焦慮是現代人最常見的一種精神疾病，而曾經陷入嚴重焦慮症的作家Dan Smith在新作《Monkey Mind》裡，闡述人們為了克服焦慮所作的不懈探索，灼見真知，振奮人心。

作者坦誠詳述自己所經歷的歡鬧又糾心的親身故事。他初次患得嚴重焦慮是在十六歲那年，後來他在第一份工作，也就是擔任《大西洋月刊》編輯時，焦慮更加嚴重。即使他離開那個工作後，他也曾為了留住一生至愛而做出浪漫的努力。這些年來，他試過各種降低焦慮的方法，如藥物、精神分析、自我隔離、認知療法以及參禪，終於讓他學會與自己焦躁的大腦言歸於好，成為一名自己嚮往的丈夫和父親。

這是一個最真實的個人故事。在《看得見的黑暗》（Darkness Visible）書裡探討憂鬱，而在《奇想之年》（The Year of Magical Thinking）書中研究憂傷，在這本書裡，作者大膽剖析焦慮症，與讀者一塊分享與討論如何抑制心中魔鬼的方法。

 

Daniel B. Smith is the author of Muses, madmen, and Prophets: Hearing voices and the Borders of Sanity and the associate editor of The American Idea: The Best of The Atlantic Monthly. A former staff editor at The Atlantic, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

“You don't need a Jewish mother, or a profound sweating problem, to feel Daniel Smith's pain in Monkey Mind. His memoir treats what must be the essential ailment of our time — chronic anxiety — and it does so with wisdom, honesty, and the kind of belly laughs that can only come from troubles transformed.” —Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding

“Daniel Smith has a written a wise, funny book, a great mix of startling memoir and fascinating medical and literary history, all of it delivered with humor and a true generosity of spirit. I only got anxious in the last part, when I worried the book would end. Of course, it did, but Smith's hopeful last chapters helped me cope.” —Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land and The Ask

“I don’t know Daniel Smith, but I do want to give him a hug. His book is so bracingly honest, so hilarious, so sharp, it’s clear there’s one thing he doesn’t have to be anxious about: Whether or not he’s a great writer.” —A.J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically

“At last, that universally insidious and distressing experience of anxiety has been clarified. The author guides us through his own varying episodes of anxiety, and helps us to understand its dark side. The author ends up on a bright note, mainly his successful treatment of his anxiety with cognitive therapy. Through the elegant narrative of his personal history and his exposition of the scientific aspects, Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron’s Darkness Visible did for depression.” —Aaron Beck

“As a fellow sufferer, I balked at reading Monkey Mind, fearful that a book about anxiety might send me over the edge. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Daniel Smith maps the jagged contours of anxiety with such insight, humor and compassion that the result is, oddly, calming. There are countless gems in these pages, including a fresh take on the psycho-pathology of chronic nail biting, an ill-fated ménage a trois—and the funniest perspiration scene since Albert Brooks’ sweaty performance in Broadcast News. Read this book. You have nothing to lose but your heart palpitations, and your Xanax habit.”—Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss