Your Anxiety Beast and You
Just like The Beast in the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, anxiety is an emotion that society initially misjudges as the villain. Your Anxiety Beast and You is a kinder, more compassionate approach for people suffering from anxiety. Rather than living with an enemy inside your mind, you’re encouraged to see anxiety for what it really is—an inner hero. It is always trying to protect you from threats, however, it is completely confused about what are true threats in the modern world.
Learn how to cope with your anxiety and train it to be a better inner-companion through integrating therapeutic methods from compassion-focused therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Gain an understanding of why society stigmatises anxiety and gain a better understanding of your own anxiety beast with humour and compassion. Your Anxiety Beast and You takes you through step-by-step strategies to cope with the howling of the beast in your mind, the physical effects of anxiety on your body, and then focuses on ways to come up with ‘teachable moments’ for your anxiety to learn that what you fear is not actually a threat.
With over 25 years of experience helping people with anxiety disorders and OCD, Dr Goodman aims to help you make peace with the reality of your anxiety. And then to help you re-focus on making your anxiety a better companion.
Dr. Eric Goodman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, author, and speaker who specializes in helping people face their social fears and anxiety disorders. He earned his Ph.D. at Northeastern University in Boston and then taught there, with a focus on cognitive-behavioural therapy. He runs a private practice in San Luis Obispo, California, where his treatment approach focuses on Exposure with Response-Prevention and Mindfulness/Acceptance-Based Strategies. He also runs Social Courage groups and retreats and lectures occasionally at California Polytechnic State University in the psychology graduate program. When he is not busy ‘scaring’ his clients, he can be found scaring his three kids and patient wife.
Louise Gardner is a British illustrator with many years’ experience in the publishing industry. She also has an alter ego called ACT Auntie, where she combines her love of art and ACT, to produce illustrations and animations to help explain the core skills of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and compassion. She lives in the beautiful South West of England.