The Dr. Claire Weekes Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

[AlienResources]

Hope and Help for Your Nerves by Weekes

 

 

I started reading the book OP posted but am disgusted by how the author keeps reccomending the long term use of benzodiazepines. How am I supposed to take the book seriously now?

 

Which book are you referring to by which author?

 

[ChessieCat]

My thought is don't throw out the baby with the bath water.  I haven't read any of her books, only listened to some of her videos.  Throw out anything relating to drugs (thankfully we know that it can be inadvisable to use them) and keep the non-drug coping techniques.

 

Being born in 1903 she was 60 years old when valium came on the market.

 

 

Benzo history from wiki:

 

The first such drug, chlordiazepoxide (Librium), was discovered accidentally by Leo Sternbach in 1955, and made available in 1960 by Hoffmann–La Roche, which, since 1963, has also marketed the benzodiazepine diazepam (Valium).[1] In 1977 benzodiazepines were globally the most prescribed medications.[2]

[Lorin]

does someone helped by her books and felt less simphtoms?

[ShakeyJerr]

On 5/15/2017 at 0:53 AM, ChessieCat said:

My thought is don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

 

Yeah - it does get jarring sometimes when she writes about the benefits of sedation or shock therapy. I have to remind myself that she wrote her books in the late 60s, when those things were still accepted and the long-term effects were not really understood.

 

Still, she knows her stuff when it comes to the other ways of dealing with anxiety.

 

SJ

[PH1]

My wife and I have found Claire Weekes so helpful in addressing anxiety.     Her voice is comforting and she is very compassionate.   I encourage everyone to read Hope And Help For Your Nerves.     She was a pioneer in her time and has helped countless people who are suffering.    We call her “Saint Claire”!  😁

[ButterflyHope]

Hi Ive just ordered the book Self Help for your nerves. I'm hoping it will help with the intense anxiety I feel at the moment and learn to live with some of the symptoms like tremors and feeling sick. I have realised some of these things I'd be better off accepting may last a long time and not try and fight them. Its hard with anxious thoughts but I hope they will fade or at least decrease in intensity in time. Does anyone else have experience of this and how best to manage the intensity  of overwhelming anxiety during the withdrawal?

[FarmGirlWorks]

On 1/9/2016 at 11:51 AM, nz11 said:

(from Claire Weekes): At some point in nervous illness the sufferer may be so ill he no longer cares what happens; however, as he begins to recover, caring returns and this may be complicated by his feeling that although much better, he cannot face the future demands and responsibilities of normal living. At such a time he is often accused of not wanting to get better. Make no mistake, he wants to recover, but at the same time the prospect of coping with the demands of recovery may be so frightening while he is in his present state of only partial recovery, that he almost convinces himself that the criticism may be true – another bewilderment in nervous illness!  

 

Enough time must pass to provide a protective layer of normal responses to help him gradually find his balance and normal living, to take normal reaction for granted.

 

As his body strengthens, his spirits rise, optimism and confidence returned. The process may be so gradual he may be unaware of it. It is this gradualness that makes all possible and only the passage of enough time can bring such gradualness.

That passage from Claire Weekes is helping me cope with this day. I had a powerful weekend and now am in a dark wave that feels different than waves of the past but is filled with fear of the future, napping, and cortisol spikes. I have no job really and fear that I will not be able to make a stable income. I am better than last year when I was sure that I'd be homeless and a zombie on the streets and had SI more often (hourly instead of daily) and less afraid of the change of weather to the darker days. So CW helps by saying that even though one begins to feel better, the fear of recovery may set one back and that only time will restore "normal" responses. Accept and do not struggle -- that is her advice.

[Sebas]

On 1/2/2016 at 3:10 AM, Petunia said:

The way I understand her now is that when it comes to the experience of anxiety symptoms, or any unexpected, unexplained symptoms, our natural reaction is to fight them, to try and get rid of them, to struggle with them or try and escape from them, spending vast amounts of energy trying to make them go away, trying to ignore them and keep pushing on with our lives, or we become obsessed with them and spend hours on the internet, trying to find answers. So our whole existence becomes a constant war between us and our symptoms. Of course we become more and more exhausted from fighting this battle all the time and this exhaustion causes more stress which in turn makes our symptoms worse and so we get sicker.

 

Her message is acceptance of the symptoms, letting them be there and floating through what we need to do while the symptoms are allowed to be there for as long as they are. I think this works well for us in recovery from withdrawal because there are things we have to do, things which our symptoms make very difficult. By using her method, we can manage to do what we need to do, without causing further stress and exhaustion by adding 'symptom fighting' to our struggle.

 

By not fighting with our symptoms, but letting them be there, we can retain some of our energy, lower stress and start recovering.

 

Appreciated this contribution 😊

[thecowisback]

i love this lady. we could do with more people like her in the world. ❤️

[Rachellynn]

Omg. She says to use tranquilizers to go out for the first couple weeks😭

[ChessieCat]

Yes, that is very unfortunate, but you have to realise the time that she was practising:

 

Born: 11 April 1903, Died: 2 June 1990

[ChessieCat]

I've added a note about this in the first post of this topic, and the Anxiety and Panic Attacks topic.

 

[Rachellynn]

On 2/11/2019 at 2:25 PM, ChessieCat said:

Yes, that is very unfortunate, but you have to realise the time that she was practising:

 

Born: 11 April 1903, Died: 2 June 1990

I know. I more mean like...that’s how hard it is for me to leave the house too... i really like her voice tho. Delightful. 

[HoneyPot100]

I wanted to add to this very valuable resource with posting a link to David Daish's videos. David suffered from anxiety like the rest of us, and found comfort and cure fro Claire Weekes' help. He has a very soothing tone to listen too, and I find him very easy to relate to.

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/OldRockMan58/videos

 

Unfortunately, David is no longer with us, but the legacy that he leaves behind in these videos is a wonderful thing, and for that I am very grateful.

[getofflex]

Yes I think this secondary fear, which I see as freaking out over the withdrawal symptoms and fighting them, is a problem for me.  My takeaway from this is that I need to accept my W/D symptoms, and just flow with them, instead of fighting them or getting upset by them.  This forum is a huge help in allowing me to do that.  I already feel much calmer now than I did earlier today.   

 

What happens is I feel so good for a few days, then it's as if the bottom has dropped out and I feel awful the next day, and it takes me by surprise.  Windows and waves. 

[Petunia]

Since starting this topic several years ago, I came across a YouTube video of one of Dr. Weekes's audio books:  Freedom from Nervous Suffering. I don't know how long it will stay available on YouTube though. If you find it helpful, perhaps download it.

_________________________________________

1 hour 20 minutes long

 

The original video posted in this link was no longer available.  But I have found this one (October 2021) when I search for "Freedom from Nervous Suffering" on Youtube.  The title for the video is in Portugese (and I think it has Portugese subtitles).  But the video is in English:

 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by ChessieCat
updated video link

[Hanna72]

@Petunia Thank you for the video, it is very helpful 

[Rosetta]

 

[Onmyway]

I just saw this article about her. May be of interest. 

 

• Claire Weekes, the Australian doctor who cracked the anxiety code (smh.com.au)

[TreeFrog]

Does anyone know of any guided meditations that are based on the Claire Weekes method? I've listened to one of her audiobooks and parts of another, but while I've learned a lot from them, I'm hoping to find something I can listen to that will help me apply her method. I know it wouldn't likely be by her, but maybe a similar approach in a guided meditation from someone else?

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, TreeFrog said:

Does anyone know of any guided meditations that are based on the Claire Weekes method? I've listened to one of her audiobooks and parts of another, but while I've learned a lot from them, I'm hoping to find something I can listen to that will help me apply her method. I know it wouldn't likely be by her, but maybe a similar approach in a guided meditation from someone else?

 

Dr Claire Weekes - Pass through Panic

 

Available on Audible

 

US Amazon

Canada Amazon

 

(I have no affiliation)

 

[ChessieCat]

I did a search on YouTube and found this.  They are NOT in  chapter order:

 

"Hope and Help For Your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes

[Doctorsrcrap]

Hi.

I read her book and the reference to taking drugs is a little triggering but the general principle in the rest of the book makes sense. 

I dont know if any one hear has rad DARE. I would say it's the same principles written in a friendlier and simpler form without the mention of need for drugs. 

Just an idea. 

I have no idea if that book is referenced anywhere else on this site haha

[jon1]

If anyone is interested, there's a selection of BBC interviews from the 1980s with Dr Weekes to purchase on Apple TV. It might be available to buy elsewhere too.

 

It's 6 short interviews recorded for a lunchtime UK TV show. It's called Peace from Nervous Suffering.

 

I've just watched through them and (Dame Edna comparisons aside) she's so relaxing to listen to and makes so much sense.

 

She barely mentions tranquillisers, and when she does she says to use them only in very extreme cases and 'for a day'. So it's possible by this time in her life she'd revised her opinion on them.

 

It would have been fascinating to hear how she would approach anxiety and depression caused by withdrawal from modern SSRIs.