In his new book “Anxious”, Ledoux respectfully provides an informative inventory of past and present approaches to anxiety. “Arguing for a new view of emotion”, He brings us up to speed through his work with his old academic advisor Michael Gazzaniga and springboards us into a discussion of anxiety and the important differences between it and fear. Anxious will enlighten anyone who reads it and, if the reader is like myself (not a professional of any kind), she will be rewarded with a clear foundation followed by an articulate fleshing out of the topic. There are helpful diagrams and explanations of the research that backs up all of Ledoux's silky prose. For the professional audience I would be shocked if someone read the book and wasn't moved, inspired, or otherwise helped along in her work. Ledoux provides great insight for anyone wishing to better understand anxiety and its workings.

Other titles of interest:

My Age of Anxiety by Scot Stossel

Stopping the Noise in Your Head by Reid Wilson

The Mindful Way Through Anxiety by Susan Orsillo and Lizabeth Roemer

Reclaim Your Brain by Joseph Annibaldi

How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman

Also by Joseph Ledoux:

The Emotional Brain

Synaptic Self

The Emotional Brain Revisited

Integrated Mind (with Michael Gazzinga)

At Caversham, we rarely have an opportunity to recommend fiction or graphic novels. Every once in a while though, a book comes along that links together many aspects of mental health in a beautiful and challenging way.

We all have regrets, things that can hold us back or down if we allow them to. Rory of Arkansas is just trying to get out of town when his car breaks down a few miles into his journey. While assessing the situation, he hears a rustle in the grass, and finds what looks to be a little girl playing dress up—complete with taped up paper crown with glued-on feathers—who has fallen in the corn rows and twisted her ankle. Claiming to be The Valkyrie of Arkansas (named Sylvia), she leads Rory on a journey through his past, and the guilt he’s shouldered along the way.

Naturally, Rory can’t take Sylvia’s claims at face value until she forces him to. The artwork subtly transforms her into the Valkyrie she claims to be, and Sylvia shows Rory what his brother’s episodes of psychosis were like from the inside. Like a pebble starting a landslide, Rory has to face his past; a brother he loves, a meth-cook father, and a tragedy he’s shouldered the burden of.

The illustrations and text work together seamlessly to weave the tale, and I hope this strong debut collaboration leads to more like it. This is a first full-length graphic novel for both Adam Smith and Matthew Fox.

Another title of interest: Trauma is Really Strange