Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You - The Worry Cure

There are some simple things in the course of life that change the way you view things. They are often referred to as an 'epiphany'. I would regard this book as providing me with one that will help me for years to come.

There are parts of this book that are a cure in themselves "Productive versus unproductive worry" for example. Such a concise philosophy, beautiful in its simplicity. This alone makes this book priceless to myself.

However, the style Mr Leahy writes in, the non-patronising tone, the clarity of thought and logic make this book something profound.

I am 35 years old and have 'ramped up' my worrying over the last 3 years. This 'habit' began with a very stressful job where I struggled to keep perspective. Worry become the norm. And it is a norm that is destructive, energy sapping and ultimately incredibly dangerous.

I laughed out loud during the first chapter as I recognized aspects of myself in what he was writing of. It was fantastic to see it in writing and understand that I was not alone. There were numerous times in the introduction alone that I recognized myself.

Needless to say, he elaborates on his ideas brilliantly. He builds his concepts with honesty and understanding of those he is writing for. Utlimately the effect, in my opinion at least, is profound.

I would like to thank Dr Leahy for writing this great bit of logic. I feel like a different person and am already catching those 'unproductive thoughts' to tackle at either a better time, or for that matter, not at all.

Work through this book if 'worry' is your 'worry' (sorry, didn't quite know how to term this differently!). Dwell on the points. Recongnize yourself. Take those nuggets of wisdom and run with them.

If you are like me, you will not regret it.

An easy 5 stars.

Dr. Robert Leahy's most recent book, The Worry Cure, is not just a timely publication that teaches individuals from all paths of life how to reduce the often crippling effects of pathological anxiety. It is also a well-needed and vital manual for coping with many of the uncertainties that we face in our complex and uncertain lives. Written in a down to earth, practical style, The Worry Cure is based on the very best that cutting edge empirical science has to teach us about the mind-body-spirit connections in the psychology of anxiety. It also teaches the various methods that people can use to place anxiety in the background and bring inner peace and joy to the foreground every day. What is particularly helpful about this publication is that Dr. Leahy not only informs the reader about techniques and skills that can be used to cope with anxiety, but he explains how anxiety works, and how to balance one's life so that anxiety is put into its proper perspective. Not only have I enthusiastically recommended it to all of my clients, but I find myself going back to it time and again for periodic refreshers.

Dr. Leahy's special gift is that he does not espouse his ideas in a preachy or dogmatic manner. Rather, he has integrated the very best that the cognitive-behavioral therapy revolution has to offer with other psychological theories and understandings that help people to make sense of their suffering in very humanistic and realistic ways. Consequently, he has crafted a manual that is deceptive in its practicality for the average person, yet it is grounded in some of the most reliable and valid findings that psychological science has to offer at this time.

The Worry Cure is such an easy read, the consumer should be cautioned to slow down and carefully absorb the wisdom in each page, despite being tempted to fly through it from cover to cover like a skier on a powdery downhill slope. It is not a book that is to be read and put back on a shelf or in a library. Instead, The Worry Cure is a book whose ideas must be read, re-read, pondered, savored, carefully digested, absorbed, and applied through daily practice, over and over, in order to make real changes in one's daily life. With that perspective, The Worry Cure is such an important book, it might be considered to be an essential manual for living in modern times from which everyone could profit, whether or not they are suffering from difficulties associated with anxiety.

Despite its appearance as a popular self-help book, The Worry Cure, is also a comprehensive treatment manual that mental health professionals will find quite helpful to use with their clients. As a core faculty member in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, we utilize several of Dr. Leahy's scholarly books, including Treatment Plans and Interventions for Depression and Anxiety Disorders, Cognitive Therapy Techniques: A Practitioner's Guide, and Overcoming Resistance in Cognitive Therapy in our practicum seminar courses as an important component in our students' clinical training. I am certain that The Worry Cure will take its rightful place alongside other classic self-help books, as well as treatment manuals that both early-career clinicians and experienced mental health providers will come to rely on in their clinical practice as one of their most valued tools of the trade. It is truly a classic!

Bruce S. Zahn, Ed.D., ABPP
Board Certified in Clinical Psychology
Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Philadelphia, PA

I just needed to write this review because Dr. Leahy has managed to present a comprehensive and user friendly approach to some of the most effective psychotherapy techniques ever developed. This book is based on research based methods drawn from cognitive and behavioral therapies. Period. These techniques aren't just "positive thinking," they are easy to use, significant, and proven techniques that are being put into practice by evidence based therapists the world over. OF COURSE reviews and endorsements are coming in from psychologists!! This isn't bias, this is evidence that THIS APPROACH WORKS for many, many people. I just read a review by an anonymous reader who takes pot shots at these proven techniques, claims that they don't work for him/her and generally complains in a paranoid way. Disregard such a review and stick with the facts. Research and experience shows that this approach works better than just about any other therapy approach, and is as effective or more effective than medication. Beyond that, Leahy presents it in a useful and friendly way. If that ain't enough, I don't know what is. I can't stress enough the usefulness of this book. Many top psychologists like this approach just the way many baseball experts appreciated theNew York Yankees in the 70's. It's just common sense. If you struggle with worry, The Worry Cure can be an important part of your road to further happiness.

Bob Leahy has managed to write something unique and important in his newest book. "The Worry Cure" is grounded in the science of psychology, while written in a breezy style that will be accessible to professional and lay audiences alike. Dr. Leahy's book succeeds in being wise and at times very, very funny. His profile of how to make your worry worse, for example, is based on the most current research findings about worry, but with a presentation that made me laugh out loud at times. Dr. Leahy cuts through the maze of scholarly studies and teaches the public practical strategies for coping with life's difficulties, without the added misery brought on by out-of-control worry. It is rare for a scholar to write so well for the general public; it is even more rare for today's many popular psychologists to ground their work in good science. Bob Leahy does both, and an increasingly worried public will benefit from this very fine work.

As a chronic worrier with anxiety disorder, this book has been a helpful tool among several that I use to try to keep my anxiety in check. For me, it can get a bit "bogged down" at times with checklists, etc., but the meat of the book is really good. I like that it gives examples of what may or may not worry people (health, money, career, etc.) and how one might deal with that particular category of worry. Not an instant, miracle cure-all for worry, but definitely can be helpful if read during a time when you have a calm mind (!) and some straight-forward reasoning ability, so that you can remember some of the suggestions it provides when you get a worry flare-up.

Dr. Robert Leahy has written a book that will come as welcome tonic to the frazzled nerves of it's readers. This book not only outlines all of the reasons why people do worry, it highlights the methods that most people try to use to get rid of worry (try not to think about it, seek reassurance from others) and shows you how they backfire. This might be enough to warrant buying it, but it also provides a sane, realistic approach to dealing with worry that weaves acceptance with change. This approach is based on cutting edge research and theories that even your therapist may not have heard about.

For instance, this is also the first book written for the non professional that I have seen that addresses the way that people worry about their worry and includes a clear rationale for why people worry about some things over others based on their history and personality.

I highly recommend the book to others and I can't think of a better holiday present than the relief my worried friends will feel after they've read this. Enjoy!

I have the audiobook version and highly recommend it, the narrator is excellent. This book has almost immediately changed my life and explained things to me in a way no one ever could. The author knew exactly how I think, why I think that way, and used that to break down (in relatively seemingly simple) ways to help. Worriers are generally deep thinkers and highly analytical people and a simple "Don't stress about it" from friends just doesn't help. Amazing book!

This book will be tremendously helpful for anyone who worries. Robert Leahy has taken the best and most current research on what actually helps people overcome anxiety, and he has turned it into a user friendly guide. His tone is warm, friendly and humorous, but the advice is always practical. As a therapist, I have recommended this book to a number of my patients. I have also made it required reading for the other therapists I supervise. It would be hard to find a better or more up-to-date guide for mastering anxiety and worry.

Dr. Leahy is authoritative, learned, witty and wise, eloquent and compassionate, etc, etc.

This is more than a mere self-help boof for our time. It is certainly that. But it also offers a spiritual path that will inevitably lead to emotional freedom and potential bliss.

Thanks, Dr. Bob!

Popo

Dr. Leahy's superb writing style, wit, and expertise in cognitive-behavioral therapy provide the reader with a more practical perspective on worry. As a self-proclaimed worrier, this book helped me realize exactly how worry interfered with my daily life. Now after following Dr. Leahy's strategies, I feel like I'm better able to manage my worry rather than allowing my worry to manage me!

This book is a well-written, well-organized self-help manual for people who worry excessively. Written by an expert in cognitive therapy, the material guides you through seeing the specific ways in which you as an individual might worry and how to deal with these types of problems.

Dear Friends: I am about half-way through this book and am somewhat disappointed by it. I have a master's in counseling -- and no, I have never met Dr. Leahy -- but I was really hoping for more than this book has to give.

I am a big fan of cognitive therapy, and own several books on it. Also I worry a lot. So I was hoping to benefit from this book :)

The first four chapters are reasonably well-organized, and I learned a lot of new information about dealing with worrying from them. I really appreciated them, and thank Dr. Leahy for writing them.

But, after the first four chapters, I found this book frustrating because it has many useful insights on worry, but they are poorly organized, sort of flung at the reader. There are many vague case histories of "Ted," "Darlene," etc. of whom the reader quickly loses track.

In fact I began to feel resentful of "Ted" etc. -- it was like I was sitting in a group therapy session where I knew no one, and my problems were being completely ignored.

Also, the style of the book is very breezy and dismissive of its worried readers -- kind of, "hey, foolish reader, we'll rid you of those silly worries" -- many of us have real, major life problems, and this book seems to be focused on what is called the "worried well" -- people who have high incomes, good jobs, and some neurotic worries. Their biggest problems seem to be overwork, or trouble finding a date.

For someone who has major life worries, or serious anxiety, or major health and/or emotional problems, or is struggling with their finances, the book feels patronizing. Every case history is resolved with Dr. Leahy showing the person they have nothing to worry about -- they have a good income or they are attractive and can find dates, etc.

And in parts where it is announced, again in a breezy style, that most worries never come true -- well, I guess Dr. Leahy has led a very sheltered life.

Also, there are things missing -- the reader takes a test "scoring key, personality belief questionnaire" -- which then shows your alleged levels of Obsessive-Compulsive, Narcissistic, etc. personality traits. But the explanation on the next page leaves out the last three categories on which you are scored. So you have no idea what scores in those areas mean.

Stuff like this happens in several areas of the book -- a concept is announced and then there is not thorough follow-through. Dr. Leahy needed a more attentive editor or proofreader.

I am up to page 137, and I hope to finish the book because there are nuggets of wisdom in it.

But on the other hand, I have been looking through the rest of the book and noticed that the "health anxieties" section -- chapter 13 -- views everyone with health worries as being fundamentally healthy people who are neurotic about their health -- well, that cuts out all the people with chronic illnesses! Guess their worries aren't very important!

This book should have been entitled: "The Worry Cure for People Who Are In Excellent Health With Good Jobs and Some Minor Neuroses Around Relationship, Romance and Work Problems." It is not a book for people with major life problems, illnesses, financial problems, relationship difficulties, etc.

Which is a shame, because many of them worry too much and could really, really use the help in discerning better ways to handle their worries, and Dr. Leahy does know the latest worry research very thoroughly. Why he has chosen to apply it only to the "worried well" is beyond me.

I am thinking of going back to Dr. David Burns' "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy."

And no, I have never met Dr. Burns, either!

The book is loaded with questionnaires which are nearly impossible to read on the nook. The one I'm answering now on page 54 has 65 questions. I'm using a magnifying glass to read them. Don't buy the electronic version. Enlarging the text size does not affect the questionnaires.

I actually have been to Robert Leahy's center-the American Center for Cognitive Therapy- a let me tell you that it was the biggest waste of money in my life. Arrogant, simplistic therapist who wouldn't even let you talk. CBT is a breezy, pie in the sky treatment not up to snuff to the challenges of an even unperturbed existence. [...]