Daniel Smith (DSM-IV-TR 300.02: Generalized Anxiety Disorder) is an author, journalist, and editor.
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“I read Monkey Mind with admiration for its bravery and clarity. Daniel Smith’s anxiety is matched by a wonderful sense of the comic, and it is this which makes Monkey Mind not only a dark, pain-filled book but a hilariously funny one, too. I broke out into explosive laughter again and again.”
—Oliver Sacks, bestselling author of The Mind’s Eye and Musicophilia

“Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron’s Darkness Visible did for depression.”
—Aaron T. Beck, father of cognitive therapy

“I don’t know Daniel Smith, but I do want to give him a hug. His book is so bracingly honest, so hilarious, so sharp, it’s clear there’s one thing he doesn’t have to be anxious about: Whether or not he’s a great writer.”
—A.J. Jacobs, author of Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically

“You don’t need a Jewish mother, or a profound sweating problem, to feel Daniel Smith’s pain in Monkey Mind. His memoir treats what must be the essential ailment of our time — anxiety — and it does so with wisdom, honesty, and the kind of belly laughs that can only come from troubles transformed.”
—Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding

“Daniel Smith has written a wise, funny book, a great mix of startling memoir and fascinating medical and literary history, all of it delivered with humor and a true generosity of spirit. I only got anxious in the last part, when I worried the book would end. Of course, it did, but Smith’s hopeful last chapters helped me cope.”
—Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land and The Ask

“As a fellow sufferer, I balked at reading Monkey Mind, fearful that a book about anxiety might send me over the edge. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Daniel Smith maps the jagged contours of anxiety with such insight, humor, and compassion that the result is, oddly, calming. There are countless gems in these pages, including a fresh take on the psychopathology of chronic nail biting, an ill-fated ménage a trois—and the funniest perspiration scene since Albert Brooks’ sweaty performance in Broadcast News. Read this book. You have nothing to lose but your heart palpitations, and your Xanax habit.”
—Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss and Man Seeks God
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Posted on October 10, 2011 in General Anxiety

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Tales from the Amygdala, or The “It Might Not Get Better” Project

Periodically on this blog we will be posting short videos from people who have experience with anxiety and have something to say about it. I call this series “Tales from the Amygdala” — the amygdalae being the almond-shaped structures that are thought to be the seat of fear in the human brain.

But another good name for the series is the It Might Not Get Better Project.

First up is a video from the wonderful comedian, writer, and human being Benari Poulten, a.k.a. G.I. Jew. Benari is an Army Reservist posted in sunny Kandahar, Afghanistan, which is where he recorded this video. The video is titled “Snakes, Death, and Pinecones.” Come home safe, Benari!

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Tales from the Amygdala, or The “It Might Not Get Better” Project

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