Anxiety is the most common form of mental distress and of course overlaps with normal human emotion. Yet it can be overwhelming and disabling and a gateway to other mental ill health notably depression and self-medication with alcohol and other substances. This engaging account throws a spotlight on how anxiety impacts on everyday life and relationships. - Paul McGorry, Professor of Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne
As a nurse of many years' experience I have heard countless stories of human distress and learned how to hold myself apart from other people's suffering. Chris Westoby's The Fear Talking expertly but gently slips past my professional guard to engage me in the life of a young man suffering from anxiety. The story is interesting, humorous, distressing, compassionate and intriguing, and as I read, I begin to understand the mental contortions behind the social paralysis anxiety brings, and then to discern its impact on self, family, friendships, schooling, work - the whole of life. Read this book, and you will never forget it. As a narrative it's fascinating. As the memoir of a life lived with anxiety, it's incomparable. - Peter Draper, Emeritus Professor of Nursing Education, University of Hull
As a window into the experience of anxiety for those who have never experienced it in this way, it's illuminating; as a reflection for those who may be experiencing it without yet having words to explain it, it's invaluable... For a story that is so much about being scared, this is writing at its most fearless. - Matt Bright - Everybody's Reviewing