An exam, a business meeting, waiting for news, a change, a delay, or even a mere telephone call: anxiety is a state of mind we experience almost daily. And, in normal conditions, it's what allows us to deal with everyday challenges when it manifests itself as positive tension and psychological energy. But sometimes anxiety turns into an invincible enemy. If a certain threshold is exceeded, anxiety transforms itself from a stimulus into a paralysing emotion, from a drive for success into an insurmountable obstacle in relations with others and ourselves. It may even achieve the violent and devastating forms of anguish and panic attacks. These and other aspects of anxiety are carefully discussed in this volume, in which the author also teaches us how to dominate it.

Mario Farnè is a physician and psychotherapist, and teaches Medical Psychology at the University of Bologna.