Unwinding Anxiety

New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind

By: Judson Brewer MD PhD

Narrated by: Judson Brewer MD PhD

A step-by-step plan clinically proven to break the cycle of worry and fear that drives anxiety and addictive habits

We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember. Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic or as personal as having kids at home and fighting the urge to reach for the wine bottle every night, we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. But in this timely book, Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone.

We think of anxiety as everything from mild unease to full-blown panic. But it's also what drives the addictive behaviors and bad habits we use to cope (e.g. stress eating, procrastination, doom scrolling and social media). Plus, anxiety lives in a part of the brain that resists rational thought. So we get stuck in anxiety habit loops that we can't think our way out of or use willpower to overcome. Dr. Brewer teaches us map our brains to discover our triggers, defuse them with the simple but powerful practice of curiosity, and to train our brains using mindfulness and other practices that his lab has proven can work.

Distilling more than 20 years of research and hands-on work with thousands of patients, including Olympic athletes and coaches, and leaders in government and business, Dr. Brewer has created a clear, solution-oriented program that anyone can use to feel better - no matter how anxious they feel.

*This audiobook includes a PDF of the behavioral tendencies questionnaire from the book.

Useful for everyone

I can’t imagine there’s anyone who couldn’t get some useful strategies for managing anxiety from this book. The author explains the science clearly, and Is pleasant to listen to. There are discussions of procrastination and worrying, which are common enough. But I was surprised by the heavy focus on smoking cessation and binge eating, both of which I’ve battled in the past. The book made me realize that although I eliminated those symptoms on my own, I probably never addressed the underlying anxiety, leading to my current issues which are more nebulous and hard to pinpoint. I look forward to re-listening to this book and implementing the methods it recommends.

informative in a kind and human way

I have meditated for about fours years, I have a therapist for about 2, and I am a fairly flow person. but I have experienced enough entirety in my life for many reasons. Trauma, disease, loneliness. So I decided giving this book a try after I saw a different title a friend of mine posted on her Instagram stories. I looked into that one and found this one under the authors name and thought "this was very convenient. ill give it a try". and even though it took me about 2 weeks to read and I haven't had nearly as much time to actually put it all together, the curiosity, the recognizing and noting and the understanding that the future, however long it may be from the present, may be, it cannot be seenn. we have to live now so this can get us to the future. and it sounds too simple. but the way the book puts it it makes more sense because he tells how. HOW is the main point.
i really recomenda this for all persons with anxiety, stress, panics and any other difficult situation in their lives in which habit has taken over in the wrong way.

This author gets it

Helpful examples and suggestions to manage anxiety. The book was informative and interesting. I would recommend to anyone dealing with anxiety. I learned some new methods to tackle worrying and ruminating.

Unconditional Kindness

I was searching for answers for most of my life, and I found them in his books. Anxiety works in each of us in different yet very similar ways. My digestion struggled most of my life because of anxiety I was caring since 4 years old until 39

“The stomach carries the heart, and not the heart the stomach.”
— Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

This can make a real Difference.

I highly recommend this book. I have listened to it multiple times and it is really adds value.