Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind
- Downloads：8584
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-03-25 11:13:05
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Judson Brewer
- ISBN：0593330447
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
A step-by-step plan clinically proven to break the cycle of worry and fear that drives anxiety and addictive habits
We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember。 Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic or as personal as having kids at home and fighting the urge to reach for the wine bottle every night， we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control。 But in this timely book， Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone。
We think of anxiety as everything from mild unease to full-blown panic。 But it's also what drives the addictive behaviors and bad habits we use to cope （e。g。 stress eating， procrastination， doom scrolling and social media）。 Plus， anxiety lives in a part of the brain that resists rational thought。 So we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can't think our way out of or use willpower to overcome。 Dr。 Brewer teaches us map our brains to discover our triggers， defuse them with the simple but powerful practice of curiosity， and to train our brains using mindfulness and other practices that his lab has proven can work。
Distilling more than 20 years of research and hands-on work with thousands of patients， including Olympic athletes and coaches， and leaders in government and business， Dr。 Brewer has created a clear， solution-oriented program that anyone can use to feel better - no matter how anxious they feel。
We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember。 Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic or as personal as having kids at home and fighting the urge to reach for the wine bottle every night， we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control。 But in this timely book， Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone。
We think of anxiety as everything from mild unease to full-blown panic。 But it's also what drives the addictive behaviors and bad habits we use to cope （e。g。 stress eating， procrastination， doom scrolling and social media）。 Plus， anxiety lives in a part of the brain that resists rational thought。 So we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can't think our way out of or use willpower to overcome。 Dr。 Brewer teaches us map our brains to discover our triggers， defuse them with the simple but powerful practice of curiosity， and to train our brains using mindfulness and other practices that his lab has proven can work。
Distilling more than 20 years of research and hands-on work with thousands of patients， including Olympic athletes and coaches， and leaders in government and business， Dr。 Brewer has created a clear， solution-oriented program that anyone can use to feel better - no matter how anxious they feel。
Reviews
Bret
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This one has me torn。 While I only rate it a 2/5， it has a ton of useful and interesting information。 I'd probably recommend it to others as a result of all that info。I think I rated it 2/5 based on his writing style， which I found to be a bit distracting。 I feel his editors did him a disservice。 Example: he should use his own advice to break his addiction to parenthesis usage （which， more often than not， are not useful and tend to distract the reader）。 His writing is more blog-ish than book-ish This one has me torn。 While I only rate it a 2/5， it has a ton of useful and interesting information。 I'd probably recommend it to others as a result of all that info。I think I rated it 2/5 based on his writing style， which I found to be a bit distracting。 I feel his editors did him a disservice。 Example: he should use his own advice to break his addiction to parenthesis usage （which， more often than not， are not useful and tend to distract the reader）。 His writing is more blog-ish than book-ish， if that makes sense to anyone other than myself。The author seems like he would be a cool therapist to have， though。 He seems to have effective ways to manage anxiety， all of which he has tried on himself。 I can respect that。 。。。more
Todd Aldrich
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Key insights for me were: 1） everyone suffers from anxiety because we all have unhealthy habits which arise as a stress response to anxiety， which is basically fear of an uncertain future; 2） we have habitual “loops” - trigger， response， and result （reward）; 3） mapping our habit loops helps make us mindful of them; 4） if we update our reward values using mindfulness and curiosity， we can replace old with new healthier habits; 5） Will Power Isn’t enough or reliable; 6） use meditation as mindfulne Key insights for me were: 1） everyone suffers from anxiety because we all have unhealthy habits which arise as a stress response to anxiety， which is basically fear of an uncertain future; 2） we have habitual “loops” - trigger， response， and result （reward）; 3） mapping our habit loops helps make us mindful of them; 4） if we update our reward values using mindfulness and curiosity， we can replace old with new healthier habits; 5） Will Power Isn’t enough or reliable; 6） use meditation as mindfulness training for the mind; 7） think of the habit change as a BBO - Bigger， Better， Offer。 。。。more
Leanne
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Interesting。 Learned a little more about the big "A。" Interesting。 Learned a little more about the big "A。" 。。。more
Ryan Boissonneault
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Anxiety disorders represent the most common group of mental disorders in the US， affecting tens of millions of individuals each year。 Since anxiety is so common， and since most of us struggle with it at least in some capacity， virtually everyone can benefit from learning what the latest research tells us about its effective management。 In Unwinding Anxiety， Dr。 Brewer distills 20 years of research and practice in treating anxiety and addiction into a single volume， providing a simple （but not ne Anxiety disorders represent the most common group of mental disorders in the US， affecting tens of millions of individuals each year。 Since anxiety is so common， and since most of us struggle with it at least in some capacity， virtually everyone can benefit from learning what the latest research tells us about its effective management。 In Unwinding Anxiety， Dr。 Brewer distills 20 years of research and practice in treating anxiety and addiction into a single volume， providing a simple （but not necessarily easy） three-step process for managing anxiety by leveraging the natural learning mechanisms of the brain。 The key insight here is the connection between anxiety and habits， and the fact that many of us self-treat our own anxiety by creating habitual behaviors， most of which are detrimental to our health （smoking， drinking， overeating， etc。）。 The treatment regimen Dr。 Brewer recommends for his patients—and that is presented in this book—helps to identify these habit loops and replace them with healthier ones。 As the reader will discover， the practice of mindfulness （of which meditation is only one component）—and the ability to face the situations that cause our anxiety with openness and curiosity—is key to anxiety’s effective management。 More than just a manual for treating anxiety， this book presents a clear summary of the science behind anxiety and a roadmap to use your brain’s natural reward-based learning mechanisms to break any undesirable habits。Check out my article How to Manage Anxiety by Leveraging the Brain’s Natural Learning Process for an in-depth summary of the key lessons of the book。 。。。more
Karen E Carter
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For a book about anxiety， there’s not much that’s actually tailored to anxiety。 There’s more about quitting smoking or overeating than anxiety。 That being said， I think there’s a lot of useful information here and some practices that could work for a lot of different “problem areas” in my thinking。 I’m excited to try things out。
Magda Krakowiak
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A very well written book about tremendously important topic of anxiety。 I would not call it a step-by-step guide， but I found many interesting insights there。 The author does great job in explaining how mindfulness and essentially an awareness can help us manage our anxiety。 He also greatly emphasizes that it takes time and practice to rewire our brains and create new habit loops， as often worrying is a habit itself。 A highly recommended read。
Susan Fitzgerald
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Worth a read， if you suffer from bouts of anxiety and endless worry。 The premise is that anxiety is， in part， a habit loop， that can be unwound through awareness of the loop （trigger， action， reward） and meditation。 Another strategy in the arsenal of options for a common problem。
Emilie22
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I found many parts of this book insightful and helpful （and dare I even say enjoyable， thanks to Brewer’s self deprecating humor？）。 He frames the book by starting off with different examples and levels of anxiety， illustrating what a common and widespread issue this is。 The rest of the book is divided into 3 sections: how does your brain work/why fear on some level is “good，” how your brain makes decisions and then lastly， how to update your reward system with a bigger， better offer。Here are som I found many parts of this book insightful and helpful （and dare I even say enjoyable， thanks to Brewer’s self deprecating humor？）。 He frames the book by starting off with different examples and levels of anxiety， illustrating what a common and widespread issue this is。 The rest of the book is divided into 3 sections: how does your brain work/why fear on some level is “good，” how your brain makes decisions and then lastly， how to update your reward system with a bigger， better offer。Here are some of the one liners that I found interesting:-Mindfulness is not about stopping， emptying， or ridding ourselves of anything。。。mindfulness is about changing our relationship to those thoughts and emotions。-Attitude is everything。 Trigger: start to struggle， Behavior: think it will suck （e。g。 fixed mindset）， Result: increased likelihood of it sucking。-It doesn’t alter what triggers worry or anxiety， but it does matter how you react to it。。。”why” doesn’t matter。Lastly， I really appreciated his explanation of the book dedication。 As for the criticism， it’s pretty universal with “these types” of books。 Depending on how many books you read on the topic， this could come across as too “basic” or over simplified。 。。。more
Nuni
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Good information on how to deal with addictive behaviors and bad habits used to cope with anxiety， like overeating and smoking， no so much on anxiety itself。。。。。 DNF- 40%
Melrose's
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