Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety is now available at your friendly neighborhood bookseller — or from whomever or wherever you choose to buy your books. Publication date was July 3, and the book’s been getting some very nice attention, including an interview on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.
Check it out. I hope you like the book. Just remember: if you don’t buy a copy your inaction will trigger a series of debilitating panic attacks from which I will never recover. That’s on you.
I called in to NPR but was not allowed to mention another author on the air to you. Have you ever read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl? Are you aware of logotherapy and the concept of paradoxical intention? I have suffered greatly with anxiety and when developed a bone disease my anxiety went to a new level. My entire life and family are exactly like yours.
Just listened to your interview on Talk of the Nation and I had to leave a quick comment. I am a 20-year old female and have suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember. Hearing you describing your experiences with anxiety, specifically your encounters at the doctors office as a child, was incredible. It was as if you were pulling the memory straight from my childhood. I remember the nurses having to pull me from beneath the examination table and hold me down as they attempted to take a strep culture, my screams heard from the waiting room. I didn’t want to behave this way, and I felt an enormous sense of shame but I could not control it. At age 13 or 14, I decided tantrums and outbursts were no longer acceptable, and turned all my anxiety and fears inward. As you described, my brain needed something to keep it occupied, to obsess over. I made restriction of food my obsession and ended up being hospitalized twice. Hearing just a short part of your story has left me with a sense of comfort knowing I am not facing this alone. These are things that come with a great deal of shame, and are often not spoken of. Thank you so much and I look forward to reading you book.
The cover design for “Monkey Mind” is terrific! Whoever sought out the bizarre windup toy deserves a major award for cover concept.
Daniel
I am in the middle of reading your book. My husband suffers from anxiety and bought the book after hearing you on Talk of the Nation. This book is explaining what my husband goes through but isn’t able to articulate to me so thank you for writing it. Hope to see you when you are in Portland at Powells.
I have read “Monkey Mind” and found it absolutely excellent. I am Jewish and have suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember. Your perspective on anxiety was totally new to me. I have always viewed my anxiety from a scientific approach. Your view was philosophical, literary, and wonderfully subjective. You mentioned Cognitive Therapy in your book. I have just recently started reading about Cognitive-Compassion therapy which seems very promising. It is Cognitive or Rational-Emotive Therapy plus an emphasis on being kind to yourself. Beating yourself up is a major sin. I really like that.
You have a great way of articulating anxiety. Been there, done that, and recovered. Check out Mary Ellen Copeland that wrote the WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) book. The class will change your life, and you will have to write about something else.
The federal government is now funding recovery such as this.
Latest NYTimes article hit right where I live in every way. Among the habits which keep us trapped and recycling may be our interests, which in my case include politics. A life of following politics is difficult to abandon, so I watch the news even though it brings on bouts of anxiety. I had always thought I could handle mere words (sticks and stone may break your bones but words will never hurt you). But some words and thoughts are toxic to a temperament on the edge. Now I try to listen to music I like, read material which cheers, avoid abrasive people. In other words, don’t hurt myself.