The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response

by Ellen Vora, Eileen Stevens (Read by)

Overview

From an acclaimed functional medicine psychiatrist, a groundbreaking approach to understanding and managing anxiety from a holistic perspective. 

More than 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety in any given year, which has only worsened with the Covid-19 pandemic. To help patients cope with this often-debilitating mental health disorder, doctors tend to reach for the prescription pad, subscribing to the conventional wisdom that anxiety is “all in our heads.” Ellen Vora, MD contends that what we need is an all-encompassing approach that looks beyond the brain and considers the whole person.

Backed by the latest scientific research and Dr. Vora’s clinical work, The Anatomy of Anxiety offers a fresh, much-needed look at mental health, offering actionable strategies for managing our moods. Much of our anxiety begins in the physical body, often the result of seemingly innocuous states of imbalance, such as a blood sugar crash or sleep deprivation. This type of anxiety is far more preventable than we may realize, through straightforward adjustments to our diet and lifestyle, such as reducing caffeine intake, stabilizing blood sugar, prioritizing rest, and rethinking our relationship to technology.

Other forms of anxiety are not pathologic but come as a course correction to help nudge us back onto our paths. In this instance, anxiety is not what’s wrong with us, but it’s here to alert us to the fact that something else is out of balance—in our bodies, our lives, or in the world around us. This more intuitive version of anxiety, Dr. Vora suggests, is meant to be listened to and honored, and we can learn simple strategies for tuning into this anxiety and allowing it to protect and guide us. In The Anatomy of Anxiety, Dr. Vora walks beside us through a healing process to reframe our relationship with anxiety, and in turn create a more joyful and fulfilled life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798200854769
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 5.59(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Ellen Vora, MD, is a holistic psychiatrist, acupuncturist, and yoga teacher. She takes a functional medicine approach to mental health—considering the whole person and addressing imbalance at the root. Dr. Vora received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.D. from Columbia University, and she is board-certified in psychiatry and integrative holistic medicine. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. 

Eileen Stevens is a voice-over actress living and working in New York City whose voice can be heard on cartoons, promos, programs for English-language learners, and audiobooks. She has voiced Iris on Pokémon. An Earphones Award–winning narrator, she has also directed and produced audiobooks for over six years.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I It's Not all in Your Head

Chapter 1 The Age of Anxiety 9

Chapter 2 Avoidable Anxiety 17

Chapter 3 Purposeful Anxiety 31

Part II False Anxiety

Chapter 4 The Anxiety of Modern Life 43

Chapter 5 Tired and Wired 47

Chapter 6 Techxiety 67

Chapter 7 Food for Thought 77

Chapter 8 Body on Fire 107

Chapter 9 Women's Hormonal Health and Anxiety 135

Chapter 10 The Silent Epidemic 155

Chapter 11 Discharging Stress and Cultivating Relaxation 167

Part III True Anxiety

Chapter 12 Tuning In 189

Chapter 13 This Is Why You Stopped Singing 223

Chapter 14 Connection Is Calming 239

Chapter 15 Holding On, Letting Go 257

Acknowledgments 265

Appendix: Herbs and Supplements for Anxiety 271

Notes 275

Index 325

Editorial Reviews

01/31/2022

Holistic psychiatrist Vora outlines anxiety’s effects on mental and physical health in her thought-provoking debut, exploring the physiological sources of anxiety and offering practical guidance to help mitigate symptoms. “Anxiety—that hypervigilant feeling that escalates swiftly to a sense of catastrophe and doom—is as grounded in the body as it is in the mind,” she notes. She teaches readers how to take anxiety inventories (can one’s mood be explained by overcaffeination? dehydration?), avoid unnecessary stress by stabilizing blood sugar levels, rein in social media use, and alter one’s diet to lessen anxiety (healthy fats are your friends). Vora acknowledges that in some situations anxiety is inevitable and offers strategies for coping with it, such as deep breathing, counting backward by sevens, and exercise (“Mother Nature’s Xanax”). The sensible, easy-to-implement advice is delivered in a reassuring tone and is backed up with solid medical rationales from Vora’s professional practice. Readers struggling with anxiety would do well to seek out this first-rate primer. Agent: John Maas, Park & Fine Literary and Media. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"The Anatomy of Anxiety is a paradigm shift in how we view anxiety and the mind-body connection. Dr. Vora's approach gets to often-unaddressed root causes of anxiety and teaches you how to find well-being. Anxiety truly is our teacher, and this book is a must-have for anyone looking to heal."
— Dr. Nicole LePera, founder of The Holistic Psychologist and author of How to Do the Work

“The most comprehensive book in print on anxiety: what it is, its myriad causes, the ways in which it affects us, and how we can practically use, manage and transcend it. The Anatomy of Anxiety is like The Body Keeps the Score for anxiety. Everyone needs this book.” — Holly Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of Quit Like a Woman 

“Dr. Ellen Vora is the rare psychiatrist who moves past the prescription pad to probe the underlying factors that contribute to these pervasive feelings of uneasiness. This is a hopeful guide to anxiety, one that addresses the ingredients of this complicated stew and offers tactical advice for unwinding its death-grip on our minds and lives.” — Elise Loehnen, former CCO of goop and host of the Pulling the Thread podcast

“In a time when anxiety is at an all-time high, my esteemed colleague Dr. Ellen Vora’s timing and message with this book is impeccable. This brilliant work offers us a holistic approach to anxiety that is thoughtful and comprehensive yet imbued with a beautiful grace and heart just like it’s author.” — Dr. Will Cole, leading functional medicine expert, New York Times bestselling author of Intuitive Fasting 

“What sweet salve—for anxiety to be seen as the ‘beginning of inquiry’, not as a broken state. Thank you, Ellen, for leading us on this new, somatic, integrated, and vibrant journey with your expertise and your mindfully curated lived experience.” — Sarah Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of First, We Make the Beast Beautiful 

"Anxiety keeps your life small. Dr. Vora's approach will get you out of your head and into your body, relationships, and lifestyle by dismantling anxiety (major and minor) for good." — Melissa Urban, CEO and co-founder of Whole30 

"A thought-provoking debut. . . . Vora's sensible, easy-to-implement advice is backed up with solid medical rationales. Readers struggling with anxiety would do well to seek out this first-rate primer." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

"Anxiety keeps your life small. Dr. Vora's approach will get you out of your head and into your body, relationships, and lifestyle by dismantling anxiety (major and minor) for good."

Melissa Urban

What sweet salve - for anxiety to be seen as the ‘beginning of inquiry’, not as a broken state. Thank you, Ellen, for leading us on this new, somatic, integrated, and vibrant journey with your expertise and your mindfully curated lived experience.

Sarah Wilson

In a time when anxiety is at an all-time high, my esteemed colleague Dr. Ellen Vora’s timing and message with this book is impeccable. This brilliant work offers us a holistic approach to anxiety that is thoughtful and comprehensive yet imbued with a beautiful grace and heart just like it’s author.

Dr. Will Cole

Dr. Ellen Vora is the rare psychiatrist who moves past the prescription pad to probe the underlying factors that contribute to these pervasive feelings of uneasiness. This is a hopeful guide to anxiety, one that addresses the ingredients of this complicated stew and offers tactical advice for unwinding its death-grip on our minds and lives.

Elise Loehnen

The most comprehensive book in print on anxiety: what it is, its myriad causes, the ways in which it affects us, and how we can practically use, manage and transcend it. The Anatomy of Anxiety is like The Body Keeps the Score for anxiety. Everyone needs this book.

Holly Whitaker

"The Anatomy of Anxiety is a paradigm shift in how we view anxiety and the mind-body connection. Dr. Vora's approach gets to often-unaddressed root causes of anxiety and teaches you how to find well-being. Anxiety truly is our teacher, and this book is a must-have for anyone looking to heal."

Dr. Nicole LePera