On Edge

A celebrated science and health reporter offers a wry bracingly honest account of living with anxiety. A racing heart. Difficulty breathing. Overwhelming dread. Andrea Petersen was first diagnosed with ananxiety disorderat 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 itone that took her from psychiatrists offices to yoga retreats to the Appalachian Trail. Woven into Petersens 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 historyfrom her grandmother who plagued by paranoiaonce tried to burn down her own house to her young daughter in whom Petersen sees shades of herself. Brave and empowering this is essential reading for anyone who knows what it means to live on edge.