Warren Mansell - Coping with Fears and Phobias: A CBT Guide to Understanding and Facing Your Anxieties

Advance Praise for Coping with Fears and Phobias

An excellent book, which should be interesting and beneficial to readers of a wide range of backgrounds.

Anxious Times

Impressively clear, comprehensive, and practical a treasure for those who wish to understand and treat their anxiety.

Daniel Freeman, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London

A very valuable addition to the self-help literature. It is clear and concise, and gives plentiful, useful advice on how to use strategies derived from a cognitive behavioural framework to overcome anxiety.

Ann Hackmann, Consultant Clinical Psychologist,
Oxford University Department of Psychiatry

Warren Mansell draws on a wealth of clinical experience to present an admirable combination of well-validated scientific strategies and a common-sense approach in his 10-step plan to coping with fears and phobias. Highly recommended.

James Bennett-Levy,
Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, University of Oxford

Dr Mansell, who is internationally recognized for his research on fear and anxiety, provides a lucid, practical and realistic guide for those wishing to better understand and cope with their fears. It is the most helpful book on this topic I have read.

Allison G. Harvey, Director, Sleep and Psychological
Disorders Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley

I highly recommend this valuable, thoughtful and exceptionally helpful book.

Robert L. Leahy,
Director, American Institute for Cognitive Therapy

An excellent book which is easy to read and describes clearly the latest approaches in cognitive behaviour therapy.

David Veale,
Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London

ALSO AVAILABLE IN THE COPING WITH SERIES

Series Editor: Steven Jones, University of Manchester

Coping with Bipolar Disorder:

A CBT guide to living with manic depression

Steven Jones, Peter Hayward and Dominic Lam

ISBN 978 1851682997

Coping with Schizophrenia:

A CBT guide for patients, families and caregivers

Steven Jones and Peter Hayward

ISBN 9781851683444

Coping with an Anxious or Depressed Child:

A CBT guide for parents

Sam Cartwright-Hatton

ISBN 978 1851684823

FORTHCOMING

Coping with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:

A CBT guide for patients and their families

Jan van Niekerk

ISBN 9781851685158

TO ORDER TITLES

All the titles in this series are available direct from the publisher.

Please visit www.oneworld-publications.com to order books online.

COPING WITH FEARS AND PHOBIAS

Published by Oneworld Publications 2007
This ebook edition published in 2012

Copyright Warren Mansell 2007

All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available
from the British Library

ISBN-13: 9781851685141
ebook ISBN-13: 9781780740881

Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India
Cover design by Mungo Designs

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This book is dedicated to my mum and my dad, who have helped me to question and not to judge; my late grandma and my grandad (heading for his tenth decade!); and to Louise, who I love dearly.

This book would not be the same without the help, contributions and feedback from the following people: Stacey Lavda, Lorna Mansell, Angus MacDougall, Louise Dawson, Lorraine Morris, Annette Dawson, Tim Carey, Margaret Carey and Sam Cartwright Hatton. Thank you to No Panic and their members who reviewed other self-help books for me in the early stages of developing this book. Thank you to Liz Hay for evaluating the book in a research study and thank you to the Reader of an earlier manuscript of this book for all the helpful suggestions. Many people have influenced the ideas in this book, and I am indebted to their work. They are David M. Clark, Paul Salkovskis, Adrian Wells, Anke Ehlers, Tim Carey, Bill Powers, Tony Morrison, Allison Harvey, Ed Watkins, Roz Shafran, Emily Holmes, Dan Freeman, Craig Steel, Sara Tai, Ian Lowens, Paul Gilbert, Ann Hackmann, Gillian Butler, Steve Hayes, John Kabat-Zinn, Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Richard Bentall, Tim Beck and David Burns. The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies and its annual conference organised by Philip Tata, Rod Holland and their team have provided the opportunity for many of these great thinkers and therapists to share their most recent and innovative ideas with the rest of us. Thank you to Steve Jones, Juliet Mabey and Kate Kirkpatrick for developing this great series of books and so giving me the opportunity to write a self-help book of this kind.

This series is intended to provide clear, accessible, and practical information to individuals with a wide range of psychological disorders, as well as to their friends, relatives and interested professionals. As the causes of emotional distress can be complex, books in this series are not designed purely to detail self-treatment information. Instead, each volume sets out to offer guidance on the relevant, evidence-based psychological approaches that are available for the particular condition under discussion. Where appropriate, suggestions are also given on how to apply particular aspects of those techniques that can be incorporated into self-help approaches. Equally important, readers are offered information on which forms of therapy are likely to be beneficial, enabling sufferers to make informed decisions about treatment options with their referring clinician.

Each book also considers aspects of the disorder that are likely to be relevant to each individuals experience of receiving treatment, including the therapeutic approaches of medical professionals, the nature of diagnosis, and the myths that might surround a particular disorder. General issues that can also affect a sufferers quality of life, such as stigma, isolation, self-care and relationships are also covered in many of the volumes.

The books in this series are not intended to replace therapists, since many individuals will need a personal treatment programme from a qualified clinician. However, each title offers individually tailored strategies, devised by highly experienced practicing clinicians, predominantly based on the latest techniques of cognitive behavioural therapy, which have been shown to be extremely effective in changing the way sufferers think about themselves and their problems. In addition, titles also include a variety of practical features such as rating scales and diary sheets, helpful case studies drawn from real life, and a wide range of up-to-date resources including self-help groups, recommended reading, and useful websites. Consequently, each book provides the necessary materials for sufferers to become active participants in their own care, enabling constructive engagement with clinical professionals when needed and, when appropriate, to take independent action.

Dr Steven Jones

Series Editor

Is this book for you?

Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.

Mark Twain

Fear is a normal emotion. We all experience fear when we are in danger, but it usually subsides when we have reached safety. However, fear can also be so extreme and persistent that it disrupts peoples lives and prevents them from doing what they want to do. In this book, I will try to provide you with enough information about fear itself, and how to cope with it that you can begin to reclaim your life. I am going to approach this topic both in my role as a health professional with experience in treating anxiety disorders, and just as importantly, as a fellow human being. Fear can blight our lives and often returns when you least expect it. Yet, I have seen that it is possible for people to learn to cope better with it each time.