One less thing to worry about: uncommon wisdom for coping with common anxieties

by Jerilyn Ross, Robin Cantor-Cooke

When it comes to having anxiety, women outnumber men two to one. Fluctuations in levels of estrogen and other hormones, as well as physiological factors unique to women, seem to cause us not only to experience anxiety differently at different times in our lives, but also to worry about different things in different ways. Now a pioneer in the field presents a new perspective on the way women worry, showing that anxiety isn’t something that just happens to us, but rather something that involves action and reaction–something with which we have a relationship–and that we can learn to manage.

Anxiety can be friend or foe: it can keep us out of trouble or keep us chronically on edge. Normal, healthy worry reminds us to pay our taxes, see a doctor when we’re feeling sick, and lock the doors at night. But when worry escalates into chronic anxiety, keeping us from fully living our lives, it’s time to assess the kind of relationship we have with our anxiety and take action to change it. In this practical and lively guide, Jerilyn Ross presents stories of women who did just that and introduces the Ross Prescription–a set of innovative tools and techniques that you can use to do it, too. It includes

• questionnaires to help you determine whether what you’re experiencing is normal, everyday worry or if it is perhaps symptomatic of an anxiety disorder
• strategies for identifying how you relate to your anxiety: Do you act impulsively to ease it? Adhere to regimens of obsessive behavior to control it? Or avoid and run away from it?
• tips for locating your position on the anxiety spectrum: Is your worry healthy and helpful, or is it toxic?
• cutting-edge research into the ways hormones affect when and how a woman experiences and deals with anxiety
• the Eight Points, a set of reliable techniques to help you control anxiety, worry, and stress in the moment and liberate you from their grip

With this book in hand and the Ross Prescription in mind, you will learn to identify, modify, and redefine your relationship with worry and anxiety and master simple, effective ways to regain control of your life.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Mental Health, Adult, Psychology, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2009

Reviews

[Talia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this title and thought it was perfect for me. In fact, my worrying is not as bad as I thought, after reading about some of the ladies’ stories, yipes. The purpose of this book is to try to identify behaviors that you find yourself exhibiting, and try to contain them/make them useful to you. While this does not take place of real therapy (of course), a couple of the exercises were useful to me.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

mixed bag for me
some decent content, accessible and stigma-smashing
but too much of the same type of anecdote, rinse and repeat
over-achieving seems to be pre-req

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't actually read this whole book. I have always had a tendency to feel anxious, so I thought this would be a good book, but it was too full of fluff and lots of research studies that I didn't find useful. There was one chapter that had some good tips for coping with anxiety but overall, I was not impressed.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

So... I read this because I was having anxiety attacks and wanted a coping mechanism. Just reading it helps you feel more "normal" and some of the tips are very useful. You can help figure out what type of anxiety you're having to understand it better, see the good in it, and use it positively.

[MELISSA · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is like this author sat down and wrote a book about me. Really enjoyed this book

[Dianne]

It has some helpful information on dealing with anxieties and stress

[LemontreeLime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well done, she makes the subject matter approachable. I was sorry to read that the author passed away a few years back, I would have liked to have seen more of her writing.