Calm the F*ck Down: A Guided Workbook for Anxiety, Overthinking, and Everyday Freak-Outs

by Editors of Chartwell Books

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 2026

Reviews

[✨ tweety ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little workbook with self discovery questions to help manage anxiety. This was really colorful and it had cute images to help track mood, water intake and such. It starts as journey journal so the aim is that we learn something more about ourselves once we reach the end.

It contained minimum explanations about every single section and I don't know, I expected more. I also found the questions in the various sections too general. I understand it is aimed to a general audience who may have different kinds of anxiety, but maybe they should've been less general? For example in the gratitude section there was one question that made me anxious a bit. "How many prizes you've won" or something. Not everyone can relate to this and it feels that this book is generalizing anxiety and people with anxiety too much. I think the questions should be more relatable or else I don't think some people will feel comfortable using it because they'd think it's not tailored to their situation. And as someone with anxiety, I'll be turned off because I wouldn't find it helpful to me. But of course this is just my opinion. Another person may find it useful. I believe it's too schematic and too pop-psychology but the mood tracker and trigger tracker are good tools.

[Janna Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calm the F*ck Down is a solid, approachable guided journal for people who want structure without feeling overwhelmed, especially if they’re new to tracking anxiety. The prompts, mood trackers, and habit exercises are easy to follow and genuinely helpful for building awareness around triggers and daily stress patterns, and the casual, lighthearted tone keeps things from feeling clinical. However, much of the content feels familiar if you’ve used other anxiety workbooks or journaling systems before, and some exercises don’t dig quite as deeply as they promise. Best used as a companion to therapy or as a gentle starting point rather than a standalone solution, this book does what it says on the tin, just not in a particularly groundbreaking way.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book serves as a support for cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety or as maintenance therapy. On its own, I don't think it's very useful, but maybe I'm wrong.

Questo libro serve secondo me, come supporto di una terapia cognitivo comportamentale per l'ansia oppure come mantenimento. Cosí da solo, secondo me serve proprio a poco, ma magari mi sbaglio.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.