The Anxiety and Worry Workbook: The Cognitive Behavioral Solution

I am a cognitive behavior therapist specializing in anxiety disorders. I often recommend this book to my clients who have generalized anxiety, excessive worry, panic attacks or social anxiety. I consider this to be an advanced workbook as it is more helpful to people who have already read a more basic workbook on anxiety or clients who already have a basic understanding of CBT. It has a strong emphasis on cognitive skills to help you change your thinking about anxiety by learning to assess danger more realistically as well as increase your ability to cope with the situations that make you anxious. In Chapter 7, it also includes some behavioral work incorporating exposure therapy, which is critical for anyone trying to get control of anxiety. Research has indicated that exposure may be the most critical element in reducing anxiety. I have found that a combination of exposure plus cognitive restructuring is most beneficial. Otherwise, people may be too afraid or unmotivated to face their fears in real life. The cognitive work helps people get ready to do things that are uncomfortable. Paradoxically, the way to reduce anxiety is to approach it and even welcome anxiety into your life. The less you fear being anxious, the less anxious you will feel. I really like Chapter 11 on Overcoming Worry. It is one of the best chapters I have read on strategies to deal with worry. Overall, I think this is a superb workbook and, if you can do all the exercises in this workbook, you will gain new skills to manage anxiety and worry.

This book is very helpful. I love the cognitive behavioral approach, as it helps us to grasp what is going on in the mind, and how that leads to our feelings of anxiety. It is especially helpful how the book points out that anxiety is not itself a bad thing. We should not be afraid of it (remember what FDR said ;)). The problem is that some of us struggle more than normal, making monsters out of situations that might at times be nerve wracking but that we should be able to handle. There is a thought process that leads there, and retraining our mind is a way to begin addressing the problem.I am a pastor and have found this book very useful for myself and for counseling others. Of course, my job is not to be a psychiatrist, but to help people think in accordance with God's Word, but this book is not contrary to that approach. Instead, it helps me to understand what is making it difficult to get to the peace and assurance found in Scripture, and pave a way forward.Many people struggle with anxiety. There is no reason to ignore it or shame it. But those of us who struggle with it can have hope that there is a way out. I am grateful for the role this book has played in helping me to understand what is happening in cases of overwhelming anxiety.

Very helpful. I wish there were fewer worksheets that were less overlapping and confusing. Also, the book lacks any guidance in how one should actually overcome sometimes crushing anxiety other than putting on a brave face. Nothing on relaxation, mindfulness, etc. I sense a mix of compassion with tough love. As anyone with these issues can attest, finding one’s core and automatic thought, let alone changing them, is a daunting task and nearly impossible. But it is a worthwhile goal nonetheless and these authors do their best to guide the reader through it all. These methods would be best done with the help of a counselor, though it is difficult to find one these days during and post-pandemic. I recommend this book, but I think it could use some simplification and a little more heart.

I think the authors are well known in the mental health world. This workbook helped me a lot with tools for my situational anxiety. I can't afford counseling, and also found it hard to find a good counselor for CBT. This workbook was the next best thing. I will add that it is not easy, it has a lot of worksheets, and will take a lot of time. I can see why the authors recommended doing this workbook along with counseling. I wasn't able to complete all the worksheets 100%, it was too overwhelming. However, I still gleaned enough out of it to make a big, positive difference in dealing with anxiety. I wish there was a CD that contained the worksheets, along with the book. Trying to copy these worksheets isn't easy, and there are so many of them.

For anyone with anxiety I highly recommend this book. It is very easy to follow & prompts you into understanding the root of your anxiety so that you can heal. I am a sucker for self help books and this is by far the best book I’ve ever purchased. I suffer from extreme anxiety and panic disorder and this has genuinely helped me so much. Dedicate 15 minutes of your day to this book and you will feel so much better. Remember, healing is work. It takes effort. This book honestly makes it feel effortless. Super impressed. Wishing anyone who reads this healing on your mental health journey. 💫

This workbook and intro to CBT is an excellent resource. Like any CBT training, you must do the work - complete the inventories, questionnaires, record-keeping - in order to see results. But if you do that work, you will see improvement.I read through the text first, then began at the beginning and did the assignments. I skipped some of the later chapters that deal with specific anxieties because only one applied to me. I did read and complete the exercises in the chapter that applied to my situation, and gained astonishing insight into the heart of the matter, as it were.I hope you have the same epiphany, and I hope you will be able to use the techniques and information from this amazing resource to calm the beast of anxiety and find the peace you deserve.