I am very familiar with the pain of anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia for I suffered from these maladies for several decades. During those years of suffering I believed that my problems were purely mental and underwent treatment by psychiatrists, psychologists, and hypnotherapists. I took various prescribed medications and read many books such as this, but experienced little relief. And then something wonderful happened: I began taking a daily supplement of chelated magnesium (for a different ailment) and shortly thereafter experienced a significant diminishment of anxiety in addition to cure of the ailment for which I had originally taken the supplemental magnesium. There seemed to be no explanation for why taking supplemental magnesium caused this wonderful loss of anxiety until the publication in 2003 of the important book The Miracle of Magnesium by Dr. Carolyn Dean. Early in her book Dr. Dean reveals that a major cause of anxiety and panic attacks is deficiency of magnesium and that magnesium deficiency is quite common in the U.S. Therefore, I beg all sufferers of anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia -- whatever else you may do -- please purchase and read The Miracle of Magnesium by Dr. Carolyn Dean and please try the magnesium supplementation which she recommends. It may change your life as it has changed mine.

This book gives a nice explanation of panic attacks and anxiety, and tells readers what is happening in the body during the panic attacks. This is usually reassuring for panic attack sufferers. Natural Relief for Anxiety also offers some good stress management techniques, like massage, homeopathy and aromatherapy. These are all helpful in the context of a full anxiety reduction/management program. Bourne, however, comes down like a hammer on the wrong side of the drug debate, and risks alienating those whose choices have been narrowed to psychotropic medication or instituionalization. Bourne overemphasizes the side effects of SSRI and anti-anxiety drugs, while failing to emphasize the importance of good medication management and trial and error to find the medication that works best for an individual. A better approach to take would have been to show how to implement other anxiety reduction and coping techniques along with medication, and the issues that arise from using the two methods together. Bourne's writing style is superb, as always, but he transforms a very gray issue into a black and white standoff.