Help! I Am Definitely Dying

Anxiety Lied to Me Hypochondriac’s Edition

By: Craig Beck

Narrated by: Craig Beck

Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Craig Beck's "Help! I Am Definitely Dying" offers a transformative approach for those plagued by health anxiety. Beck opens up about his own battle with health anxiety despite outward success and a supportive family. He intimately understands the torturous cycle of fearing illness and bodily sensations, which can render even the brightest days dark.

A specially updated and enhanced version of the bestselling book 'Anxiety Lied To Me,' this guide delivers a revolutionary strategy to decode the fundamental triggers of health-focused anxiety and rewire the subconscious mind to reclaim peace from the grips of an overactive worry reflex. This method steps beyond the temporary crutch of medications that often mask symptoms without resolving their source.

'Help! I Am Definitely Dying' confronts health anxiety directly, equipping sufferers to triumph over:• Health Anxiety• Hypochondria• The terror of serious illness• The obsession with symptoms• The constant internet medical research• Doctor's appointment fears• Misinterpretation of bodily signals

Beck's narrative reassures listeners that recovery isn't just a dream—it's an attainable reality. He guides you through the darkness of constant health fears into the light of understanding, control, and lasting well-being.

CraigBeck.com

©2024 CraigBeck.com (P)2024 CraigBeck.com

Insightful into health anxiety, but ignorant of depression

I’m an ER doc who also, ironically, suffers from health anxiety. I thought this book provided several useful thoughts and strategies to manage my anxious thoughts, and think it would be useful to anyone who is pathologically obsessing over their health.

However, some statements in this book are ignorant and bordering on quackery. The author states this book “will cure you”, which in and of itself is an irresponsible statement to make toward those with mental health problems. Most maddening is the repeated insistence by the author, himself not a health provider, that “anxiety and depression cannot coexist, and anxiety should not be treated with antidepressants.” This statement is profoundly ignorant of the literature which repeatedly and consistently shows the benefits of SSRI/SNRI therapy for anxiety AND depression. Antidepressants are called that because they were originally for depression, but then we found they’re also useful for a myriad of other conditions, including anxiety, fibromyalgia and somatic symptom disorder. Saying “antidepressants shouldn’t be used for anxiety” is like saying you shouldn’t use antipsychotics for acute behavioral agitation. It’s profoundly ignorant and clearly shows the author’s bias. Furthermore, anxiety and depression are widely understood to be two sides of a similar condition. Frequently the syndromes CAN coexist in a patient, who fluctuates between the extremes as they feed each other in a vicious cycle of maladaptive coping mechanisms. “Prozac can cause suicidal ideation” - yes. The increase in energy caused by this therapy can give a severely depressed person just enough energy to make an attempt on their life. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. That’s not a sign of a bad drug - that is the painful, messy process of healing.

I would invite the author to involve healthcare providers in his health-related books, and remind him that just because he knows his own anxiety, doesn’t mean he knows others and can “cure” them.

EDIT: Okay, I had to stop listening after the “Anxiety Myths” chapter when he spent an hour disparaging CBT (citing only his own experience which sounds to me like he wasn’t willing to be introspective), and accusing doctors of being money-grubbing shills of Big Pharma. This popular, sensational rhetoric is frequently touted by people who have never actually practiced medicine and seen how hard healing can be. To those who are inclined to believe this drivel, I would ask you to consider the author: a hypnotherapist and life coach who charges $250 per session and brags in his book about founding a multi-million dollar company. His alcohol cessation course was $600 in 2019, so he’s not giving you tips for free. I hope this book helps someone, but I only ask you to be careful, and if you’re concerned about what your doctor is recommending, just *talk to them* about it.