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The Anxiety Field Guide: Healthy Habits for Long-Term Healing
Anxiety is one of the most pressing mental health issues of our day. Millions of people in our society suffer from anxiety, often unbeknownst to those around them. The pressures of modern life seem specially designed to cause anxiety, and anxiety is on the rise in recent years. The good news is that anxiety is very treatable. Pastor Jason Cusick tells the story of his own history with anxiety and offers expertise, practical guidance, and empathy. The book is intentionally designed for the reader to be an easy entry point with short, easily digestible chapters and simple step-by-step instructions for developing healthy habits for long-term progress. Cusick presents clinical data alongside pastoral wisdom and care, addressing both the psychological and spiritual aspects of anxiety. Filled with practical advice and the hope of Christ, The Anxiety Field Guide is a rich resource for both those who suffer from anxiety and those in a position to help them.
176 pages, Paperback
Published April 26, 2022
21 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 2, 2022
Summary: A practical guide with daily exercises to help face anxieties and reduce feelings of anxiety integrating clinical practices and biblical insights.
We all know what it is to be anxious and we live in anxious times. The question is, how will we respond? Will we make healthy choices that face and normalize our anxiety? Or will we avoid situations that make us anxious or escape into unhealthy coping behaviors when we feel anxious? Will we step into anxiety-producing opportunities for growth and advancement, or will we choose the safe route?
Jason Cusick is an anxious person from an anxious family. Stepping into larger responsibilities, he experienced panic attacks. And it led to a season of therapy in which he learned about anxiety and about himself. He realized that anxiety is a gift of God for our safety, but can be awakened at the wrong time. He learned that healthy responses to anxiety are rooted in four principles;
1. Normalization. Learning that anxiety is natural but can become unhealthy.
2. Exposure. Learning to understand and face our fears rather than avoiding them.
3. Habituation. Learning new skills that desensitize us to our fears.
4. Care. Learning healthy ways to experience God’s love for us and others.
With this introduction, the remainder of the book consists of thirty short chapters. The idea is to read one a day and to practice the exercises at the end of the chapter which focus on the four principles above. Here’s one example from the early part of the book. It is to “Practice Pit Stops.” Noticing how good pit stops in a race occur in 10 seconds or less, Cusick advises 10 second pit stops when we are experiencing anxious thoughts. It begins with recognizing our need for help–that we are having an anxious moment, pausing what we are doing, allowing ourselves ten seconds, calling it what it is, noticing how it is affecting us, and using one of the other skills in the book to make a healthy response (e.g. put our anxiety in our “worry box”). He concludes with these three action steps: 1) When anxious, give yourself ten seconds; 2) Give yourself more than ten seconds if needed; and 3) Create a mood log to track our anxious moments.
Cusick’s practical helps include not only psychologically sound practices but also spiritual insights involving God’s care for us, practical prayer practices including lament prayers, practice resting with God, and choosing joy. He helps us learn to receive anxiety as God’s gift rather than something to be suppressed. Throughout, he shares instances where he struggled with anxiety, how he has practiced these ideas, and how he has been less than perfect. Perfection is anxiety-producing, and Cusick helps us see that progress can even be found in attempting and failing rather than avoiding what we fear.
We might be thinking of a particularly anxious friend to share this book with. It might not be a bad thing to get two and do it together. I suspect we all need an anxiety tune-up, or at least an anxiety pit stop!
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
We all know what it is to be anxious and we live in anxious times. The question is, how will we respond? Will we make healthy choices that face and normalize our anxiety? Or will we avoid situations that make us anxious or escape into unhealthy coping behaviors when we feel anxious? Will we step into anxiety-producing opportunities for growth and advancement, or will we choose the safe route?
Jason Cusick is an anxious person from an anxious family. Stepping into larger responsibilities, he experienced panic attacks. And it led to a season of therapy in which he learned about anxiety and about himself. He realized that anxiety is a gift of God for our safety, but can be awakened at the wrong time. He learned that healthy responses to anxiety are rooted in four principles;
1. Normalization. Learning that anxiety is natural but can become unhealthy.
2. Exposure. Learning to understand and face our fears rather than avoiding them.
3. Habituation. Learning new skills that desensitize us to our fears.
4. Care. Learning healthy ways to experience God’s love for us and others.
With this introduction, the remainder of the book consists of thirty short chapters. The idea is to read one a day and to practice the exercises at the end of the chapter which focus on the four principles above. Here’s one example from the early part of the book. It is to “Practice Pit Stops.” Noticing how good pit stops in a race occur in 10 seconds or less, Cusick advises 10 second pit stops when we are experiencing anxious thoughts. It begins with recognizing our need for help–that we are having an anxious moment, pausing what we are doing, allowing ourselves ten seconds, calling it what it is, noticing how it is affecting us, and using one of the other skills in the book to make a healthy response (e.g. put our anxiety in our “worry box”). He concludes with these three action steps: 1) When anxious, give yourself ten seconds; 2) Give yourself more than ten seconds if needed; and 3) Create a mood log to track our anxious moments.
Cusick’s practical helps include not only psychologically sound practices but also spiritual insights involving God’s care for us, practical prayer practices including lament prayers, practice resting with God, and choosing joy. He helps us learn to receive anxiety as God’s gift rather than something to be suppressed. Throughout, he shares instances where he struggled with anxiety, how he has practiced these ideas, and how he has been less than perfect. Perfection is anxiety-producing, and Cusick helps us see that progress can even be found in attempting and failing rather than avoiding what we fear.
We might be thinking of a particularly anxious friend to share this book with. It might not be a bad thing to get two and do it together. I suspect we all need an anxiety tune-up, or at least an anxiety pit stop!
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
August 23, 2022
I really appreciated this Anxiety Field Guide that is written by a pastor who suffers from anxiety. He is vulnerably honest as he offers 30 short chapters on 30 practices that he's found helpful. Each chapter ends with 3 Action Steps to help put them into practice. At the end, Cusick includes a list of books he's found helpful in his "Recommended Resources" section.
As I've battled anxiety off and on through my adult life, I will keep this book on my shelf as a field guide, or if I simply need the encouragement of knowing I'm not alone in this malady.
As I've battled anxiety off and on through my adult life, I will keep this book on my shelf as a field guide, or if I simply need the encouragement of knowing I'm not alone in this malady.
May 21, 2025
some of it was relatable, some of it wasn't. overall good advice.
July 10, 2024
Really helpful and encouraging! Would definitely recommend:)
May 19, 2022
This concise, easy-to-read book is full of great advice for dealing with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Jason Cusick shares a wealth of information in a way that feels genuine and personal, distilling what he has learned from counseling and in-depth reading into a simple, straightforward guidebook. His vulnerability about his struggles with anxiety and OCD greatly enhances the book, and people who feel turned off from academic, clinical books about mental health issues will appreciate this book's short chapters, simple action steps, and personal touch.
Content and Audience
The Anxiety Field Guide: Healthy Habits for Long-Term Healing features thirty short chapters that Jason Cusick designed to build on each other. He writes about perspective shifts, lifestyle changes, and therapeutic approaches that can help anxious people calm themselves in the short-term and rewire their brains in the long-term, and when he encourages readers to fill out a worksheet like an exposure ladder, he shares his own as an example. I greatly appreciate his vulnerable and practical approach to helping others, and I especially enjoyed his Christian perspective, since most of the books I have read about mental health issues come from secular worldviews. Cusick welcomes readers of different belief backgrounds and shares advice that anyone can find helpful, but he also shares spiritual insights that Christians will find encouraging.
One of my favorite elements of this book is how well Cusick addresses struggles with intrusive thoughts, since very few non-specialized books about anxiety cover obsessive thoughts and compulsions. Cusick clearly explains cognitive behavioral therapy approaches to dealing with intrusive thoughts, and illustrates how readers can use self-directed exposure therapies to help them regulate their anxiety and limit use of compulsions. Given how little I have ever been able to read about OCD from a Christian viewpoint, I greatly appreciated his targeted insights and his ongoing references to intrusive thoughts. This element of the book will include and encourage OCD sufferers, and will also help people who deal with intrusive thoughts to a lesser degree.
Conclusion
The Anxiety Field Guide is an excellent book for teens and adults who struggle with different types of anxious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The book is broadly applicable despite its brevity, and in all of my prolific reading about anxiety and OCD, I have never found a book that is so brief, to-the-point, personal, and practical. I am grateful for Cusick's vulnerability and insight, and highly recommend this to people who are struggling with anxiety or helping someone who is. This book can help people all across the anxiety spectrum, no matter how minor or severe their issues are, and is full of wisdom and encouragement for pursuing long-term growth and healing.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content and Audience
The Anxiety Field Guide: Healthy Habits for Long-Term Healing features thirty short chapters that Jason Cusick designed to build on each other. He writes about perspective shifts, lifestyle changes, and therapeutic approaches that can help anxious people calm themselves in the short-term and rewire their brains in the long-term, and when he encourages readers to fill out a worksheet like an exposure ladder, he shares his own as an example. I greatly appreciate his vulnerable and practical approach to helping others, and I especially enjoyed his Christian perspective, since most of the books I have read about mental health issues come from secular worldviews. Cusick welcomes readers of different belief backgrounds and shares advice that anyone can find helpful, but he also shares spiritual insights that Christians will find encouraging.
One of my favorite elements of this book is how well Cusick addresses struggles with intrusive thoughts, since very few non-specialized books about anxiety cover obsessive thoughts and compulsions. Cusick clearly explains cognitive behavioral therapy approaches to dealing with intrusive thoughts, and illustrates how readers can use self-directed exposure therapies to help them regulate their anxiety and limit use of compulsions. Given how little I have ever been able to read about OCD from a Christian viewpoint, I greatly appreciated his targeted insights and his ongoing references to intrusive thoughts. This element of the book will include and encourage OCD sufferers, and will also help people who deal with intrusive thoughts to a lesser degree.
Conclusion
The Anxiety Field Guide is an excellent book for teens and adults who struggle with different types of anxious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The book is broadly applicable despite its brevity, and in all of my prolific reading about anxiety and OCD, I have never found a book that is so brief, to-the-point, personal, and practical. I am grateful for Cusick's vulnerability and insight, and highly recommend this to people who are struggling with anxiety or helping someone who is. This book can help people all across the anxiety spectrum, no matter how minor or severe their issues are, and is full of wisdom and encouragement for pursuing long-term growth and healing.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
June 9, 2023
While my first read-through was more to explore everything, I will be referencing this for years to come. The tools in here are awesome, some familiar and some new! I am so excited to pass this along to a friend and spread the Godly encouragement. 100% recommend to all anxious Christians.
January 19, 2023
A small book about anxiety and how to deal with it. All above, it is the calling to Jesus, the daily burden carrier. Come and rest in the Humble and Gentle God.
July 3, 2022
I randomly grabbed this one at the library. I am always on the lookout for books about anxiety and to see what information it has. I really enjoyed this one, it is broken down really simple into 30 different chapters/ areas and has great references/ tips to help.
September 30, 2024
trying to figure out how to resource college students better... this has some good tips
May 13, 2025
I come back to reading this book again and again, especially in transitions of leadership. The book is simple enough to read on a daily basis, but it also offers more complex psychological ideas to address anxiety. I appreciate Cusick’s fair mixture of devotion, psychological themes, and references to scripture. It probably veers on more of the middle thought.
I will continue to recommend this book to people that want to dip their feet into therapy, but are wondering what they might get out of it. This book is great for believers and non-believers alike. I find it, especially helpful for Leadership, especially chapter 27.
I will continue to recommend this book to people that want to dip their feet into therapy, but are wondering what they might get out of it. This book is great for believers and non-believers alike. I find it, especially helpful for Leadership, especially chapter 27.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews