Born Anxious: The Lifelong Impact of Early Life Adversity - and How to Break the Cycle

Excellent, insightful, well substantiated and ground-breaking scientific research on why some people are always uptight and anxious, regardless of their surroundings. Also offers practical interventions to help these people live happier, healthier lives. If you, or anyone you know, is constantly anxious and stressed out more than they need to be, you should read this book.

I’m satisfied with my purchase

Similar with other reviewers, I agree that this book touches on the epigenetic and social factors found to impact anxiety, and is more weighted toward policy. Although I lean into the camp that items related to policy are timely and crucial for reducing this societal burden. Anxiety plays a role in all of our lives -- some more heavily than others. The changes discussed in this book may very well be crucial in mitigating the spiraling effect that anxiety plays in some peoples lives. Cognitive Neuroscience, epigenetics and behavioral science in this area is young, but it's growing very fast. As it does, we need to consider the implications and adjust policy accordingly. The only way to do this is to convey the importance to the public, as Dr. Daniel Keating has done in Born Anxious.

This book gives you scientific explanation for your lifelong search for answers. This explains panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety, eating disorders.-.. Read and be surprised. My advice, when they talk about how to handle these children, that can mean your inner child, if you are and adult.

super book. links anxiety to economic inequality and other larger stressors

The most interesting part of this book has to do with the latest findings regarding the physiology of 'stress dysregulation'. The concerted interdisciplinary efforts that have given rise to these findings are commendable, and also exciting. This part is covered by the first two chapters, and was what attracted me to this book in the first place. In the next chapters, there is a lot of discussion on parenting and schooling, which may appeal to young parents. To a senior citizen like me, I would skim over these quickly. The following chapter on the dysfunction in adults is quite brief, and does not offer a lot of help on coping with the dysfunction. Quite a disappointment to me. The final chapters go into the relationship between increasing stress in society and inequality. Although there is evident statistical correlation, I find the ensuing discussion of promoting social policies to address this ill rather far-fetched, and neither here nor there.

Quality of the book was great, it was hard back.

Love the book, some interesting science based information beyond just what you read in most anxiety books.

I have to highly, highly recommend this book and audiobook. The audiobook is very clear, the narration is good, pace, style of speech, delivery without any flourishes, flares or affected "voices" through changes in tone, inflection etc. The narrator has no strong accent either, thankfully, and the content is so good that I've bought copies, plural, of the physical copy book, for reference, for myself, a loaner copy for students, trainees, professional peers/colleagues and friends. The content is really good, it presents some great recent findings from a range of research but particular life stress and life prospects, even longevity/life span, among British civil servants, which allows certain variables to be accounted for, such as universal health service. The presentation of different sources of research findings and explanations as to the limitations/delimitations of the studies and why this matters, is worth the cover price alone. How this has provided findings which are valid and vindicate certain hypothesis about correlative relationships between inequality, stress and predispositions to mental and physical health is really clear and compelling. I've read a whole variety of different books and findings, ie attachment theory, theorizing of social character, theorizing social determinants of health and illness, personality trait theory, this single source includes most of value in these diverse and disparate sources. No joke. The evidence of a Stress Dysregulation Response (SDR), coded on individuals before the age of one, arising from quality of care/parenting, is a very fair rival theory to Attachment Style across the life course, although it is more complimentary to than a challenger of existing theory. The research beyond this into intergenerational epigenetics is as logical as it is compelling too and explains the persistence of patterns of inequality in terms of demography. Social epigenetics is the logical next step too. The knowledge will be vital to anyone who has given thought to individual therapeutic interventions (including pharmacological prescribing/interventions). Can it even mitigate the consequences of Stress Dysregulation Responses "trending" or becoming an "epidemic"? It definitely has its place, as the author explains, neither is possessing a particularly bad SDR profile a recipe for personal fatalism (at least it should not be, at the very least no more than other predispositions to health/disease) but a wider social policy response is definitely required. I would hope that this audiobook or book has a wide audience, including those drafting social policy, or working in social work, education, psychology or similar professions. It should interest those interested in politics too. I would hope transcend some of the completely useless discussions that occupy partisans presently. While it could be co-opted or feed into older categories of elite ideology, like the "palliative not radical" of Doctor Johnston, or "perishers" of Malthus and Spencer (something the author touches upon when they mention social darwinism, very briefly), I would hope its knowledge that could contribute to a "new politics" instead. Highly recommend this book and what it has to say. Worthy in description even if you dont necessarily agree with the author's prescriptions. Recommended.

Brilliant!

The book spends 200 pages validating the title, and provides very little on how to fix the problem.

Fascinating overview