The Palpitating Heart: Seeing Anxiety Differently, reviewed

Short answer: two thumbs way up!

Long answer: I must admit I approached this book with a negative attitude. I figured the book would be good, but not any benefit to me. The impression I had (before actually reading it... Never judge a book by it's cover has always been my motto, but nonetheless I fall victim to doing just that...) was that this book was just for people with panic attacks that manifest themselves with symptoms of signs of heart attack, high pulse rate or erratic rhythms, shortness of breath or high blood pressure. I've monitored myself for months while having panic attacks, and I can't remember once ever having my heartbeat or blood pressure ever being outside of normal, it's always been almost square in the middle of normal. So, I figured that I would have to plow through this book, knowing it's probably good for most people with panic attacks since most with panic attacks have those symptoms, but it wouldn't really apply to me.

So, with a bit of a sigh, I opened up the book.

WOW.

Page after page starting flying by. I couldn't stop turning the pages, I was almost immediately absorbed right into it. Every other page or so I had to stop myself from running out of the room, jumping into my truck and driving to each of my doctor's offices and thrusting the book into their hands and saying "Read this NOW!". I think all doctors should read this book. I say all doctors, because, just as eluded to in this book, we all approach a doctor differently because we all see our symptoms differently, and describe them differently, and how we describe them dictates how or what the doctors treat us with. I know this first hand from personal experience and from stories told by others. Some of us with anxiety will think we have schizophrenia, and will go to a doctor and will be treated as if we are schizophrenic. Others will go thinking they are having a heart attack and be treated for those symptoms, others will think they have a bowel disease and will be treated as such, etc. We aren't all doctors, and as this book says very well, we are ill equipped to really know what is going on and how to describe it, so very often going to see a doctor won't solve our problems, it will usually just create more questions. Therefore I think every doctor should read this book.

I also loved this book because of the author's writing style and the voice he used. It wasn't another book written by a clinician, or a book written by some almost "holier than thou" person who seemed to be preaching from atop a pillar. Richard wrote from an honest, open, humble heart.

This book not only tells a story many of us can relate to, but also gives some advice and approaches to learning first to properly evaluate what sensations we are feeling, and putting them into a proper context. A large portion of the book is devoted to comparing the sensations we feel compared to the foods we consume. Richard doesn't approach this as a "follow my diet" type of thing, but teaches the reader how to find out what foods are best for him/her.
Grab yourself a copy of this great book.