http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2007-30-2011.mp3
I'm what Daniel Smith, one of today's guests, would call a "stifler."
I have anxiety attacks and a lot of background anxiety, but most people who know me would have no idea how bad or how recurrent my anxiety is. Because it's embrassing, right? Our culture connects anxiety with a kind of generalized cowardice. You're supposed to suck it up and face life with your shoulders squared up.
As Smith says in his book, Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety, it's not a matter of choice. Anyone with anxiety or panic attacks would gladly choose alomst any alternative existence.
Today on the show, Smith, an anxiety sufferer, and clinician David Tolin will talk about the arc of the anxiety patient. From the early stirrings, to the acute phase, to the, we hope, treatment. But Smith would say there is no cure.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
Daniel Smith will speak at the West Hartford Public Library Tuesday, July 31, from 7 to 8 p.m.
