Work Makes Me Nervous: Overcome Anxiety and Build the Confidence to Succeed

The Truth from Two Perspectives

Destiny. Kismet. Beshert. Throughout the world's cultures, there are words to describe the notion of fate—something that was simply meant to be. Our chance meeting on a community basketball court 20 years ago led to our writing this book together—one of us a psychotherapist and one of us a person who suffers from anxiety and avoidance. These two perspectives combine in a unique way to present the full spectrum of affliction and recovery. That is our commitment to this project—and our commitment to our readers.

—Jonathan Berent, L.C.S.W., and Amy Lemley

Ten Thousand Voices

In 1976, fresh out of graduate school in psychology, I was working as a youth counselor in a community center. An associate of mine had an idea: Establish a socialization program for teenagers with learning disabilities. A socialization program? Learning disabilities? I had no idea what she was talking about. Nevertheless, we embarked on this endeavor. I would interview applicants prior to their starting the program. A high percentage of the teenagers would not come to the group after the initial interview. What was this about? This was fate introducing me to social anxiety a long time before the term gained widespread attention. Shortly after I held this position, I started my own psychotherapy practice. From the beginning, I was working with stress-related disorders and biofeedback. This evolved into the specialty of social anxiety and performance anxiety and related issues.

Since ...