Best-Selling Author Releases OVERCOMING ANXIETY, WORRY, AND FEAR

In his new book, "Overcoming Anxiety, Worry, and Fear: Practical Ways to Find Peace," best-selling author Gregory L. Jantz shares strategies for coping with stress that causes anxieties and, left unchecked, can lead to depression.

"Anxieties can become phobias, from a fear of heights and strangers to coulrophobia, fear of clowns, and paraskavedekatriaphobia, fear of Friday the 13th," says Jantz, the founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, (aplaceofhope.com). "The common denominator for these seemingly disparate phobias is often the stressors that come with living in a complex contemporary society and how we cope - or fail to cope - with them."

Forty million Americans are coping with stress from some sort of anxiety disorder, which, unchecked, can steal one's sense of security, well-being and hope, leading to chronic depression, he says.

Concerns about the health and safety of family members; the negativity regularly spewed by the 24-hour news cycle; and lingering fear resulting from events we may not even remember are addressed in the book with a compassionate combination of common sense, biblical wisdom and therapeutic advice.

Jantz lists two varieties of signs that you or someone you love may be suffering depression, and he includes a number of exercises readers can practice for coping with stress:

Yellow indicators:

• A loss of enjoyment in established activities.
• Feeling restless, tired, or unmotivated at work.
• An increase in irritability or impatience.

Red indicators:

• A significant change in appetite, lasting longer than two weeks, resulting in either marked weight loss (if not dieting) or weight gain.
• Recurring disturbances in your sleep patterns for longer than two weeks, resulting in difficulty falling and staying asleep, or sleeping too much.
• Increased agitation or inability to relax, occurring for an extended period of time (longer than two weeks).

"This book ... cuts to the heart of these struggles and explains them clearly and carefully ... gives great 'real life' examples with which you can identify ... explains thoroughly the cause and effect of all types of anxiety, fears and worry and the reader can easily assess their own situation," writes Amazon reviewer AE Turner, who gave the book five stars. "... It has helped me greatly."

Amazon reviewer scda says, "Overcoming Anxiety" helps those coping with stress and is "a breath of fresh air ... very helpful for those who have struggled with habitual or chronic worry, anxiety, and stress, and are willing to positively and objectively look beyond just circumstances to underlying attitudes and beliefs that we accumulate while we live through life's challenges. It provides insight and positive steps to take, which can ultimately provide renewed hope and strength."

About Gregory L. Jantz, PhD

Gregory L. Jantz has more than 25 years of experience in mental health counseling and is the founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, near Seattle, Wash. The Center, "a place for hope," provides comprehensive, coordinated care from a treatment team that addresses medical, physical, psychological, emotional, nutritional, fitness and spiritual factors involved in recovery. He is the best-selling author of more than 20 books, including "When Your Teenager Becomes ... The Stranger in the House." If you're concerned you or a loved one may be depressed, visit aplaceofhope.com and click the "Are You?" tab for a self-evaluation.

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