Mental Health Focus on Healing Shame Issues

The significant problems we face today cannot be solved
at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. —Albert Einstein

Transforming Anxiety, Transcending Shame Like a sign of the times, anxiety has become a constant factor in today’s society, but it is sometimes difficult to recognize the effects of anxiety on our mental health. To determine if anxiety is getting in your way, take the following Distress Test:

Do you generally feel powerless, lacking in self-confidence?

Do you avoid confrontations or second-guess your own emotions and feelings?

Do you censor your responses based on fear of other people’s reactions?

Are you harsh on yourself, yet extremely forgiving of others?

Does your life seem exciting, or do you find yourself avoiding situations that others find pleasurable?

Are you hyper-sensitive to bodily symptoms, often wondering if you have a serious illness or might be dying?

If the answer to most of these questions is yes, then, like Rex Briggs, you could be suffering from excessive anxiety without even knowing it.

Having experienced the daily struggle with excessive anxiety for many years, author and therapist Rex Briggs offers a unique perspective in his new book, Transforming Anxiety, Transcending Shame. Once in treatment, Briggs found that he was better equipped to treat his own patients who were suffering from anxiety themselves. He taught his clients the same things he was learning, and shares here the methods and exercises he developed with his clients.

Transforming Anxiety, Transcending Shame discusses the three essential elements to recovering from anxiety: the desire to change, the tools to make the changes, and the discipline to use those tools. “One important motivator is to consciously establish your “mission” in life,” explains Briggs. “If we have no sense of a larger purpose, no goal to work toward, then we find it harder to motivate ourselves to make the effort to push through our fears and discomfort.”

Guilt is about making a mistake.
Shame is about feeling as if we are a mistake.

—John Bradshaw

Briggs believes that shame is a significant factor in the development of excessive anxiety, and if not addressed, will undoubtedly restrict recovery. Most people develop shame through modeling, verbal messages, abandonment, neglect and abuse. He proclaims that Transforming Anxiety, Transcending Shame “will be the first book to explore shame as the driving force in the development of excessive anxiety.”

“My goal is to offer a plan of recovery...that is easy to understand and practical in its application,” explains Briggs. “There are many situations over which we have no control. All we can control is our attitude toward those circumstances.” But learning to handle events in your life is only one aspect of recovering from anxiety. Transforming Anxiety, Transcending Shame is the first step on the path that will eventually lead to living life confidently, completely and with the capacity to give and receive unconditional love.

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Anxiety/Stress Resources

Anxiety Health Home
What are Panic Attacks?
Dissolve Panic and Anxiety
Comprehensive Phobias List
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
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Stop Anxiety Now
Freedom From Depression
Mind Management Course
Transforming Anxiety
Transcending Shame
What are the symptoms
of Anxiety Disorders?
Anxiety Reduction
Helpful Tips


Triumph Over Fear:
A Book Of Help And
Hope For People With
Anxiety, Panic Attacks,
And Phobias