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hospital who, once again, could not
    give me any answers and did nothing to make me feel any better.
    The appointment lasted twenty minutes, during which time I told her
    my problems, she listened, asked about medication and if I wanted
    to try a new magic pill, and then I was on my way. I was given no
    explanation as to why I felt like I did and I don’t even think I heard
    the word anxiety mentioned. However, this particular therapist had
    been told of someone in another town who was supposed to be an
    expert on the subject of anxiety, and she asked me if I would like her
    to make me an appointment to visit. I agreed to go as I was
    desperate and was willing to try anything. I gained no more hope
    from the prospect of attending this meeting than I did from any of the
    other meetings I’d had with other so called experts.

    - 14 -

    Much to my surprise, this meeting turned out to be very different
    from any of the others. In fact, I can remember the therapist’s first
    words to me. He said: “Paul, you will never get better until you stop
    trying to get better” This statement made no sense to me at the time,
    but over the next few months, it was to be the very statement that
    helped me recover. It meant more to me than anything anyone else
    had ever said to me in the previous ten years. During our meeting, I
    knew there was a real chance, a real hope that I would recover. For
    the first time, what he had said to me not only made sense, it also
    felt right. Of all the other treatments I had tried over the years and
    boy did I try them all, not one of them felt right. I would pay the
    money and go through the motions, but they certainly never made
    me feel any better and I was never given any explanation as to why I
    felt like I did, something my present therapist had managed to
    achieve on my first meeting.

    Every book I had bought on the subject was thrown in the bin, every
    treatment I was having at the time stopped. I knew I would never
    need them again and I now realise how much rubbish is written on
    the subject and how many useless treatments there are from people
    who just want to make money out of other people’s suffering.

    Not only did this therapist help me to recover by showing me the
    right path, it was through his help that I was motivated to begin
    studying the whole subject of anxiety and panic, so that I would
    leave no stone unturned in trying to help others who suffered in the
    same way as I did. What I discovered is what I am now going to
    pass on to you in this book. In my opinion, it is the only path that
    leads to success, so, read on, and you too can also have “ A LIFE
    AT LAST”

    Footnote : Before I go on, I would like to explain why all these so
    called cures did not work. I tried treatments like acupuncture,
    homeopathy, hypnosis and many more. The reason they did not
    work is because I was trying to rid myself of how I felt instantly. This
    is the problem; so many people just want this ‘dreadful thing to go
    away’. They go from one treatment to another, sometimes spending
    a small fortune doing the exact opposite of what they should be
    doing, which is allowing themselves to feel the way they do.

    - 15 -

Chapter 4

    Understanding Anxiety

    A key point is to understand that our body can only take so much
    stress and worry before it becomes run down, stressed, emotionally
    drained and feels totally battered. In fact, in most cases, too much
    continuous stress and worry is what brings on anxiety in the first
    place. This could be caused by the loss of a loved one, personal
    problems and working long hours without taking time out to relax. It
    could be caused by stress at work or any number of the many daily
    pressures with which we are often faced. Our body can only take so
    much and this is where the word breakdown comes in. The trouble
    then is that when we first feel the symptoms of anxiety, these
    ‘feelings’ can then become our new daily problem. Now, not only do
    we feel