ANXIETY SUCKS, BUT YOU DON’T

What if the person who spent 15 years treating panic attacks became the patient?

That is exactly what happened to Steve Perryman. As a paramedic on the front line of Sydney’s emergency services, Steve attended hundreds of panic attacks. He knew the racing heart, the contorting hands, the absolute certainty of death arriving. He knew how to kneel beside someone convinced they were dying and guide them back.

Then he became that person on the floor.

Anxiety Sucks, But You Don’t is written from both sides of the stretcher. Part memoir, part practical guide, it brings together fifteen years of clinical front-line experience and the hard-won understanding of someone who has been in the darkest places anxiety can take you — and found a way back.

This is not another wellness manual.

It will not tell you to think positively, breathe into a paper bag, or simply calm down. What it will do is explain — clearly, honestly, and sometimes with humour — what is actually happening inside your body and your mind when anxiety and panic attacks take hold. And it will give you real tools to work with.

Inside you will find:

• A plain-language explanation of what happens in your body during a panic attack — and why none of it is as dangerous as it feels
• The cardiac-anxiety crossover explained by someone who has seen both sides of it — and why chest pain always deserves to be taken seriously
• 28 of the most damaging anxiety myths — dismantled one by one
• The things that make panic attacks worse — including the well-meaning things people say and do that quietly cause harm
• Practical strategies that actually work — including the Hope Poster, the One Per Cent Rule, and a technique involving a clifftop in the Australian  bush that you will not find in any other anxiety book
• A chapter written for the partners, parents, and friends watching someone they love disappear into the fog
• Voices from the other side of the stretcher — paramedics sharing what they have learned, and in some cases, what they have lived through themselves
• An honest overview of what professional treatment actually involves — from therapy approaches to medication — explained without jargon or judgment

Who this book is for:

The person who has called an ambulance convinced they were dying and been told their heart was fine. The first responder, the nurse, the firefighter, the soldier who would never tell a colleague what they go home to. The teenager whose parents do not understand. The partner who is exhausted and invisible. And anyone who has simply never had someone explain, clearly and honestly, what anxiety actually is and what can be done about it.

If any of those people sound like you — this book was written for you.

You are not broken. You are not weak. You are not alone.

Anxiety disorders are among the most treatable conditions in mental health. Most people who find the right understanding and the right tools go on to live full lives in which anxiety no longer runs the show.

The fog lifts. It always does. This book will help.