17th Book of 2024
We have found many articles and stories asking us to concentrate more upon our mental health and give it priority just like we give to our physical health. Unfortunately, not many institutions/public figures walk the talk. I am glad that one of the publication houses I follow, Hay House India, regularly publishes books which are based upon the topics related to our mental health. I read their previous book which was about self-love and this time, I read a book which is about anxiety. “High functioning anxiety” is written by Dr. Lalitaa Suglani in around 225 pages which also comes up with the tagline- “A 5-step guide to calming the inner panic and thriving”.
Lalitaa introduces us to the concept of High functioning anxiety which is not like regular anxiety but a different purview wherein people experience anxiety while still being able to function well in their daily lives. People with high-functioning anxiety may appear successful and well-accomplished, but they may also be struggling with internal feelings of stress, self-doubt, and fear. This made me curious to read further as most of us go through such phase where we process normally but we always feel anxious within.
The initial chapters are a different experience to read as author introduces us with various types of HFAs wherein she explains how some childhood experiences and treatments transform a certain kind of our attitude which starts defining our personality. The chapters help us relate with several types as we can associate them with us. Author also clarifies that we can be completely one of them or a combination of multiple types. In further chapters, she tries to mix up two HFA types and explains how we might be struggling with such personality traits. These writings help us understand the concepts well and evaluate how we have been processing ourselves until now.
In one of the sections, Lalitaa explains Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in such a way that even after knowing about it previously, it felt like knowing it in an easier and better way. Author highlights upon the fact how we are always striving to please people and become favourites by killing our inner desires. She throws upon the light to the fact that we should be concentrating upon our real self and lead the path to self-awareness.
Author has nicely divided the 5 chapters where she concentrates on each of the 5 steps before moving on to the next. Each chapter consists of case studies, author’s personal experiences, self-reflection questions for us, setting the boundary section etc. which helps us understand the topics rather than just reading blindly. There’s one concept of the “Wheel of Life” in the latter part of the book which nicely divides our life in different sections and help us understand how to give weightage and priority to each of them than missing one of these important elements of life.
In the end, author ends the book giving us few reference points to follow in order to overcome the High functioning anxiety. Reading the last step and chapter gives a relief as mostly the book is about the problems thriving within us whereas the last pages give us positivity and hope that we can push ourselves out of this zone.
Talking about the drawbacks, I must say that author has explained each concept a lot which could have been summed up in a better way by reducing the length of each chapter. The case studies and examples used are repetitive which starts becoming a painful experience to read time and again. The chapters have so many sections and their respective sub-sections that I have ended up missing the flow couple of times. Author could have structured the sections within the chapters in a better manner.
Overall, this book is insightful and helps us understand how we can treat the anxiety within us which is gradually taking us towards mental health issues. I would give this book 4 stars out of 5.
Thanks!
WRITING BUDDHA
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