Tim Clare has suffered from extreme anxiety and panic attacks for a decade. At their worst, his attacks would see him curled on the floor, screaming at his wife for help. This was something the couple just got used to and were able to manage, until they became parents. With the arrival of Tim’s daughter came a new wave of extreme anxiety, triggered by the knowledge that his own mental ill-health could be negatively impacting his child.
It was at this point that Tim made a promise to himself—that he would try everything he could to get better, every method and medicine. In Coward, Tim explores all the possible treatments for anxiety, from SRIs to hypnosis, from running to extreme diets. He interviews experts in each field and becomes a guinea pig, testing their methods on himself. By the end of the book, Tim will know what helps him and what doesn’t, and what might help others, but most of all, he’ll come to rethink anxiety and ask all of us to do the same.
