Book Review: The Anxiety Book, Elisa Black
A bent and bruised looking book usually means it’s one I’ve enjoyed!
Honest. That’s how I would describe Elisa Black’s tell-all book in one word. Some parts will shock you, and I maintain that that is what we need to read… and digest. While the book is framed around the author’s lived experience of anxiety and depression, Black also employs her journalistic research skills to paint an accurate and in-depth picture of anxiety disorders, illnesses and issues. (There are even endnotes, much to my delight!)
My anxiety is a wild beast.
It has destroyed relationships, clawed at my insides until I was sick, left me cowering under blankets, plagued me with panic attacks and tipped me into postnatal depression following the birth of my first son.
I have taken medication - Aropax, Cipramil, Effexor, Zoloft, to name but a few - tried psychotherapy, hypnosis, exposure therapy, visited psychologists and psychiatrists and naturopaths and herbalists and more.
I’ve doggedly practiced yoga, meditated morning and night, exercised feverishly to try to rid myself of the adrenaline throbbing through my veins.
I’ve sought solace in alcohol and avoided anxiety-inducing siuations to the point of agoraphobia.
Some things have helped for a while, others not at all, and always anxiety was there in some way, lurking around the corner.
For twenty years I have sought a cure and for much of that I haven’t even known what I was fighting, haven’t understood why I felt the way I did, why I couldn’t cope with things others found everyday-normal.
What did I like?
Black’s descriptive and personal writing style works a treat. As the reader, I felt that the author created a comfortable atmosphere as if we were sitting in a lounge room, sipping a cuppa and chewing the mental health fat through lived experiences. Online writers often use this writing style, think of popular blogs, and it makes it is easy to connect with and consider serious thoughts and potentially uncharted territory.
It’s one thing to create an engaging and personable writing voice through lived experiences, but what separates Black’s book from others is that she is also able to weave in professional thought seamlessly and mental health specialists’ research to analyse the complexity of anxiety disorders and medical and psychological services and assistance available in Australia. By doing this, we can engage with Black’s struggles and experiences but also learn about what we can be doing and thinking about with our struggles, and how carers and loved ones can better understand issues and resources available. An example of this which I appreciated came in the form of Black unpacking something I have been diagnosed (and struggle) with - Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD):
Generalised Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, like all disorders, doesn’t speak to the mere presence of anxiety. Almost everybody feels anxious sometimes - it is protective, even beneficial if felt in appropriate circumstances, when it makes you alert, sharpens your focus.
If you have GAD, however, you will feel anxious and worried most of the time, even when nothing stressful is happening, and it will affect the way you live your life. … And there is the constant feeling of dread, that something very bad is about to happen.
Around 2.7 per cent of the Australian population will experience GAD each year, and it seems to affect women more than men. People with GAD will often describe themselves as having always worried, as the nervous child, the anxious teen. They might not even be able to say why they are worried or what caused it, just that they feel that something is not right.
According to many therapists, CBT is the best way to treat GAD, the techniques employed during treatment best address the thoughts and behaviours feeding the fear.
What did I find eye-opening?
Put simply: Black’s honesty. I have long avoided self-help books because I find the majority lack depth and personal insight. When I think of self-help books, I think of dot points and sappy inspirational quotes. Much to my relief, The Anxiety Book avoids this, to the point that I started to feel uneasy at the level of personal detail (and pain) expressed. What was a relief, however, was that Black’s journey matched mine in many ways, especially when it came to seeking professional help. I’ll give you an example:
Seeing a doctor for anxiety, especially if it is the first time, can be embarrassing and scary. I remember being terrified I would either be immediately locked away in a padded room or laughed out of the surgery (and I wasn’t sure what would be worse). And it is entirely possible the first doctor or therapist you see won’t be the right one for you. Perseverance is vital. No matter how many nose-bleeding, paper-hoarding, rabbit-breeding (a whole other story) professionals you see, it is worth it to push through until you find the right person for you. It can really make all the difference to your recovery.
This is the first piece of advice I offer. Recently, a close mate reached out after experiencing a panic attack. After I asked him to share about what was happening - there’s something to be said for listening and affirming, we walked through the need to breathe deep and relax in a quiet and safe place. After this, I talked about needing to find a GP who is switched on to mental health issues. It stuns people when they realise that not every GP is suited to mental health sufferers. We often assume that any doctor must be able to assist. Given that mental health is an area that is still emerging, not all GPs fit the bill. I have been fortunate over the last few years to see a GP who specialises in mental health issues and research, but she was not the first GP I saw. The same can often be said for therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists. Black understands this truth and thankfully doesn’t mince words when it comes to accessing professional help.
This authenticity and insight make The Anxiety Book well worth reading.
The universal sign for a well-regarded book.
What more did I want to see?
I would have preferred fewer topics discussed and more depth given to how Elisa managed her crisis points and grew in her understanding of the disorders she has experienced. This would have kept the book’s length in check but covered fewer topics. I also felt exhausted in the back half of the book. I’m not sure if that was due to the fever pitch in which I (first) read the book - 300+ pages in two days - or the number of topics covered - there are 28 chapters and a plethora of mental health issues and illnesses addressed. I don’t fault Black for mapping the book as she has. (I imagine it was an extensive editing process!)
Who can benefit from this book?
Everyone. Too often we see books pumped out in the third person, that look like cookie-cutter, self-help dot points, and lack the skill of informing readers through lived experiences. Then there’s the eternal problem of show, don’t tell. Black bucks this troubling trend and has created a page turner that will leave you underlining, writing in margins and dog-earing stories that speak to you. However, as far as who benefits from this book, it is those who suffer from any of the illnesses and carers and loved ones who are trying to understand what someone is feeling and struggling with. From the first chapter, The Drowning Hole, Black outlines what anxiety is (see the first excerpt above), who she wants to speak to and a key issue for those who don’t struggle:
I want to comprehend how anxiety seems to others, to those without it. If you haven’t been floored by panic attacks or kept awake night-after-long-night with obsessive worry, for weeks and months and years, if you haven’t obsessed about your health until you were convinced you were dying and begun to experience the same grief you would if it were actually true, how can you possibly be expected to understand its impact?
Anxiety disorder is just that: a disorder, an illness - and we didn’t choose it any more than the person with cancer chooses theirs.
But I get why sometimes others must wonder why we just don’t stop.
You can find The Anxiety Book on sale (reduced to $15.44) on Booktopia.
