Practical and poetic, wise and funny, this is a small book with a big heart. It will encourage the myriad sufferers of the world's most common mental illness to feel not just better about their condition, but delighted by the possibilities it offers for a richer, fuller life. In her new book, she directs her intense focus and fierce investigatory skills onto this lifetime companion of hers, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and even the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism her own experiences.

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A new story about anxiety First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A new story about anxiety

On the positive side I loved the name and the concept of 'making the beast beautiful'. A lot of research and therapeutic approaches like positive psychology support this idea of moving from 'diagnosis' to 'compassion and acceptance'. I've found a softening towards myself and in my clients when using this approach. She includes a couple exercises to help bring yourself down when you're experiencing anxiety. But not too many, because: "I don't plan on filling this book with too many exercises that people like me skim over to get to the meaty theory. I'll just include the ones that suit people like you and me." pg 57, ebook This book...I really wanted to love it, there were some great moments and thoughts in it that inspire you to look at your anxiety differently - but mostly this book is flat out irresponsible. The passages about how evil anti depressants are were traumatizing to me and I’m sure to many other people. I’ve had good and bad experiences with different medications but this book made me feel like they had all permanently damaged me and that I couldn’t use them if I needed the help. But then I got to the end..and after all Sarah’s been through and all she takes the reader through, she casually throws it out there that she tried to kill herself, TWICE, while writing the book. You can also get it on Kindle hereand other ebooks hereand for Audio (I read the book myself), you can buy it here. Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of May Cause Miracles Here’s where you find all the science and source referencesI also related strongly to a quote on 276, "I generally find that anxious people spend a lot of their lives trying to have fun doing stuff other people find enjoyable." This is another thing that I am a firm follower in, and reading it will hopefully make me choose my own plans, no matter how small they are.

First, We Make The Beast Beautiful | Whitcoulls First, We Make The Beast Beautiful | Whitcoulls

I have read many many books on related subjects the last ten years, and I find most have a tiresome "do these 10 simple things and your anxiety will be gone!!! :D :D :D" tone. That tone pisses me off. Nothing is easy with anxiety; nothing is straightforward or simple. I was worried this book would be more of that. To be honest, this book made me irritated because it made me feel like I was failing because I can’t manage my life in similar ways to her. This reaction isn’t all me and it was heavily influenced by the way she chose to structure and write this book. She made it seem that if you couldn’t follow her easy to manage suggestions then you aren’t trying hard enough to manage anxiety and you almost deserve your situation. It’s written in a very conversational style, the structure is a tad chaotic and repeatedly jumps around to different things but that does appeal to me - as my brain is very much like this! It means that I never got bored. She covers triggers and treatments, as well as her own personal anecdotes and little quotes and tidbits from fellow anxiety sufferers.In first, we make the beast beautiful, Sarah directs her intense focus and fierce investigatory skills onto this lifetime companion of hers, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism of her own experiences. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a book with a big heart, paving the way for richer, kinder and wiser conversations about anxiety. The title is derived from a Chinese proverb I came across about twenty years ago in psychiatrist and bipolar sufferer Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir An Unquiet Mind. This journey is what I do now. I bump along, in fits and starts, on a perpetual path to finding better ways for me and my mate, Anxiety, to get around. It's everything I do.