From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life (Hardcover)

by Lucinda Bassett (Author) "Here's the good news: you're special..." (more)
Key Phrases: empowering thought replacement, inner nervousness, spacey feelings, Lucinda Bassett, Midwest Center, Attacking Anxiety (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A star in motivational broadcasting because of her long-running infomercial, "Attacking Anxiety," Bassett here offers self-help to sufferers from panic attacks, in a workbook format (with audio cassettes available), interspersed with anecdotes and personal experiences. Revealing her own struggles with anxiety and agoraphobia, which she calls "avoidance behaviors," Bassett describes and analyzes the many degrees and forms of anxiety, discomfort and stress that often characterize contemporary living for both adults and children. A popular talk-show guest, Bassett enacts her sense of mission in these pages with elan. $100,000 ad/ promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Bassett, executive director and founder of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, is perhaps best known for her successful infomercial, "Attacking Anxiety." Prior to this, she suffered from a serious anxiety disorder. Not only did she ultimately overcome that disability but she also found an extraordinary talent for helping others, which shines through in her first book. Her experiences will strike a chord in anyone who has problems with anxiety. Beyond that, her common-sense approach, which appears to use the same principles as cognitive therapy, conveys reassurance and hope. This extraordinary work reaches out to its readers and is bound to be helpful. In a class by itself, this is highly recommended for all public libraries.
January Adams, ODSI Research Lib., Raritan, N.J.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060173203
• ISBN-13: 978-0060173203
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,182 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent choice for anxiety sufferers, June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life (Paperback)

This is without a doubt the best book written on the anxiety disorders. It is NOT written from a clinical standpoint, with scary and hard-to-understand language. Rather, it comes from the author's personal experiences (not some therapist's theory). The book lets you in on Ms. Bassett's life as a former panic sufferer and takes you on her personal road to recovery (It's possible!!). She offers everything from why people develop anxiety, how to conquer it, and encouragement every step of the way. She also has a wonderful audio program that you can get info on in this book. If you are suffering from anxiety, as I was when I found this book, I encourage you to read it. It's possibly the BEST self-help book on the market today. It truly changed my life.

86 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Only Anti-Anxiety Book You'll Ever Need!, March 4, 2001

By	C. Iwanski "Chicago Girl" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life (Paperback)

Several months ago, I started having panic attacks and overwhelming anxiety on an everyday basis, and I didn't know where to turn. Finally, in desperation, I bought this book...and well, this book literally changed my life! It made me realize that I was 100% in control of my anxiety and panic attacks, and only through changing my thoughts could I conquer my fears. Now I haven't felt overly anxious or had a panic attack in over 6 months, and my life has been so much better!! I also loaned this book to a close friend of mine who suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, and the next day, after reading almost the whole book in one night, she gave me a big hug and thanked me profusely for recommending it to her, because she now knows that she, too, can recover!!!! I can't say enough good things about this book!! If you have anxiety and/or panic attacks, buy this book! Buy this book! Buy this book!

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good supplement to the Attacking Anxiety program , August 21, 2007

By	Andrew Olivo Parodi (Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life (Paperback)

This review is in response to some criticism I have read about Lucinda Bassett and the book FROM PANIC TO POWER. There have been some comments on this page alleging that Lucinda Bassett is only in it for the money and that this book, and the Attacking Anxiety program, do not really offer any help to those dealing with anxiety and depression. As someone who went through the Attacking Anxiety program back in 1994 at age 18 and who is currently reviewing the program, as someone who has read the FROM PANIC TO POWER book (and who received a free autographed copy of LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS from Lucinda Bassett in gratitude for some online mentoring I had offered to others dealing with anxiety and depression), I feel qualified to address the issues of the effectiveness of Lucinda's work. Bottom line: it works. Or, rather, it helps a great deal. But one caveat -- detailed below.

Session 4 of the Attacking Anxiety program says that people who deal with anxiety often have unrealistic expectations. Our high expectations of ourselves, our friends, our lives, often cause an undo amount of anxiety and stress. We can lessen our anxiety by lessening our expectations. "Don't expect so much," Lucinda suggests. Lowering your expectations will make you more thankful for and aware of whatever little progress you make in your journey to recovery. The Attacking Anxiety program is advertised as offering you "complete recovery" from issues concerning anxiety and depression. In the version of the program that I have, it is not until session 15 (the last session) that Lucinda admits, "The truth of the matter is that it simply takes 15 weeks to go through the material in the program. There is no limit to the amount of time it takes you to get over anxiety." Eventually, she admits, "We don't know everything."

The great irony is that you sort of need to use Lucinda's advise against her own advertising slogans. I could paraphrase Lucinda's advise as, "Don't expect the Attacking Anxiety program or the book FROM PANIC TO POWER to live up to its inflated advertisement claims." If you go through the program expecting complete recovery from anxiety (with no relapses or "growth spurts"), if you read FROM PANIC TO POWER expecting a complete recovery, you will come away disappointed. The truth as I feel it now is that if you use the Attacking Anxiety program and FROM PANIC TO POWER as tools in what may be a lifelong recovery strategy and lifestyle, you will definitely see positive results. The advise I'd give to a seeker of recovery is that if you have the means you should get your hands on a copy of the Attacking Anxiety program. It is without a doubt the masterpiece of Lucinda Bassett's oeuvre. The book FROM PANIC TO POWER is in my opinion a mere supplement to the program.

I'll close with a note for the male reader and listener. Going through the Attacking Anxiety program and rereading FROM PANIC TO POWER, I can't help but notice that this is hands-down intended for a female audience. (I first became aware of Lucinda Bassett because of her appearance on Oprah, for example.) This is not to say that what Lucinda teaches won't help males. The material has helped me a great deal as the bare tools of recovery are without gender. But Lucinda Bassett herself mentions that statistically speaking far more women than men deal with anxiety and depression, and Lucinda and apparently most of her staff are female. It therefore is not surprising that much of the material is fashioned toward a female audience. Specifically, many of the stories in FROM PANIC TO POWER deal with issues that women more often than men will face (balancing the life of motherhood and career, etc.). And even in the Attacking Anxiety program, particularly in the group discussions that always take place after Lucinda's introductory monologues, a female perspective abounds. (On Lucinda's audio program Life Without Limits, a good portion of one of the tapes has Lucinda giving a pep talk about how sexy lingerie makes you feel better about yourself. You go, girl!) And sometimes the group discussion portions of the Attacking Anxiety program remind me of episodes of The View (which Lucinda has actually appeared on), and sometimes passages of FROM PANIC TO POWER read like excerpts from Better Homes and Gardens. I wish Lucinda would let a male member of her staff create at least a single-volume program about the issues facing men who are dealing with these issues.

So, to recap, FROM PANIC TO POWER is a good book overall. But it is not the end-all be-all of recovery from anxiety and/or depression. In my opinion it is but a supplement to the Attacking Anxiety program, and some of the stories will most likely be uninteresting to the male reader.