Customer Reviews

The Good News About Panic, Anxiety and Phobias

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This inexpensive book answered my questions on panic disorder that hundreds of dollars of psychotherapy time could not. It is a pleasure to read and helped me so much back in '94. His emphasis on behavioral therapy is very helpful. I wish this were still in print. I donated my copy to the library as I only suffer panic when I don't live right.

My review of the book The Good news about panic, anxiety, and phobias by Mark Gold. I found this book easy to read and covers a broad range of anxiety disorders. Right from the start though I was wishing for the "good news". Of course the good news is that anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem among women and are second only to drug and alcohol abuse among men. I wish it gave the good news earlier in the book as it takes some reading to discover this news. He points out that its not your fault and that your condition can be treated and in many cases cured. Even if you haven't responded to treatment in the past don't despair, In reality, its not the patient that fails the treatment but the treatment that fails the patient.

On one page he supplies a checklist of anxiety symptoms, he states that most panic and anxiety have physical causes. Then goes on a soapbox on the shortcomings of psychiatrist in the diagnosing of anxiety. When we get to page 35 we begin a definition of the terms used in the book:

PA - Panic Attack Phobias GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorders OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder AD - Adjustment Disorder

When we get to chapter 6 we finally start getting into possible physical causes that can present symptoms similar to those of anxiety.

The book has a listing of state-by-state experts and sources and bibliography although again most of the works seem to be from the 80's so more recent data should be available. If you need to come up to speed its not a bad book but if you need a more in depth discussion this is probably not the book for you. That along with it being 10 years old make it a ok book if you find it discounted, but you could probably find more recent data for the same buck.

Mark S. Gold, an authority on biological psychiatry, has produced a readable, scientifically well supported book that should be of great help to people with anxiety disorders. Unlike the great majority of books on this topic, everything in it makes good common sense and good scientific sense. It also gives desperately needed information on effective medications and dosages, which allows sufferers to take charge of their own illness and its treatment.