DON'T WORRY"": Understanding Anxiety

by J. Adrienne Henderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 19, 1981

It's rather nice to hear someone say some kind words about anxiety--but the doleful tone of this effort to put it in perspective is apt to make the average anxious reader recoil in dismay. (Not to mention the teeth-gnashing prose: ""Making life routine is a necessary adaptation to the complexity and variety of possible experiences, but in this process we sacrifice some of our inherent plasticity . . . ."") The gist, then: life is only made feasible by a fund of ""recipe knowledge"" through which we get through the daily routine: the more recipe knowledge we call upon, the less anxious we feel, but the less ""alive"" and creative we are in our approach to life, too. Rapid change accounts in part for our almost daily need to redefine our future, our sense of ""identity,"" etc. (If you're suddenly unemployed, you'll feel differently about being a Ph.D.) Thus: anxiety and its conscious component, worry. (Or, amusingly: ""Worry is often nothing more than an exercise in passing time while waiting for the ax to fall."") Henderson tends--overly perhaps--to see reality as socially determined: even people who believe their thought processes are under their own control may be prey to an illusion, we're told. Abstract and convoluted--but in a roundabout way, heartening.

Pub Date: Jan. 19, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION