vi Don’t Let A nxiety Run Your Life
Worrying about the future and ruminating about the
past take us away from the present moment. Rumination
and worrying are characteristic features of debilitating
anxiety and depression. Anxiety disorders are some of the
most common psychiatric conditions, next to mood disor-
ders and substance use problems.
Although treatments for anxiety disorders are reason-
ably effective, there’s clearly still room for improvement.
Modern emotion research provides some concrete and novel
methods of enhancing treatment for anxiety and related
problems. In this elegant book, a highly accessible and infor-
mative text for anybody who struggles with anxiety, David
Klemanski and Joshua Curtiss discuss some of these con-
crete guidelines and encourage you to effectively deal with
fear and anxiety while experiencing life as it happens. The
authors clearly articulate specific strategies for overcoming
fear and anxiety, based on modern emotion research. These
strategies include identifying and targeting maladaptive
thought processes, enhancing adaptive emotion regulation
strategies, and changing maladaptive habits. Mindfulness-
based practices take center stage. Mindfulness is difficult to
define and measure but relatively easy to practice. These
strategies encourage you to pay attention to the present
moment without judging it. As a result, you will learn how to
live life in the present moment and let go of maladaptive
thoughts that are linked to fear and anxiety.
This superb text will guide you through some basic and
effective steps: pay attention to your anxiety, confront it,
avoid thinking traps, f lexibly respond to your emotions,
accept your emotions, develop adaptive habits, and abandon
maladaptive habits. Embracing these strategies will give