Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry

Jennifer Shannon

Apr 2017 · New Harbinger Publications

About this ebook

The very things we do to control anxiety can make anxiety worse. This unique guide offers a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based approach to help you recognize the constant chatter of your anxious “monkey mind,” stop feeding anxious thoughts, and find the personal peace you crave.

Ancient sages compared the human mind to a monkey: constantly chattering, hopping from branch to branch—endlessly moving from fear to safety. If you are one of the millions of people whose life is affected by anxiety, you are familiar with this process. Unfortunately, you can’t switch off the “monkey mind,” but you can stop feeding the monkey—or stop rewarding it by avoiding the things you fear.

Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, this book shows you how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness techniques, as well as fun illustrations. By following the exercises in this book, you’ll learn to identify your own anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.

Once you stop feeding the monkey, there are no limits to how expansive your life can feel. This book will show you how anxiety can only continue as long as you try to avoid it. And, paradoxically, only by seeking out and confronting the things that make you anxious can you reverse the cycle that keeps your fears alive.

Ratings and reviews

Wow. Finally a book about anxiety that really makes sense. I have started the process and can see changes happening. I'm so glad the author sat down to write this book and didn't give in to her anxiety. A must read and implement book.

this book helped me work on doing something about my anxiety .... the work sheets really did the trick too

The title is so stupid lol

About the author

Jennifer Shannon, LMFT, is author of The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook for Teens, The Anxiety Survival Guide for Teens, and cofounder of the Santa Rosa Center for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Santa Rosa, CA. She is a diplomate of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Doug Shannon is a freelance cartoonist who resides in Santa Rosa, CA.

Foreword writer Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, is founding partner of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy, diplomate of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is author and coauthor of five books, including OCD and Digging Out.