Deconstructing Anxiety: The Journey from Fear to Fulfillment

About the book

In Deconstructing Anxiety, Pressman provides a new and comprehensive understanding of fear’s subtlest mechanisms. In this model, anxiety is understood as the wellspring at the source of all problems. Tapping into this source, therefore, holds the clues not only for how to escape fear, but how to release the very causes of suffering, paving the way to a profound sense of peace and satisfaction in life.

With strategically developed exercises, this book offers a unique, integrative approach to healing and growth, based on an understanding of how the psyche organizes itself around anxiety. It provides insights into the architecture of anxiety, introducing the dynamics of the “core fear” (one’s fundamental interpretation of danger in the world) and “chief defense” (the primary strategy for protecting oneself from the threat). The anxious personality is then built upon this foundation, creating a “three dimensional, multi-sensory hologram” within which one can feel trapped and helpless.

Replete with processes that bring the theoretical background into technicolor, Deconstructing Anxiety provides a clear roadmap to resolving this human dilemma, paving the way to an ultimate and transcendent freedom. Therapists and laypeople alike will find this book essential in helping design a life of meaning, purpose and enduring fulfillment.

For those interested in Continuing Education Credits:

After reading the book, you may order and take a test (Click HERE) to receive 12 CE credits.

Course objectives

• Describe the “Deconstructing Anxiety” model of how we build our personalities

• Explain why anxiety is at the source of all suffering

• List the 5 deceptions and 8 manipulations of fear

• Discern the “core fear” at the root of all suffering

• Discern the “chief defense” which maintains and exacerbates the core fear

• Understand the principle of “Doing the opposite” of the chief defense

• Master and effectively use the techniques of “The Alchemist”, “The Witness” and “The Warrior’s Stance”

• Uncover and resolve the “resistance to resistance”, the foundation of all defenses

• Perform a “Vision Quest” for developing meaning and purpose, the best remedy for anxiety 

Appropriate for mental health professionals (psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, etc.), nurses, creative arts therapists, etc. 

Praise for “Deconstructing Anxiety”

“Outstanding and ingenious.  This is worth the world’s attention”—Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., Psychologist

“Truly profound”—Ken Wilber, author of Integral Meditation

“Remarkably comprehensive”—Ronald D. Seigel, Psy.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School

“The key to health and happiness”—C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D., Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association

“An Important resource that must get out to people!”—Raymond Moody, M.D., author of Life After Life

“Pressman takes us on an archeological dig down through the many strata of our fears…that we may find our way back.”—Sharon Salzberg, author of Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“Really fascinating”—Seth Gillihan, Ph.D., author of A Mindful Year

“Kudos! A truly excellent book…for clients and therapists”—Peter Gariti, Ph.D., former clinical associate professor of psychiatry in social work, University of Pennsylvania

“An extraordinary work of love, insight and wisdom”—Bernardo Merizalde, M.D., Psychiatrist, Assistant Clinical Professor at Thomas Jefferson University

“Visionary”—Christine Batra, Psychotherapist

“A book that this troubled world longs to have”—Richard Simon, Spiritual Director and Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Har Zion