Customer Reviews

Life With The Panic Monster: A Guide For The Terrified

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I could not put this book down! Like the reviewer before me, I read it cover to cover in one sitting. I have struggled with this disorder for many years and found it a great comfort to read a story so similar to mine. This is a disorder which is very isolating and misunderstood. There are parts of this book which I felt I could have written. Thank you Ms. Stewart for your honesty and courage!

This book is a wonderful resource for everyone. I have been dealing with panic disorder for 10 years. This book is what finally helped me learn to deal with it. Ms.Stewart explains things in great detail which is easy to identify in yourself, your own problems. I have used several techniques in her book and read it several times. My whole family has read this book and now understand panic disorder better. I could not find anything in this book that I disliked or didn't agree with. I highly recommend this book to anyone with panic disorder or to anyone who knows someone with panic disorder.

This book is about death, being scared to death by uncontrollable panic. It happens, though, that Ms. Stewart's fears and resulting panic attacks were of a curious, ineffable sort. They make little sense to those uninitiated to panic disorder. What should cause panic, a helicopter ride, bungee jumping, losing a job, or being followed? Ms. Stewart's attacks were triggered by shopping, walking around a track, or just driving a car.

Surprisingly, panic attacks don't result from real trouble, or as James Russell Lowell said, "The misfortunes hardest to bear are these which never came." Like investors who buy on rumor and sell on news, Ms. Stewart "used to worry that I had Hodgkin's Disease until the cure rate went over 80%."

I couldn't put this book down. It's authentic. It's irreverent. I read it from cover to UPC code in one sitting.

Evelyn Stewart's story. Prognosis: "What do you wear to a meeting with your own dark side? I could not go to work, could not even finish dressing. I was crazy. I had lost the ability to accessorize. I would have to go on disability. I would wear stripes and plaids together and not care. It was the beginning of the end." Hospital: "She took me to a small room with an examining table where I could lie down and panic in private." Treatment:"The ENT...offered me the opportunity of taking a test which consisted of pouring water in my ears at intervals to measure what? Endurance? Stupidity?" Cure:Beside the bed I have a shotgun loaded with Valium>" Announcement:"Ralph was graduated from his small-engine repair home study course, and Evelyn can almost walk to the mailbox alone now."

In truth, she eventually finds a caring professional and emerges not healed but healing, scarred but animated. Her recovery, poignant and revitalizing, is made more powerful by her relentless determination to enter the dark and exit alive. Jawaharial Nehru said, "Logic and cold reason are poor weapons to fight fear and distrust. Only faith and generosity can overcome them." Faith and generosity gives the tormented writer of this remarkable book, from whom paralyzing fear has yielded and"...grown so free from care since my heart broke," the chance to live again.

This great book chronicled a life of pain, renewal and hope. I too, have suffered with panic disorder my entire life. It was so nice to find a book that didn't promise you ten easy cures because I have never found them. I have learned to live my life with medication that according to my doctor, I will take forever. I am a high powered career woman, wife, mother and live a good life. It is through books like this, we see that we are not alone, we are valuable human beings with a condition not unlike diabetes or high blood pressure. Kudos to you, Evelyn!

At what point does our life transition from "normal" to "impaired" and how can we take an active part in healing? Author Evelyn Barkley Stewart has approached Neal Cassidy in her ability to put herself into print and make it perfectly believable. The sudden overwhelming changes that occur in our lives follow the rule that "our biography becomes our biology". For anyone suffering from the debilitating problems of panic disorder this book is a must read. It is important to find the beautiful person that exists at the center of what appears to be a dysfunctional life. The emotional fabric of our body, that dictates our existence, has many rips that can easily become a rent in the garment. Returning to a functional "normal" life is possible if one listens to this author and actually knows her sincerity. I have experienced her wisdom and can say that I look forward to each new day with the memories of my less than perfect past.

It's a very good source of information if you only want to learn about panic disorder, but for me It was like reading my every day life, It did not help me at all, instead I felt helpless.

I loved this book. I'm not going to get into any details, but trust me, it will help you if you suffer from panic attacks/disorder. I didn't find any magic cures, but I did find someone that seemed to crawl in my mind and articulate what I battle every day. This book reinforces the fact that we are not alone or crazy, there are others that feel the exact same way. My mother read it after me, whe she was done she hugged me with tears in her eyes and said " I have always had an idea of what you go through, but now I really get it." Therefore, a perfect read for anyone who's loved one suffers also.

This is my first time reviewing a book on Amazon, despite the fact I'm an avid reader and am periodically enamored with a particular book. I'm writing this review because I have wanted to say "thank you" to the author for many years for writing it. Having suffered on and off with panic disorder since I was 12 (I'm now 40), I had never encountered anyone who really knew what I was going through until I read this book. When times are difficult, it is still a consolation and comfort to think about this book and know that I am not alone. I appreciate the courage, humor and compassion of the author so much!

This book helped me to realize I was NOT ALONE!

There are so many books on panic disorder, but this one was what I needed to know my "crazy" thoughts were not so crazy after all.
She doesn't tell you how to solve your issues but just relays her story. That's what I needed. To just hear somebody like me, tell her story with complete honestly and humanity.

This book had an amazing impact on me during a really horrible panic-ridden point in my life. I read it from cover to cover and then went and bought 4 more books. One for each of my family members so they could understand what it's REALLY like to live with Panic Disorder... to be me.

I have one of the passages from her book framed on my wall:

"THERE IS A REASON WE BEGIN TELLING OUR STORIES WITH OUR VERY FIRST PANIC ATTACK. IT IS AN EARTH SHATTERING EVENT AND IF YOU LISTEN CLOSELY... YOU CAN HEAR THE FABRIC OF YOUR LIFE SPLIT APART."

This book changed my life. Bless you Evelyn Stewart!