Healing the Anxiety Diseases

274 Pages·1992·5.17 MB·English

by  Thomas L. Leaman M.D. (auth.)

Thomas L. Leaman
Healing the
Anxiety Diseases
Healing the
Anxiety Diseases
Healing the
Anxiety Diseases
Thomas L. Leaman, M.D.
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data
Leaman. Thomas L.
Healing the anxiety diseases I Thomas L. Leaman.
p. em.
Includes biblIographical references and Index.
1. Anxlety--Popular works. 2. Anxlety--Treatment. 1. Title.
[DNLM, 1. Anxiety Disorders. WM 172 L436hl
RC531.L34 1992
616.85·223--dc20
DNLM/DLC
for Library of Congress 91-45635
CIP
ISBN 978-0-306-44128-8 ISBN 978-1-4899-6487-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-6487-8
© 1992 Thomas L. Leaman
Originally published by Plenum Press in 1992.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmi,tl
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To my beloved Jeanne
Acknowledgments
The inspiration for this book came from my patients, especially Ruth,
Robert, Paul, and Henrietta, and to them I will always owe a debt of
gratitude for my education in anxiety diseases. For her typing, and her
patience with the many retypings, I thank my friend and secretary,
Carol Jackson. For the lessons in grammar, for the creative ideas, and
for the poking and prodding, I thank my literary consultant and agent,
my daughter, Rebecca Pratt. And I especially thank my wife, Jeanne,
who has supported and encouraged me in this and everything I've
done.
Thomas L. Leaman, M.D.
Hershey, Pennsylvania
vii
Contents
Chapter 1. Anxiety Disease: There Is Good News ........ 1
Chapter 2. Three Faces of Anxiety Disease .............. 15
Chapter 3. Anxiety Is the Spouse of Life: Normal Anxiety
and Anxiety Diseases ....................... 29
Chapter 4. Could It Be My Nerves? The Meaning and
Function of Symptoms ...................... 43
Chapter 5. Boogums, Snorklewackers, and Tigers ........ 59
Chapter 6. When the Body Speaks: Symptoms of the Skin,
Respiratory, and Gastrointestinal Systems ..... 77
Chapter 7. When the Body Groans: Symptoms of the
Musculoskeletal, Cardiovascular, Endocrine,
Blood, Urinary, and Reproductive Systems. . . . 95
Chapter 8. Know Your Own Anxiety: The Six Types of X
Anxiety Disease ............................ 117
Chapter 9. Double 'frouble 141
ix
x Contents
Chapter 10. Why Me? 165
Chapter 11. What Do I Do Now? ........................ 185
Chapter 12. Help without Medication .................... 203
Chapter 13. Medications that Heal ....................... 223
Chapter 14. "There's No Place Like Home" ............... 245
Chapter 15. Keeping the Snorklewackers in the Closet ..... 261
Further Reading ............................ 281
Notes ..................................... 283
Index ...................................... 285
The guilty flee when no man pursueth.
Proverbs
Chapter 1
Anxiety Disease
There Is Good News
Have you ever experienced repeated drenching sweats, or been plagued
by persistent fatigue for no apparent reason? Stomach cramps? Head
aches? Rapid heartbeat? Chest pain? Shortness of breath? Endless
sleepless nights? Have you ever felt like a hostage in your own home?
Are you afraid to leave the safety of those familiar walls? Have you ever
said, "It's just my nerves. I'll be fine as soon as things settle down and I
get myself together. It's probably my own fault. I should have taken that
vacation when I had the chance."
If none of these descriptions apply directly to you, then certainly
one out of every dozen or so people that you know, and possibly
someone you care about very deeply, has suffered from a handful of
these symptoms of misery.
A 1982 study by the prestigious National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH) showed that more than 9.5% of the American public suffered
from anxiety disease within the six months prior to the survey. This
means that almost one out of every ten people experienced these painful
symptoms during that period. Over an individual's lifetime, the per
centages will, of course, be far higher.
This same study revealed another astonishing fact: only twenty-
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