This edition first published 2016
© 2016 Gill Hasson
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hasson, Gill, author.
Overcoming anxiety: reassuring ways to break free from stress and worry and lead a calmer life / Gill Hasson.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-85708-630-3 (pbk.)
1. Anxiety. 2. Stress management. I. Title.
BF575.A6H37 2016
152.4’6 – dc23
2015028627
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-857-08630-3 (pbk)
ISBN 978-0-857-08632-7 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-857-08631-0 (ebk)
Cover design: Wiley
‘A horrible dread at the pit of my stomach … a sense of the insecurity of life.’
William James Hall
Over the last few years, I’ve learnt a lot about anxiety from people who come on the personal development courses and workshops I run. Increasingly, it seems that more and more people are struggling with anxiety; they describe how – in varying degrees – anxiety has affected and disrupted their lives.
Anxiety affects all of us in one way or another. You don’t have to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder to feel its intrusive, debilitating effects.
I grew up with anxiety – my Mum has been anxious all her life. There was always something she was anxious about. As soon as one anxiety was over, another would take its place. My Dad, sister and I managed Mum and her anxiety as best we could.
Fortunately, I haven’t inherited my mother’s persistent anxiety, but in my 20s and 30s I suffered from panic attacks. They seemed to come from nowhere. They also went away for no apparent reason. It wasn’t until they went away that I even knew there was a name for them.
The Mental Health Foundation (the UK’s leading mental health research, policy and service improvement charity) suggests that anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in the UK and elsewhere, yet it is still under-reported, under-diagnosed and under-treated.
A survey of 2,330 people in the UK carried out in 2014 by YouGov for the Mental Health Foundation revealed that almost one in five people feel anxious ‘nearly all of the time’ or ‘a lot of the time’.
The Mental Health Foundation’s report ‘Living with Anxiety’ showed that worries concerning financial issues, the welfare of children and family members, and work issues are the main factors contributing to high levels of anxiety in everyday life.
The report also highlighted the following findings:
Who gets anxious:
• Women are more likely to feel anxious than men.
• Students, young people and people not in employment are more likely to feel anxious all of the time or a lot of the time.
