Customer Reviews

Freedom From Agoraphobia

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very special book, a book that lives up to its promise to be easy to read and understand without oversimplifying a difficult problem. It is practical and profound in its presentation of insights and techniques for dealing with agoraphobia. This book is useful for both agoraphobia patients and therapists alike in its discussion of several different therapeutic approaches and perspectives elegantly integrated into a genuinely effective and obviously workable set of methods. The voice is kind, supportive and obviously enormously experienced.
Perhaps best of all-it's good reading!

"...What if there was something far better than going through life hoping you would never have another panic attack?" Dr. Eisenstadt not only lets us in on what that might be but illuminates the various journeys we might take to that end and empowers us
ach to fashion our own.
These aren't the musings a Mark Twain, Rush Limbaugh or Garrison Keelor on the subject, which as an aside, may be the only time those three names will ever appear in a single sentence. His language is simple and straight forward.
Dr. Eisenstadt is manifestly a doctor of psychiatry but more to the point, a doctor in its original sense of 'teacher'. He does not bombard us with magic bullets, esoteric rituals or charismatic psycho-buffoonery. Instead, he explains what is known and
hat is not; things that might be done; with whom; using what; how they work, and how they might not ... in a gentle, reasonable and compassionate voice.
Thanks Mark, from a retired mental health counselor.

Opening this book is like a breath of fresh air: the design is spacious, airy and inviting. The writing too seems designed to ease the reader from any anxiety toward a place of health. He draws on Cognitive therapy and Alanon principles, with many sensitive examples and exercises to try.

I am a daughter of an agoraphobic mother and I know how much this is a family disease. I was looking for insight into this aspect and was so pleased that this is not dry and academic nor does it belittle the reader as many self help books do. There is much here for anyone who has bouts with panic attacks of any sort, including meditation instruction and a very compassionate voice.

This book will make anyone who has come in contact with this disease feel more sane!

I have had Agoraphobia since I was in the 3rd Grade; I remember having my first panic attack at the auditorium at the school gym. I have been through therapy, medication and several programs throughout my life. Freedom From Agoraphobia has been the only thing that has worked!!! Dr. Eisenstadt helps you to understand why you have panic, how to get rid of panic and all in an easy to read book. There were times I would laugh out loud with thoughts of him knowing what I was thinking. It is an amazing book, if you want freedom this is the way to it....

This book gives many tools for gettintg over this debilitating problem.
Just reading the simple explinations of Panic/Agoraphobia will help put your mind at ease and direct you in the correct ways of mastering panic attacks. I highly recommend it.

This is a horrible book. The main premise of the author is 'just do it and go out'. Simply just going out and getting used to it. Who doesn't know that? There is a difference between 'getting used' to a place and not letting anxiety get to u in any place. One can get used to place-A and stop feeling anxious when going to place-A but if he goes to place-B, the anxiety will come back. I get the feeling that the author does not seem to understand agorophobics as he himself is not an agoraphobic. Hence he equates easing agorophobia with solutions to drug and alcohol problems - just like an alcoholic, he deduces that an agorophobic may need to REACH BOTTOM before the agorophobia can go away. Then there are the standard relaxation exercises like tensing your feet/arm/neck muscles, then releasing them. Again who does not know that? I learnt nothing from this book save taking along an emergency kit (cell phone, tranquilizers, aspirin, pepper spray, airplane-type vomitting bag) when one goes out. If one relies on an emergency kit, it is just as good as relying on booze as a crutch. Finally, the title indicates a 'Medication Independent' method to being free from agorophobia but a list of the usual sort of medications are given and even encouraged. In the end, his 'just do it and go out' philosophy just doesn't jive with those wanting to lessen agorophobia long term.

I loved this book - it was so well written! Out of all the books I have read on this topic, I must admit this one was the most accurate and easy to read of all them.