Table Of ContentTO
PROVEN TECHNIQUES TO CALM YOUR
AN XIETIES, CONQUER YOUR FEARS,
AN D PUT YOU IN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE
LUCINDA BASSETT
Author of Life Without Limits
Founder of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, Inc.
FROM PANIC TO POWER
~Proven Techniques to Calm Your
Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and
Put You in Control of Your Life
LUCINDA BASSETT
•••••
•
•
......
Collins Wellness
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPub/ishers
A paperback edition of this book was published in 200 I by HarperResource.
Chapter quotes used with permission and published by Celex Group, Inc./
Celebrating Excellence, all rights reserved.
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1996 by HarperCollins
Publishers.
FROM PANIC TO POWER. Copyright © 1995 by Midwest Center for Stress and
Anxiety, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part
of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without writ-
ten permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
and review. For information address HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 10 East 53rd
Street, New York, NY 10022.
HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales
promotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department,
HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.
First Perennial edition published 1997.
First Collins Wellness edition published 2005.
Designed by Irving Perkins Assocates
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:
Bassett, Lucinda.
From panic to power : proven techniques to calm your anxieties, conquer
your fears, and put you in control of your life I Lucinda Bassett. -
1st ed.
p.
cm.
ISBN 0-06-017320-3
1. Anxiety. 2. Fear. 3. Stress (Psychology) 4. Stress management.
5. Panic attacks. 6. Adjustment (Psychology)
I. Title.
BF575.A6B34 1995
152.4'6-dc20
ISBN 0-06-092758-5 (pbk.)
ISBN- 978-0-06-092758-5 (pbk.)
06 07
08 09
+IRRD 46 45
44
95-21052
This book is dedicated to my sister, Donna.
"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters ... "
I miss you.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART 1
DISCOVERY
ix
xiii
1 All Things Are Possible
3
2 Anxiety: What Is It and Do You Have It?
16
3 Where Do You Run When Panic Attacks?
40
4 Personality Traits: Variations on the Anxious
Attitude
57
5 Anticipatory Anxiety: The "What-If" Syndrome
91
6 Guilt, Anger, and Blame: So Whose Fault
Is It Anyway?
105
PART 2
RECOVERY
7 Taking Responsibility for the Way You Feel
for the Rest of Your Life
129
8 Compassionate Self-Talk: You Have to Be
the One You Run To
144
9 The Attitude of Achievement: Cultivating
Self-Esteem
159
viii
CONTENTS
10 How to Stop Being Disappointed and
Start Getting What You Want
179
11 How to Jump Off the Edge and Be
Your Own Parachute
194
12 How to Keep Stress From Becoming Anxiety
210
13 To Medicate or Not to Medicate: That Is the
Question
227
14 Leap of Faith: Free at Last!
238
EPILOGUE
247
INDEX
251
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my husband, David, for being my best friend for
thirteen years, for believing in me, for loving me so
intensely and unconditionally, and for helping me to shine.
Your hard work and dedication to the cause has played a
major role in the growth and success of the Midwest
Center. Here's to the future.
Thanks to my children, Brittany and Sammy, for putting
up with me at my desk, night after night, day after day,
while I was writing, writing, writing. Brittany, I really
loved it when you snuck in to sit with me. Thanks for all
the back rubs! Sammy, your funny little songs and dances
kept me going. "I'm so .. .lucky." Having you two has been
the greatest accomplishment of my life.
Thanks to Carolyn Dickman, my dear, dear friend and
colleague. God blessed me when he sent you to the
Midwest Center. Thank you for being a friend and confi-
dant. What would I do without you? What would the
Midwest Center do without you? What would we all do
without you? What a gift you are!
Thanks to Dr. Phil Fisher. You have been there since the
beginning, offering insight and support, but most of all,
unwavering faith in me and my mission. You are a very
special man and I will always be grateful for your friend-
ship.
A big thanks to Margret McBride-wow! What a
x
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
woman! You are the reason this book came to be. The
absolute best literary agent I could ask for. What a total
pleasure it is knowing you and working with you. Thank
you for encouraging me to keep this book "from the
heart."
Thanks to Diane Reverand for being a fabulous editor
and friend. Thank you for believing in the message from
the moment we met. Your energy, enthusiasm, and insight
as an editor were wonderful. Thanks for supporting and
encouraging the positive message in this book. And a big
thanks to HarperCollins Publishers for all their marketing
efforts.
A very special thanks to Andrea Cagan. I believe you
truly were meant to work with me on this book. I can't
imagine a smoother, more enjoyable collaboration. You are
a very warm, special, talented woman. Working with you
was a very natural "predestined" experience. Thank you
for helping me make this book the best it could be.
Thanks to Barb Banky for treating the Midwest Center as
if it were your home away from home. You have given so
much of yourself to help me help others. I love you for it.
Thanks to Dr. Jim Buldas, Dr. Paul Kelley, Tracy
Thorbahn, Monica Dickman, Diana Romstadt, Jacque
Maki, Dr. Joel Swabb, Mike Glugosh, Connie Szollosi, Lisa
Reiter, Jo Hudson for all your hard work and dedication
through the years. You have made it possible for us to
spread "our" wings. What a special group of people you
are.
Thanks to my brother Michael for using your tremen-
dous talents and creative energy to get the message out
worldwide. Your music and television production skills
have taken us to a whole new level. I love you.
Thanks to Tim Redel for a wonderful experience in
shooting the cover for this book. You had me climbing
ominous mountains and soaring with the birds by the
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xi
seashore. What wonderful memories. Let's do it again
sometime.
Thanks to all the professionals who use our techniques
to help their clients help themselves. With the combination
of your support and these skills, people can't help but
recover from anxiety.
Finally thanks to all the people around the world who
have believed in me enough to use these techniques to
help themselves. Your letters, phone calls, and personal
stories of struggle and triumph have been a tremendous
source of inspiration. You are why I do what I do.
INTRODUCTION
Everyone wants to feel confident. We all want to know that
we are capable of greatness, that we are strong, powerful,
and very creative. We want to be in control of our lives and
to succeed in making our dreams come true. The truth is,
we are and we can. Greatness is our birthright.
Just as greatness is a natural part of who we are, anxiety
and fear are also a part of everyone's lives. When we feel
we are in control, we can keep our lives balanced and most
everything runs smoothly. When we allow anxiety and fear
to dominate, we start questioning our every move. The
mere anticipation of these dreaded emotions can turn a
potentially pleasant situation into a misery and a night-
mare. When anxiety rules, your physical and emotional
energy are drained to the point that everything is colored
by worry and discomfort. Then your life becomes an
endurance test rather than a celebration.
I lived a great deal of my life controlled by a serious anx-
iety disorder. It may sound strange, but now I consider my
anxiety a gift. Yes, that's right. A gift. After suffering for
years with fear and dread, along with a host of debilitating
physical symptoms, I was finally forced to do something
about it. Once my feelings of "being out of control" had
escalated to where I felt that I could no longer function, I
started to look for answers.
In my search for help, hope, and a better life, I found
xiv
INTRODUCTION
something wonderful. Something that I didn't know was
missing. Something that I didn't know I needed. I found
security. I found that I am my own security. I didn't find it
"out there." Instead, I found a powerful untapped source
of strength and healing right here inside myself. This won-
derful sense of inner security has gotten me through many
a difficult challenge. Now I understand without exception
that I am my own safe person and my own safe place. No
matter what difficulties life brings, I can take care of me.
As a result of my struggles with anxiety and agorapho-
bia-which I define as fear of fearful feelings and thoughts
often leading to avoidance behaviors-I have been blessed
with my ability to help others who are suffering as I did. In
1983, along with a dear friend and gifted doctor, Phil
Fisher, M.D., I founded the Midwest Center for Stress and
Anxiety, Inc. During the past twelve years, we have been
fortunate in assembling a staff of such highly dedicated
people as Carolyn Dickman, our Education Director, and
Barb Banky, Director of Operations. Together, we have
helped tens of thousands of people find their security.
Some of them suffer panic attacks, anxiety gone so far out
of control that breathing becomes difficult, equilibrium
flies out the window, stomachs seize up, and minds feel
bewildered and confused. Some of our clients have spent
most of their lives avoiding people and things due to their
agoraphobia. Others have experienced obsessive, scary
thoughts. Still others had exhausted themselves with their
compulsive behaviors.
By the time I met them, many of these people had spent
small fortunes looking for help. They hadn't found it. Some
of them were on medications that didn't work or only
worked for a little while; others couldn't tolerate medica-
tion or were afraid of it. There were many who didn't have
severe anxiety, but they felt nervous, stressed out, and
uncomfortable far too often. They overreacted and worried
INTRODUCTION
xv
excessively. Ultimately, anxiety controlled their lives and
kept them from being truly happy.
You might be wondering if this book is for you. Am I
anxious enough to need this book? Am I too anxious for it
to work? The answer is, anxiety has no prejudices; it
attacks everyone. It's a thief. It robs us of our present hap-
piness by filling us with anticipatory worry. It makes us
feel insecure and question our abilities. It makes us physi-
cally sick. If anxiety is disrupting your life to any degree,
this book can help you.
Whether we are suffering from severe anxiety or a less
intense but underlying sense of discomfort and stress, we
all have something in common. We want to feel better. We
want to stop the vicious cycle of anxiety, fear, and worry.
We want to feel relaxed, secure, in control, and at peace.
We want to enjoy each day, to feel excited about our lives,
to be willing and able to take risks, to do whatever we
want to do without debilitating fear or anticipation. Is that
really possible? Absolutely.
I suffered with anxiety and phobias all of my life. As a
child, I had scary thoughts and bad dreams. My father's
alcoholism created chaos and additional feelings of insecu-
rity. As a teenager, I suffered from eating disorders and
irritable bowel syndrome. I began avoiding situations
where I couldn't come and go as I pleased, situations
where I couldn't be in control.
By age nineteen, I was having panic attacks regularly.
College was a real challenge because it was difficult for me
to sit in class. I felt anxious, panicky, and trapped. I made
all kinds of excuses for my lack of social activity and my
inability to travel with friends. Riding in the back seat of
cars and flying on planes was extremely difficult. My
world became smaller and smaller.
By my early twenties, I was a top producer selling
advertising for a major radio station in Toledo, Ohio. In
