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'The true story of the little-known mental-health pioneer who revolutionised how we see the defining problem of our era: anxiety.
'Panic, depression, sorrow, guilt, disgrace, obsession, sleeplessness, low confidence, loneliness, agoraphobia ... The international bestseller Self-Help for Your Nerves, first published in 1962 and still in print, has helped tens of millions of people to overcome all of these, and continues to do so. Yet even as letters and phone calls from readers around the world flooded in, thanking her for helping to improve — and in some cases to save — their lives, Dr Claire Weekes was dismissed as underqualified and overly populist by the psychiatric establishment. Just who was this woman?
'Claire Weekes was driven by a restless and unconventional mind that saw her become the first woman to earn a Doctor of Science degree at Australia’s oldest university, win global plaudits for her research into evolution, and take a turn as a travel agent, before embarking on a career in medicine. But it was a mistaken diagnosis of tuberculosis that would set her heart racing and push her towards integrating all she’d learned into a practical treatment for anxiety — a tried-and-true method now seen as state-of-the-art 30 years after her death. This book is the first to tell her remarkable story.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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David Roth Review of Judith Hoare, The Woman Who Cracked the Anxiety Code : The Extraordinary Life of Dr Claire Weekes
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 297-301)
— Review of The Woman Who Cracked the Anxiety Code 2019 single work biography 'From 1962, Dr Claire Weekes’s self-help publications and recordings helped hundreds of thousands of people suffering from anxiety disorders. For many years, her ability to reach out to lay people in readable non-technical terms initially met with dismissal by the psychiatric profession in Australia but found more recognition by professionals in Britain, the United States and Canada. Yet her approach to cognitive behavioural therapy has slowly, if perhaps grudgingly, become accepted here and internationally, and indeed incorporated into some bibliotherapy programs recommended by medical professionals. Judith Hoare’s biography has rescued Weekes from an undeserved near oblivion by reminding us of her achievements. Hoare, a former senior editor at the Australian Financial Review, found that Weekes’s advice gave her relief from her own anxiety in her early career. She has given us an insight into Weekes’s many achievements, not only in the field of self-help, but also in biological science and music, and as a physician, presenting a warts-and-all account of her often-troubled domestic life. But the loyalty of her family and friends supported Weekes in her extraordinary dedication to the welfare of her worldwide ‘patients’, continuing well into her 80s, through letters, meetings and telephone calls at any time of the day or night.'(Introduction)
-
David Roth Review of Judith Hoare, The Woman Who Cracked the Anxiety Code : The Extraordinary Life of Dr Claire Weekes
2021
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , August no. 5 2021; (p. 297-301)
— Review of The Woman Who Cracked the Anxiety Code 2019 single work biography 'From 1962, Dr Claire Weekes’s self-help publications and recordings helped hundreds of thousands of people suffering from anxiety disorders. For many years, her ability to reach out to lay people in readable non-technical terms initially met with dismissal by the psychiatric profession in Australia but found more recognition by professionals in Britain, the United States and Canada. Yet her approach to cognitive behavioural therapy has slowly, if perhaps grudgingly, become accepted here and internationally, and indeed incorporated into some bibliotherapy programs recommended by medical professionals. Judith Hoare’s biography has rescued Weekes from an undeserved near oblivion by reminding us of her achievements. Hoare, a former senior editor at the Australian Financial Review, found that Weekes’s advice gave her relief from her own anxiety in her early career. She has given us an insight into Weekes’s many achievements, not only in the field of self-help, but also in biological science and music, and as a physician, presenting a warts-and-all account of her often-troubled domestic life. But the loyalty of her family and friends supported Weekes in her extraordinary dedication to the welfare of her worldwide ‘patients’, continuing well into her 80s, through letters, meetings and telephone calls at any time of the day or night.'(Introduction)
