‘FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL'

A book focusses on anxiety and offers concrete solutions to deal with it

GIVEN the second wave of Covid has induced anxiety and havoc in our lives, a new book brings about a certain understanding on how to cope with it. Titled Age of Anxiety: How to Cope by Amrita Tripathi and Kamna Chhibber, and published by Simon & Schuster, the book includes inputs from mental health experts, helpline numbers, myths, facts and key insights on looking at the issue in India. The Morning Standard speaks to the authors. Excerpts:

Could you start by talking about your objective with this book on mental health?

Kamna Chhibber: Given the impact that mental health has on people’s lives, their happiness, their productivity, relationships and well-being, it is important that we prioritise them and have more conversations around it.

Anxiety as a concept has entered conversations, but many remain ill-informed about anxiety as a mental health illness. We want to help people understand that there is an illness called Anxiety Disorder, composed of several different subtypes. This would enable people to enhance their empathy towards those who have the illness, and help bust myths and misconceptions surrounding mental health illnesses. This book brings forth not just what anxiety is, but also what it looks like from the perspective of someone who has it, the understanding of different experts as well as tool kits to be able to cope with it.