“THOU shalt be a thousand times kinder to thyself.” That is one of the 10 commandments from anxiety ‘bible’ creator Bev Aisbett.
The Newport author is celebrating the 20th year in print of her first book, Living with IT — A survivor’s guide to panic attacks.
Also known as ‘The little blue anxiety bible’, the book was penned in 1993 after Aisbett experienced her first full-blown panic attack in 1991.
“I’m panting, pounding along the footpath as fast and hard as I can, somewhere in the suburban streets of Sydney. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know where I’m going; it doesn’t matter,” Aisbett writes in one book, describing the crazed fear she felt.
“I must look the way I feel: frenzied, wild-eyed, out of control; some crazy person talking to herself. Sheer terror is propelling me along this street and the next one and the next.
“The fear is breathtaking, all pervasive, yet there is no one following me, there is no assailant, no imminent disaster, no physical threat, but there is also no escape, for I am running from myself.”
But Aisbett has learned to face herself and turned a terrifying experience into a career helping others.
A former cartoonist for The Age and other major publications, Aisbett’s autobiography, titled All of It, was last year nominated for the Stella literary award for Australian women’s writing.
“The key process in self-healing is becoming one’s own ally,” Aisbett told the Weekly. “Taking on the second issue — self-pity — is challenging.
“We would rather think that we have been hard done by or simply unlucky, but many of our hardships are actually self made.
“In terms of anxiety, our repeated negative thoughts and unhelpful beliefs have played an enormous part in creating the experience.
“If one can be honest enough to identify when self pity is at play and instead take a proactive stance, this can be very empowering.”
Twenty years on, Living with IT is recognised as a self-help guide by doctors, social workers and psychologists.
It is the first of Aisbett’s 10 titles using cartoons to demystify depression, eating disorders, low self-esteem and personal development.
