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Indlæser... My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind (2013)af Scott Stossel
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Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. “Anxiety” is a fiendishly difficult affliction to pin down and define; although written about for thousands of years, it was only formally recognised as a condition by the medical profession as late as 1980. Millions of lives, though, are altered, crippled or completely swallowed up by it every year. And it is also, once set in motion, an example of a self-worsening debility, amplifying itself over years or decades if left untreated. Scott Stossel, as a life-long sufferer, knows it better than most and in this book has pulled together everything there is to say about it. Chapters cover, first, anxiety as a riddle (what is it exactly?) and the variety of forms it can take. Then there’s its treatment (history of, and effectiveness or otherwise—do any of them even work?). He explores the question of what causes it: nurture (infant-parent relationships)? Or nature (genetics)? Or culture (modern life, prosperity, or perhaps even, particularly in the Western capitalist democracies, having more freedom of choice than ever before in history)? Some of the descriptions of Stossel’s own state of mind and resulting behaviour when in the grip of the worst bouts of his own anxiety are, at times, scarcely believable and excruciating to read. This is not only a comprehensive and exceptionally well-researched book, it’s harrowing in places too and, above all, incredibly honest. The writing itself is simply brilliant, as readable as a book on a subject as perplexing as this could be. In general, I like books about psychology, so I was predisposed toward this one from the beginning. The book itself is a very comprehensive look at anxiety from every angle - neurobiological to philosophical to historical. The informative aspects of the book are interwoven with Scott's memoirs regarding his own really serious struggle with anxiety and phobias. True confession, I, myself, struggle from some anxiety issues. I joke that if I don't have anything to worry about, I'm sure to find something soon. But anything I've endured is NOTHING compared to what Scott has had to deal with. Even after years and years of therapy and a myriad of medication and excruciating knowledge of the condition, he still suffers. It pained me to read as I felt a great deal of empathy for the guy. Turns out, the underlying causes of anxiety disorders are pretty murky. There's definitely some biochemical components and some genetic ones. But it seems that parenting can contribute or exacerbate the underlying predisposition. My only criticism of this well written and researched book is that the first chapter is by far the least compelling. After that, I found it very interesting and educational.
By combining such unfiltered honesty with deep reporting, Stossel has delivered an enlightening, empowering read. But all of his disclosures serve a higher purpose, too. His candor about his sense of unrest — as well as his gnawing, conflicted feelings about admitting to it — serve as the foundation for his investigation into the panic and apprehension that afflict millions of Americans. His new book, “My Age of Anxiety,” uses his experience as a guide through the disorder, tracing its legacy in thought and culture. He seeks to understand what anxiety is and what it means; he probes the condition’s ambiguities. The result is ambitious, and bravely intimate: a ruminative book that often breaks into a thrilling intellectual chase. HæderspriserDistinctionsNotable Lists
Biography & Autobiography.
Medical.
Psychology.
Nonfiction.
HTML:A riveting, revelatory, and moving account of the author??s struggles with anxiety, and of the history of efforts by scientists, philosophers, and writers to understand the condition As recently as thirty-five years ago, anxiety did not exist as a diagnostic category. Today, it is the most common form of officially classified mental illness. Scott Stossel gracefully guides us across the terrain of an affliction that is pervasive yet too often misunderstood. Drawing on his own long-standing battle with anxiety, Stossel presents an astonishing history, at once intimate and authoritative, of the efforts to understand the condition from medical, cultural, philosophical, and experiential perspectives. He ranges from the earliest medical reports of Galen and Hippocrates, through later observations by Robert Burton and Søren Kierkegaard, to the investigations by great nineteenth-century scientists, such as Charles Darwin, William James, and Sigmund Freud, as they began to explore its sources and causes, to the latest research by neuroscientists and geneticists. Stossel reports on famous individuals who struggled with anxiety, as well as on the afflicted generations of his own family. His portrait of anxiety reveals not only the emotion??s myriad manifestations and the anguish anxiety produces but also the countless psychotherapies, medications, and other (often outlandish) treatments that have been developed to counteract it. Stossel vividly depicts anxiety??s human toll??its crippling impact, its devastating power to paralyze??while at the same time exploring how those who suffer from it find ways to manage and control it. My Age of Anxiety is learned and empathetic, humorous and inspirational, offering the reader great insight into the biological, cultural, and environmental factors that contribute t No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)616.85Technology Medicine and health Diseases Diseases of nervous system and mental disorders MiscellaneousLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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It’s interesting and surprising to learn about the many people in history who suffered from debilitating nerves and depression. The book is packed with lots of well-researched information about treatments and medications of the day.
Some interesting factoids … Apparently Freud used cocaine for awhile to treat his own nerves until a friend over dosed and died. Bayer brought Heroin to market where it was available in America without a prescription until 1914. And Chlor-Trimeton, the allergy med, helped quite a few people overcome panic attacks. Who knew!
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