You’ve written several psychology books. What do you love about writing?
I have always loved the process of writing – even more so than the outcome it produces. There is something so helpful about being able to put your thoughts onto the page that helps organise them in my mind, but also allows me to step back from them a bit. When I am writing, a different part of my brain engages, and depending on what I am writing (and the kind of day I am having) it can feel easy, or it can feel difficult. But always, I feel better for getting some words on the page.
A lot of your psychology books contain heavy themes. What is enjoyable and what is challenging about writing them?
This ties a little into the first question – through my work, and probably for as long as I can remember, writing was a way of helping to process the world around me. When I was a young person this meant scratching poems out in the margins of schoolbooks, but now, it helps me infinitely get a hold on what is happening in the conversations etc, but also what is happening for me in that process. Sometimes when I look back at something I have written, it is almost a bit surprising that it came from me!
What inspired you to write Everything Anxiety Ever Told You is a Lie?
A couple of things actually! I have been working with adolescents and young adults for most of my professional career and I love how young people approach the world. What I noticed though, over the last couple of years, is that anxiety has become so much more of a feature in the worlds of young people. There is a struggle to get ‘rid of it’, and to ‘fix it’ – but what we know is that anxiety often responds to the exact opposite! When I wrote The Certainty Myth several friends/colleagues/teachers reached out and said ‘this is good, but we need a version for young people, there isn’t anything for them’. So this is how Everything Anxiety Ever Told You is a Lie was born.
Did you have any personal experiences that contributed to this book?
I think all of us have had at least one story with anxiety – but because of the work that I do I had always imagined when the time came, I would be able to withstand whatever uncertainty/anxiety etc would have to throw at me. This wasn’t the case of course (my humanness got in the way of my psychology brain) and so it was really helpful for me to revisit the conversations and processes that I know help to manage this stuff.
As a clinical psychologist, were there any ways that writing this story shaped or changed you?
When you have done a job for a long time, it is always helpful to have an external point of reflection, and writing is a great way to do this for me. Putting the words on the page, closing it, and then coming back to it sometime later allows me to see things differently – some of that is about the work that I do, but much more of it is about reflecting on my process.
How did the writing process of this book compare to your previous books?
Writing this book was really fun and pleasurable – I know that might sound wild, but it allowed me to really connect with the things that I have learnt over the years, gave me the time to reflect on the incredible young people I work with, and to also have a lot of fun with it. One of the things that I have learnt is that in the darkness there needs to be lots of light, and I am hoping this is what young people and their families find in the book.
Who do you think this book will be helpful for? What do you hope young readers will take away?
We have said that the book is for young people 14 plus, but I have had feedback that both younger people (with support from someone in their world) and adults have been finding it helpful. I hope that after they read the book people will be able to find their ways of navigating through the complexity of anxiety, whilst also recognising that they absolutely have the skills and capacity to manage through. I also hope that people find my jokes funny (but that’s mostly for me!).
Do you have any other projects in the works?
I am always scribbling away at something! I hope to continue to work on some things to help young people, as well as writing more about the process of being a therapist, and how the work that we do with young people shapes how we see the world.