A Spider in the Palace is written by the patient, not the professional and offers virtually limitless information on anxiety disorder. By sharing my experiences along the often-treacherous road to eventual anxiety freedom, I hope to help other anxiety victims understand and gain control of their own anxiety disorder. All material is entirely based on my own experiences, professional treatment, and research and encompasses three key facets:

Identification with the author

I begin by describing my early anxiety years, starting with my first crippling panic episode, and progressing through dreadful scenarios of debilitating panic, fear, and hopelessness. Throughout the rest of the book I continue to include personal examples and scenarios. By telling my story I portray just what anxiety suffering is like and how insidious and multi-faceted anxiety can be. Also, the reader can identify with me. It’s my way of comforting the anxiety victim by saying, “I’m with you. I understand”; and aiding the loved one or clinician with, “this is what we really go through”.

Techniques

Countless effective techniques are illustrated in detail, accompanied by examples of how they have helped me control my anxiety. These range from simple thoughts or tasks to mitigate a moment of panic, to philosophies and outlooks to shrink or remove that all-encompassing, pervasive anxiety and fear. Many methods were developed on my own out of desperation to survive some of life’s most challenging periods, and were what saw me through high school, college, and many periods during my military career. Other techniques and revelations were learned when I sought the help of a competent and compassionate physician while serving in a military assignment overseas and anxiety disorder had become unexpectedly severe. During my one year therapy program, Dr. Sarachene not only taught me methods and philosophies for anxiety control, but also skills in areas of interpersonal relationships, to include anger issues, as these relate to anxiety. He also introduced me to what I call a “miracle medication”. My experiences with anxiety medication, as well as heartfelt encouragement are subsequently shared with the reader.

Science

Various sections include the biological basis for anxiety disorder. These describe in detail what happens in the brain, from the various structures involved, down to the cellular and chemical level of the circuitry itself. The influence of genetics and the environment, to include early learning, interpersonal relationships and anger are also discussed, as well as the biology behind anxiety medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. All information is the result of more than a year of thorough research following my period of clinical therapy and serves to answer that frantic question of the anxiety sufferer: “what is happening to me?” More importantly, it provides hope through knowledge.

My prayer is that my book will be a blessing to you or someone you know suffering with anxiety.