments.”

Joan Lunden, journalist and bestselling author

“Lynn Lyons is an expert in the anxiety field and a skilled therapist, but she talks about anxiety like the rest of us. The Anxiety Audit is a book full of stories, advice, and humor that will help us get through our busy days, manage our unpredictable world, and improve our most important relationships. Lynn shows us anxiety is part of being human, but it need not define us.”

Laura Morton, New York Times bestselling author, creator of Anxious Nation

“In The Anxiety Audit, Lynn Lyons writes with clarity, wisdom, and wit. She offers illuminating case examples and practical advice in a sensible, straightforward way. In so doing she provides you with a means of attaining both relief and inspiration. Lynn makes it clear that the goal isn’t to cure anxiety. Rather, the far more realistic goal is to learn to manage it skillfully using the insights and strategies she so clearly provides in this wonderful book. Read it, enjoy it, learn from it, and discover for yourself how this audit can yield substantial personal profits!”

Michael D. Yapko, PhD, clinical psychologist, author of Breaking the Patterns of Depression and Depression is Contagious

“Here is the best gift of The Anxiety Audit: You won’t get bogged down in all the little details of change. You can trust that Lynn knows—she knows!—the seven simple shifts in your perspective that release you from anxiety’s grip. Oh, and all that sage advice you’ve heard through your life? She debunks it.”

Reid Wilson, PhD, founder, anxieties.com

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