"A unique description of how clients think in the situations that produce anxiety, and how they can work on changing their thinking and reclaiming their lives, which have been lost to fears, rituals, and patterns of avoidance."—Aaron T. Beck, M.D., from the foreword

Gracie hasn't left her house in thirty years out of fear she'll be contaminated. Jerry spent hours each day picking up debris on the subway platform. Norm's bridge phobia led him into alcoholism. David bright, young, ambitious feared he'd lose his job because he so dreaded giving sales presentations.

These are some of the case studies exemplary of the approximately fourteen to twenty million people who suffer from anxiety disorders in this country that are found in this riveting and instructive book. Raeann Dumont lays bare the features of obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, and panic. Utilizing cognitive therapy and self-help techniques, she helps readers recognize anxiety-producing thoughts and shows how, through reality testing and assessing anxiety situations, these compulsions can be managed.