![]() Her technique is based on the idea that if you leave your mind in its natural state, your anxiety or panic attacks will pass by quickly and disappear. Weekes’ approach to anxiety is that of leaving your mind in its natural state. Claire Weekes’ Strategy for Overcoming Anxiety She advocated a different and more down to earth approach to anxiety. Weekes felt that it was not necessary to psychoanalyze yourself to figure out why some past event caused you be have anxiety. You avoid situations that cause you to be anxious, and when your symptoms of anxiety occur, you become engulfed in fear of them.ĭr. After finding that you can’t think your way out of your anxiety, you feel that you can’t cure your anxiety and you become afraid of it. Weekes’ theory, fear is fear of the symptoms of anxiety. They become unable to find a way to cope with their anxiety, and this brings fear. What can I do to get better? Ultimately, when a person is unable to answer these questions, they become bewildered. What is wrong with me? Why am I anxious all of the time. Bewilderment Bewilderment is a state of mind in which a person is constantly trying to figure out the cause of their anxiety.In her words, “Bewilderment and fear keep sensitization alive.” Weekes says that prolonged sensitization is caused by two factors that she calls bewilderment and fear. What, then, causes prolonged sensitization? Weekes’ view, anxiety is caused by prolonged and severe sensitization. Weekes sees most mental illness, for which she uses the term nervous illness, and severe anxiety as being an exaggeration of the symptoms of stress by severe sensitization. Weekes defines sensitization as “a state in which nerves are conditioned to react to stress in an exaggerated way that is, they bring unusually intense feelings when under stress, and at times with alarming swiftness.” She says that severe sensitization produces the symptoms of anxiety: pounding heart, churning stomach, sweaty palms, pressure headaches and so forth.ĭr. Claire Weekes’ theory of the causes of mental illness in general, and anxiety in particular, are three factors work together to cause them. She teaches that accepting your anxiety is important because it opens the door to living with your anxiety. She believes and teaches her patients that having anxiety is neither a flaw nor a shortcoming. She herself, was able to accept her own anxiety because she came to the point where she saw it as merely the functioning of her nervous system. Weekes says that a person should do just the opposite and accept their anxiety, as opposed to fighting it off or denying it. We reject anxiety and other painful experiences by repressing them. The almost natural tendency that we all have in the face of anxiety, or any painful emotion for that matter is to reject it. Her technique and perspective are wise and they work. The strongest aspects of her work are her perspective on anxiety - accept it - and the therapeutic techniques that she developed. Weekes approach to anxiety, it is helpful to break it down into three categories: her theory, her perspective on anxiety and her therapeutic techniques. Her worldwide TV and radio appearances were eventually compiled into audio and video files, which can still be accessed today. Her first book sold over 300,000 copies and had been translated into eight languages. Simple Effective Treatment of Agoraphobia (1976).She also wanted a treatment that did not involve focusing all one’s attention on changing beliefs and feelings surrounding that event, when the event might not even have to do with the disorder.Ĭlaire Weekes wrote 5 books over the course of her lifetime. She wanted simpler explanations for anxiety that did not involve sifting through childhood to latch onto (or in some cases, imagine or create) any event that could be blamed for the disorder. ![]() Claire Weekes distrusted the methods of psychoanalysis being used during her lifetime. Other options are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, meditation and extinction therapy.ĭr. ![]() The Weekes' system is one of many technologies for dealing with anxiety. This article will provide an overview of the theory and some of the exercises outlined by Dr. ![]() The books she wrote on the nature of anxiety, which also included the details of the simple exercises she used to treat both her patients’ anxiety and her own, are still sold today. Claire Weekes, an Australian psychiatrist who lived between 19, had some revolutionary ideas about anxiety that are still noted today for being ahead of their time.
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