I found this book to be very helpful in that it describes the origins of anxiety and how to cope. Sometimes it lost me when it became too scientific in explaining the medical terminology, facts, etc.

Parts of this felt robotic, and it just wasn't the book I needed at the moment.

This book would be of great interest to those suffering from anxiety disorders.  She is painfully honest and has the wisdom her age brings as well as professional experience.  She certainly covered every base.  But the book is too detailed to interest the average non-fiction reader.  And, while some of the background and history can be interesting, she is not a good enough writer to entice me to stay with it.  I skimmed much of the detail and, while I liked her and respected her, I simply was not drawn into the book.

As a suffer of anxiety and panic attacks, I went into this book with high hopes. She describes perfectly what it's like to have a panic attack, to retreat from your life for fear of it happening again, in public. Unfortunately, after she talked about her experiences in college, she delved in the science side of anxiety and she lost me. I was so bored, I found myself skimming and then, skipping pages altogether. I really, really wanted to like this book, I just couldn't get through it.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a free galley of this book in exchange for a fair review.

The success or failure of a book like this is in how well the reader can relate to the author's story, since most readers will pick it up hoping to learn about their condition. This is a book by an anxiety sufferer written for the anxious and the ones who love them.

I did relate to some of the author's problems. I spent my childhood and teenage years in bed sleepless every night going over ever single stupid, embarrassing or wrong thing I said or did during the day. I held myself to impossibly high standards. I developed irrational fears. Like the author, I cannot drive on the freeway anymore.

I found her discussion of the environmental and genetic components of anxiety disorders interesting. I've had my share of both childhood trauma and unusual relatives. Perhaps my nervous, jumpy personality was inevitable.

The science part of the book where Petersen talked about rat brains frankly made me anxious. I had a hard time reading through this. I feel badly for the poor rats who gave their lives to science.

Unlike the author, I haven't done any kind of special yoga therapy. I don't see a counselor or take psychiatric medicine. I've toughed it out. Luckily, I do okay with that. I don't have Andrea Petersen's resources. I would never be able to afford or have time for the medical interventions and therapies she has tried. Petersen herself points this out to her credit. Petersen is also truly blessed that she has had a lot of supportive people in her life and has some pretty spectacular job and travel opportunities.

This is my major problem with the book. I had trouble relating to the author and her struggles because she was pampered by those around her. I found myself wondering (most likely unfairly) if she would have been better off if she had suffered through her anxieties without so much enabling support.

I have the worst anxiety much of the time so when I read about On Edge by Andrea Petersen, I knew had to get my hands on it. No one understands anxiety better than someone who lives through it. Here’s what you need to know:

Here’s what you need to know:

A racing heart. Difficulty breathing. Overwhelming dread. Andrea Petersen was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at the age of twenty, but she later realized that she had been experiencing panic attacks since childhood. With time her symptoms multiplied. She agonized over every odd physical sensation. She developed fears of driving on highways, going to movie theaters, even licking envelopes. Although having a name for her condition was an enormous relief, it was only the beginning of a journey to understand and master it—one that took her from psychiatrists’ offices to yoga retreats to the Appalachian Trail.
 
Woven into Petersen’s personal story is a fascinating look at the biology of anxiety and the groundbreaking research that might point the way to new treatments. She compares psychoactive drugs to non-drug treatments, including biofeedback and exposure therapy. And she explores the role that genetics and the environment play in mental illness, visiting top neuroscientists and tracing her family history—from her grandmother, who, plagued by paranoia, once tried to burn down her own house, to her young daughter, in whom Petersen sees shades of herself.

Because everyone I talk to about anxiety either experiences it themselves or knows someone who does, this book will be a huge help to anyone who has ever had those awful moments where you feel like you can’t leave the house or your pulse starts racing out of the blue or you are suddenly bathed in a weird fear. A must read.

The author weaves together stories of her own bouts with anxiety, reminiscences from her childhood and family history, and clinical research about anxiety disorders. On Edge seemed to me more self-absorbed and padded with random data than the enlightening and compelling book I was hoping to read.

I know many people with anxiety, so I thought this book would be an easy way to learn a little more about it, but I found myself getting incredibly bored while reading. I kept wishing the book would just be over already and eventually I just gave up without finishing it. I did learn a little bit, but I didn't find this book compelling. It's just not for me.

Anxiety is present in so much of the population that this book would be relevant for anyone. It is a disease that creeps up and attempts to control.  Individuals may be unaware of it's presence for many years before it strikes.
   Sufferers of anxiety are presented with a myriad of solutions.  Following the author's life as a chronic, extreme case allows one to see what was beneficial and why therapies did not perform well, but may produce relief for others. 
   The average individual may not have anxiety, but most likely has at least one acquaintance--family or fellow employee-- with the malady and the information presented would give insight to aid in relationship building or where to get professional help.
   Included is a history of medications, therapies, and psychiatric studies.  Since professionals are more acquainted with the malady, the pathway to every-day life is more maneuverable and a diagnosis can be more promptly assigned.  
   If your diagnosis is more low-end anxiety this book allows you to see anxiety owns a  wide spectrum.  Anxiety can be all encompassing or light fare with social ineptness.  
   The author should be applauded for taking her life experience and producing a reference book that will speak volumes to sufferers and speak to the rest of us for understanding those about us.

I absolutely loved this book. I have suffered from anxiety since I was a child. Being made fun of in school for it and constantly thinking I was absolutely crazy, I have come to terms that I have anxiety over the unknown. I am not crazy, I am just different.

Andrea Petersen gives in great detail what is it like to constantly fear the unknown. To suffer from anxiety and nobody understands what it is like to be trapped in your own body. She started to fear everything in life. When Andrea Peterson was growing up in the 80's, their wasn't a diagnosis for anxiety.  She explains in great detail all about the years she suffered through her childhood, teenage years and even through her pregnancy.

If you've ever suffered with anxiety, you aren't alone and this book really helped me with my own anxiety. You aren't alone!

On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety by Andrea Petersen is not only an account of the author’s personal experience living with anxiety, but also a scientific and historical overview of the disorder’s various aspects. I found it to be a perfect combination of all three.

Ms. Petersen’s descriptions of her life when she’s caught in the throes of a panic attack, the reactions of her friends and loved ones when her fears overtake seemingly everyday activities should be eye-opening to those who have no understanding or experience with anxiety and comforting to those who suffer from some form of the disorder themselves to realize they are not alone. There is some validation for how they often feel and react.

The historical look into anxiety disorders and their treatments and the development and growth of medications used to treat the symptoms is fascinating and shows how far the research and medical community have come in understanding the disorder and treating those who suffer from it. The process continues as evidenced in the author’s examination of the current research being done in the area. For those readers whose minds have a more scientific bent these passages will no doubt prove fascinating. I read them, sometimes several times, but more often than not I just felt out of my depth.

On Edge is a valuable and fairly accessible book for those suffering from anxiety in its various forms and for those who love them. I highly recommend it and am grateful to Andrea Petersen for writing it.

This was a good companion volume to the recent IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD: TRUE STORIES OF IMAGINARY ILLNESS by Suzanne O'Sullivan. In this memoir/science book, Andrea Petersen talks about her lifelong journey with anxiety (she's only in her forties now), alongside history and research on the condition.

Having had a schizophrenic maternal grandmother and a strain of not-crippling anxiety running through my husband's family, I was very interested in the genetic components (they exist), and feel fortunate that my own amygdala must be unnaturally blunted because anxiety is alien to me. Kudos to the good friends and (many, many) boyfriends the author had who handled her condition well. I confess it would have driven me mad. How many trips to the ER can one possibly make, only to be told there's "nothing wrong"?

Here's where those two books dovetail nicely, since they both talk about getting psychiatric treatment to overcome the fallout. Petersen also goes into great detail about available medications, but given the scary uncertainties about pregnancy and depression/anxiety drugs, I'd turn first to the non-medication treatments.

If you struggle with anxiety or have a loved one who does, I recommend this book.

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to review the galley.

As someone who has been dealing with anxiety throughout her life, this book was an interesting and relevant read. Petersen does anxiety justice with her candid, honest explanation of what it is really like to suffer from anxiety. I also loved that she traced the ebb and flow of anxiety through different stages in her life. I also appreciated her tact and sense of humor throughout the book.

This is a memoir about a journalist's life with anxiety disorders.  The memoir is interspersed with information that serves as a primer about information about anxiety, it's diagnosis and treatment options past and present.  Those parts were my least favorite part of the book because the information is widely available and because it interrupted the narrative.  Her personal story was raw and honest and she uses her journalist chops to interview those in her life and share their reaction to her illness.

As soon as this book hit my radar, it was one I knew I had to read.  I’ve had an anxiety disorder that has plagued me since early childhood, and I’m always fascinated to read other people’s stories of anxiety.  It’s interesting to see how our stories are similar, and how they are different, because they are always a healthy portion of both.

A big part of this book is the scientific and medical side of anxiety.  Theories on what causes it, both medically as well as emotional experiences, and theories of what might relieve it, from medications to therapy techniques.  I found it very interesting to read about the competing theories and some of the historical ideas that have now been proven inaccurate.  Some of it was a little tedious and technical, but for the most part it was interesting and educational.

The highlights of the book were definitely the interludes where Ms. Petersen tells her story.  From her first incident of a panic attack in her college years, through all her debilitating incidents, ER visits, trips to specialists, and general difficulty managing day to day.  She shares her ups and downs, honestly, and how she muddled her way through.  She’s not touting any kind of magical cure for anxiety, neither is she wallowing in the misery of it, but simply telling her story as it happened, and is happening.

I thought she did a wonderful job using her writing to illustrate how she felt in the moments of her worst panic.  The sensations she had in her body and the thoughts swirling in her head.  Suffering from panic attacks myself, her words hit pretty close to home.  It’s not as easy thing, to explain something like that, and she does a remarkably good job of it.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from anxiety, or anyone who loves someone that suffers from anxiety.

5 stars

I did not finish this book as I did not engage with the story or the characters.

Andrea Petersen's book, On Edge, would be an insightful read for those who haven't experienced debilitating anxiety, and for their families. It would also help sufferers know they're not alone, and encourage them with information about ongoing research into this form of mental illness. I gave it an average review because a lot of the content wasn't new to me; I'd read similar material in other books and magazines, I also found it hard to engage with the author's personal story, and I'm sorry about that. I can't really even explain it, except to say that again, there wasn't much I hadn't heard or read before, from other sources. Perhaps I was looking for a fresher take. Kudos to Ms. Petersen for her honest sharing, thoughtful writing and encouragement to others, in spite of my mild reservations.  I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in return for my honest review.

If you have ever been through the dreadful disease of anxiety I highly recommend you read this book.  The Author has been there and her insight is amazing. I recommend this book.

So many "big" words, it was very hard to read. Wasn't a smooth book to get thru. Not impressed.