For over 20 years the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety and the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program have been helping people from all walks of life to overcome their feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. The Midwest Center's drug-free, cognitive behavior-based approach to recovery has quickly made Attacking Anxiety and Depression the most popular self help system in America. To date, over a half-million people have successfully used the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program. Many of them have experienced results that they never would have dreamed of - freedom from anxiety, panic, and fear, and increased confidence and peace of mind.
Whether you suffer from overwhelming stress, anxiety, depression, or associated ailments such as panic attacks or agoraphobia, the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program can work for you.
Jennifer and Dino I was looking for someone, a friend or someone who could tell me \"Yes, I've been there. I know what you are going through.\" No one could. The anxiety started suddenly. We had just been married, not even a year. We were driving to Las Vegas one weekend and I felt incredibly sick. But it was a sickness I never felt and so we went to the emergency room. They said, \"you are having an anxiety attack.\" The attack was very quick and it was very fast but it was really powerful. It hit me, I was so humbled, I had never been so humbled in my life. And I'm amazed that people can suffer for so long. But I was immediately active, proactive.
I got the program, I sat with that tape for an hour I wrote in my journal I was so - I took it on like it was my little project and I took complete control after that point. I'm not kidding you, I think after the first tape I knew I was going to be fine. If you follow it the way it was meant to be followed, there's no way you can't get results. Don't hesitate to get his program, because it will change your life like it changed my life.
Ian \"I was suffering not only physically but also mentally. I needed an answer. I grew up in England and had the dream of becoming a professional footballer and I achieved that when I was 20-years of age. I played professional soccer in England for 7 years, which went on to a passion and a love of teaching and coaching. That took me into the Middle East. The players in the Middle East that I worked with went on to play in the World Cup Finals in 1990 in Italy. My excitement and my adrenaline were constantly on the alert throughout the year there and it was a really high level, stressful situation. That created a tremendous amount of anxiety within me. All of the sudden there was some strange symptoms that were going inside my stomach. These symptoms started and I immediately went to the doctor because it was something that I never really had before. All of the doctor's said that there was nothing wrong - I had all of the tests that you can possibly imagine, but had no real answers to my problems.
I was sitting in front of the television and saw this program. I suddenly realized - this is me! And I just picked that phone up and I got that course. And since then - when I have symptoms - I have been strong, I am strong and will be in the future. I know that the answer lies within me, with my skills from the book, from the tapes that I listen to. And I implement those ideas in real life situations. What I feel now is a certain solidity, a certain peace, which I've never been able to achieve. Try it. You will not be disappointed. You will never be disappointed in this course.\"
John \"For many years, I appeared to be somebody who had a lot of things going for them: health, youth, good education, and a good career. I never really understood why I felt so bad all the time.
The program lets you be who you are. It doesn't so much change you as it gets rid of all the negative worries, the irrational and nonsensical things that have been in your mind and have prevented you from being who you are.
If I hadn't gone through the program, many parts of my life would probably be the same. The difference is I would be miserable and unable to enjoy the good things in my life.\"
Christine \"I've suffered with generalized anxiety for maybe 10 years or so. Always doubting myself, always questioning everything I did, nothing was ever good enough. I was always waiting for the next disaster to happen. I thought I had gone crazy. I thought it was schizophrenia even though I knew what schizophrenia was, and I had no symptoms.
I can't explain the feeling of relief and hope that came over me when I got the program. I knew that I wasn't crazy. I knew that there was help. You could tell Lucinda was talking from her heart. There's something to this. This is the program. I have a life. I don't have to worry about the disaster that's looming around the corner.\"
Marcel \"I would just live with this anxiety, every second of my life. There was no relief whatsoever. It got to the point that it was so bad that I was not able to take care of myself. I wasn't able to go to work anymore, I couldn't even walk out the front door. I didn't even know who I was anymore; I didn't know what I liked. The person that I knew was gone. The anxiety would come and go throughout my life until I was about 21-years old. And that's when all the panic attacks started coming and they never stopped. I went to 3 doctors and they put me on medication. I knew that the medication, the drugs were not the answer. I couldn't even function. I just wanted to lie in bed. I couldn't think, I was just totally drugged out of my mind. And he wanted to intensify the dosage and I told him no, this is not right. Before I ordered the program I was so depressed and I said God please just take me because I can't live like this anymore. This is not life; this is no way to live.
Then I got the ATTACKING ANXIETY & DEPRESSION program. It's changed my life completely. I learned how to be strong. I know what it's like to be depressed and I would never want to go back to that. I learned all these skills to take care of myself and not let anything get me down and depressed like I was.\"
Marilyn \"It was just one day after another. There was nothing to look forward to. I don't think a doctor ever diagnosed me with depression, until like maybe 15-years ago and I've had high blood pressure medication most of my life. But since I started the program, my blood pressure has gone down and I'm off of my blood pressure medication and everyday is just a new day. When I realized that something had to be done was last year. We had celebrated our 45th anniversary in Florida. I was not feeling good about myself, good about our marriage. And it really wasn't the marriage, it was me. If I wouldn't have found the program I probably would - I hate to think about it frankly. It's just a new life. My kids saw the difference in me the first 2-weeks. And the day after Christmas when I went for a walk for about a mile and a half - that was a surprise to them too.
If someone is sitting out there and saying, \"I've been this way for 40-years and nothing's going to help me,\" give it a try.\"
Rhonda \"It's hard to kind of put it in words; just obsessing in my mind. I would take it to every Level. What would it feel like to die? I went to my doctor and he put me on anti anxiety medications and that helped a little bit. But I just knew that wasn't the answer because I still had these terrible negative thoughts going through my head. I knew after 2-visits with a psychiatrist that it just wasn't for me. I never really let anybody know how awful I felt, that I was just dying. And yet, you know, looking back now, I had everything going for me perfectly, yet I just knew I was doomed. It was a doomed depressed feeling. But I would hide back tears and still showed a face that I was just fine.
I have to say by the end of the 3rd month I was a new person. I don't have those traits; I never worry about illness anymore. Prior to the program I was very quiet and I've always liked to watch things from the outside. Now I definitely join in. In fact, I'm helping to coach my daughter's soccer team. That is so unlike me prior to the program. I'm just getting so much more out of life on a daily basis. It gave me my life back and I went on with my life.\"
Alec \"Last year I was in the infomercial with ATTACKING ANXIETY. It was just so cool to tell my story and be able to talk about it. I've wanted to move out to Los Angeles to be an actor, it's what I've always dreamed about doing. And it was hard for me to do that but through the program, I've been able to have more confidence in myself and I moved out here without anybody coming with me. A couple of years ago I couldn't of even thought about doing this. I always felt really bad and depressed, I would get worried to the point of making myself sick. I just thought I was trapped inside myself and I didn't have a way to deal with those things.
The ATTACKING ANXIETY program has totally changed my life. Being able to talk to myself and say \"it's OK I'm doing a good job,\" being able to build myself up instead of expecting someone else to do it. With a lot of the experiences that I've had in moving out here, doing it by myself and having to take risks, I feel just tremendously stronger than I used to be and I have a lot more confidence in myself. There's no way that you have to live with this anxiety.\"
Yolanda \"I felt hopeless, like there was nothing else I could do. The only things I focused in on were the negatives. I could not see the positives in my life. I couldn't even enjoy my wedding. Throughout my whole wedding I kept thinking, \"what if he has a heart attack, what if he dies right now?\" The honeymoon I kept thinking, \"what if he dies right now? What if he's going to die tomorrow?\" I couldn't be happy, I could not enjoy being newly married because the whole time I'm thinking this is too good. Something's going to happen and then what am I going to do? The thing that made me actually realize I needed to get help is when I had my son.
When I thought about the cycle with my mother and how she is depressed and I'm in a depression and it's just a continuous cycle. I didn't want my son to have to go through the same cycle. Since I've gone through the program I've made so many changes. My husband, if you ask him, would say it's like night and day. I take one thing at a time. And when I think back to the person I was, it's amazing. I never thought that I could really be truly happy. I've learned how to be positive, think positive about everything. If I hadn't had the program I would miss out on a lot of opportunities. I know that this will help you because it helped me, tremendously.\"
Stacey \"It was just so devastating. I thought I had lost my mind. I just kept thinking \"what if I think this,\" or \"what if I think that.\" Feeling that way really did scare me. I just was so overcome with panic. I just actually felt myself fall apart. Literally, I felt like I just got swallowed alive into this dark whole.
My father gave me the number for the Midwest Center. Once I called and I started using the program, I said, 'thank God!' You know, thank God there are other people who have this problem. The program gives you the power to look within yourself to find your own power to overcome this problem.
When I hear the expression \"the light at the end of the tunnel,\" I think of this program. It's made me more confident, more assertive.\"
Courtney \"I was desperate. I had gotten to the point where I was feeling horrible all the time. I felt like I was losing control of my life. I tried the medication but it was a disaster. It made me feel worse.
I talked to people about it, but no one ever gets to the nitty-gritty of anxiety, straight to the point. I think people that have anxiety or depression need that. They need somebody that they can relate to, that understands them. I just listen to the tapes and I could just feel the body symptoms go away. The periods where I was feeling better began to last longer. If I had a fearful thought or if I worried about something, I would just face it and it would dissipate. The skills are invaluable.
There's nothing out there like this program. There's nothing out there that has real life people with real life circumstances that you can relate to. And for me, that was everything.\"
Kathy \"When I would eat it would make me feel so good, and I would eat whatever I want, whenever I want. But within minutes of finishing eating I was so sad and so angry and so let down by myself that it resulted in more anger, only then I would lash out at other people and I'd yell, I'd scream or I'd throw something. It was a vicious cycle that I was caught in for years.
The program helped me lose weight by helping me take control of my emotions. I was a very emotional eater, and I needed to take control of my emotions and take control of my stress. And I was able to take all the information along with the testimonials from the program and I was able to go through the workbook and find out what my problems were, and what my stresses were. From there I was able to take control of my life to the point where I could feel good and confident about myself.\"
Lora \"Even as a young child I had started compulsive eating and it got worse as a teenager. I felt like I was out of control, there were times that I felt so very angry and I thought well if I don't eat this, I'm going to do something really terrible. I knew I had a compulsive eating problem but I didn't think I had an anxiety problem. I didn't know why I was doing it. I started to have little panic attacks while I was driving. I didn't know what was happening I just know that all of a sudden I'm feeling really weird and spacey and dizzy while I'm driving the car. As I'm driving to and from my dad's house, I would listen to the tapes. That's when I realized I was rushing, doing a white-knuckle trip on the road. No wonder I was exhausted, I was tensing up my face and tensing up my hands and trying to get there really fast and I realized, it's not like someone's going to give me a grand prize for getting home first.
When I saw your infomercial that's when I realized that I had an anxiety problem. And I realized that was really the program that I wanted and needed to do. I have the tapes; I can replay them as many times as I need to. My husband has seen a definite difference in me. I always wanted to change before but I didn't have the steps or the tools of how to do it. Now I know how.\"
Paul I'd always been pretty athletic and fairly trim most of my life. And it was like I was another person, I didn't know what was happening. Soon it didn't matter what I looked like because I couldn't do anything anyway. I didn't feel secure enough do go anywhere to do anything.
In the back of my mind I thought, you don't have to go through life that way, there's got to be some answer. And with Lucinda's help I found that you can decide to do something and actually make it work.
Janelle and Ron I was very scared that I was losing my mind, I thought I was going crazy. It seemed like everybody else was having a good time and I was just miserable. It started over a year ago when I had a little traumatic incident in my family and I was in a constant state of anxiety. I lost 15-pounds in 3 weeks. I would start shaking, start screaming, I had to run, something was just scaring me very badly. It took me hours to recuperate and I'd end up with a very bad headache, shaking inside for many hours afterward and then thinking, \"Wow, this is horrible, I was very scared. I just kept it all inside and I suffered for years.
The program was so absolutely incredible, I would bring the tapes in my car with me and it was just so exciting to go thru and feel like I was really doing something for myself. It's something that stays with you your whole life. I don't even like to think of the way I used to feel. And I know that I'll never go back.\"
Diane \"I didn't have any energy for anything. Keeping up with the facade was more than I could manage. I'm just one of those people that for some reason or another have always had a chronic, low level anxious feeling inside me. And then it would escalate into these gripping panic attacks where I couldn't breathe and my hands would sweat and my heart would pound. I would just want to run screaming from the room because I knew people could see it or that some way someone was going to know. I couldn't even stand being in my own skin. If you were somebody else describing me you would think that I had it all together. I had a pretty nice facade built up on the outside. On the inside I was dying. I was on a quest my entire life to find out what was wrong with me and fix it, it was so uncomfortable and so depressing. I would look out the window in the bathroom and just cry and think, \"everything seems like it should be OK - why do I still feel like this inside? Why do I feel so bad?\"
As I went through the program it was the only thing that ever led me to understand in my own words what was going on with me. For the first time in my entire life, somebody knew what I'd been through. I feel like it's given me such a gift of process first of all, and new eyes, I can see the whole world in a different way. It saved my life, quite literally. It really did. If anybody's out there that thinks they can benefit from this program, I really do recommend it because it saved my life.\"
Vicki \"I didn't really want to talk on the phone. I didn't want to have any visitors. I even shied away from my grandkids because I was afraid that I would have a panic attack and they would see me. And heaven knows, I didn't want them to see their nana in that position. I felt bad for my husband because I felt like I was cheating him out of the good times that we used to have. After trying so many medications, I thought this is it. I felt worse taking the medicines than I did putting up with the panic, if you can believe that.
My daughters have seen a really big difference in me. I do more things with them. I'm there and they can just come in and be themselves. You know, they don't have to worry about, \"Am I going to upset mom? Is she going to have a panic attack?\"
I wouldn't trade this program for anything in the world. Not for a million dollars - it was worth so much more. You can't put a price on your life and you can't put a price on this program.\"
Mary \"I started to have symptoms of panic. I would be shaking on the inside. I was dizzy. I was nauseous. My heart would pound and I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to cardiologists. I went to neurologists. I had all kinds of blood work done. And finally I realized there wasn't anything really wrong with me, and I started to think I was losing my mind.
When I had my anxiety, at one point, I actually didn't want to drive at all. I would just have scary thoughts while I was driving. I just wasn't comfortable.
By tape two of the program my panic attacks had stopped and I have never had another one. After I went through the program, we decided to go on a family trip and I drove half the way. Even if I had anxiety during the trip, I was fine because I had my skills and I was able to deal with anything I had to.
I know I'm better because I'm not afraid to do things anymore. I love the program. It saved my life.\"
Mark \"My anxiety got to a point where it took over my life. There was a time when my panic attacks were so severe; to leave the house was big deal.
Alcohol was a drug that I self-medicated with. To have an anxious episode and then to have a few beers, wow! When I quit drinking, that's when I noticed the anxiety became worse. I was very uncomfortable and I didn't have anything to do because I wasn't drinking. I just knew that I didn't feel right.
I was in a really deep anxious moment and when a friend of mine gave me a phone number. Two weeks after I started using the program... I never had another panic attack in my life. I play basketball with son. I play baseball. Not only did I stop the panic attacks, now I can live again. I dream. I just know that my life has become so much better, so quickly. Life is a real joy. The feeling is way beyond my expectations.\"
Allen \"I was off work for six weeks with my first panic attack. I couldn't stop sweating; I couldn't stop worrying. I just felt impending doom. We went to the Emergency Room. There I was diagnosed with anxiety.
I couldn't wait for the program to be shipped to my house. When it arrived, it was like Christmas. I dug into the tapes; started in right away. After listening to the third tape, I knew I was on the way to recovery. Now I'm not afraid of anything. I've had guns pointed at me. I've been through some very serious felony stops. I've caught bank robbers.
The program does work and it works in so many different ways, you could not imagine. My life was nothing. The quality is now so vastly improved, I couldn't be more satisfied. Those tapes are as good as gold.\"
Steve \"I began fearing to go to the store. I began fearing going out with friends. Slowly, but surely, I was becoming a prisoner of my own home. I started suffering from the panic attacks again. Once I was in a supermarket - and I'll never forget - I started thinking, \"oh no! What if I pass out? What if I can't make it to the front of the store? What if I can't make it to the cashier?\" Everything was running through my mind.
The program has changed my life in so many ways: in the way that I feel about myself, in the way that I react to situations that I'm faced with. It helps me in dealing with those uncomfortable situations that had previously caused panic attacks, and it has made a world of difference. If it wasn't for this program, I don't know if I'd be here today.
It's so easy to use. Having Lucinda come into your home every afternoon after work, or in the morning before you start work, it's almost as if you have a best friend.\"
Patricia \"I was afraid to be left alone. Someone would have to be with me all the time. Running a simple errand like getting milk from the closest store was an effort. I would have fear. I would avoid situations. I would have heart palpitations, sweating. All I knew was I wanted to be home. If I was home I would be safe. I couldn't even pick my son up from the bus stop, which was only a 10-minute drive.
If it hadn't been for the program Attacking Anxiety and Depression, I would not have been able to visit my sister when she was terminally ill. I would've lost out on a very special time with her. And I will forever be grateful for that.
I would say to a friend or anyone close to me, \"Don't waste another second. Don't hesitate. Don't doubt yourself. Don't doubt this program.\"
Mary Lee \"I started having frequent panic attacks. First I was avoiding elevators, then planes, then public transportation. Even 10 miles was a difficult distance for me to drive. My parents lived about 30 miles away, so there was about a year that I didn't even go and see them.
The Attacking Anxiety & Depression tapes were self-paced. They were so great because they had people that sounded like me.
I have been through panic and anxiety problems for probably 30 years off and on. I have been through therapists and medication, and I have talked to counselors. All those things have their place; but to be able to get a program, like Attacking Anxiety & Depression, which you can do at your own pace, is a relatively minor investment, features people that know what they're talking about, and has telephone support... It's just an amazing tool. It's absolutely worth the price.\"
Chris I got into this period in my life, it started when I was in New York and I was scared of myself. I had to be with other people because it kept me from thinking about how bad my life was. It wasn't bad, I was just thinking it was bad - negative thoughts and I couldn't socialize with people. I could still be functional, put on a great act, but I was not that person. And the person that was hiding on the inside was scared to death of what was going on. I got into this obsessive mode in terms of my thought patterns. The thoughts just kept steam rolling, one into another, and I couldn't keep track of them. They would just race out of control and I would lie there and get hot flashes. My throat would get tight and I would get the sweats, the thoughts would keep coming and then after a while, the anxiety would just go away. And I kept wondering, \"what is this that's causing this?\" I could not figure out for the life of me what was going on. I had a really bad panic attack and it woke me up and I said, \"I need to get some help.\"
I was lying there one night, flipping through the channels and I heard testimonials from your infomercial. And I pulled the covers back and I said, \"wow this is who I am. These are the things that I think about, these are things that I'm going through. This is something I need to look at and see if this can help me.\" If I hadn't gone through the ATTACKING ANXIETY & DEPRESSION program I'm not quite sure where I'd be. It's made a big difference in how I approach life, how I think about things. Everything's more upbeat, more positive. When those negative thoughts come I replace it with a positive thought right away. I am just a much more open person. I'm more caring, more loving towards my family and friends and I'm more open with them. And it's made a tremendous difference on how I approach life and how I approach people.\"
Alexa It was really hard for me to hold back my tears. I would get upset, nervous and nauseous. It was just all together - excitement but the bad kind of excitement. At night when I had to do my homework, I was really apprehensive; afraid to do it thinking I was doing something wrong or this wasn't the assignment she wanted me to do. I would get really nervous. It was just horrible. None of the other kids got so anxious and I would look at them and say, what's wrong with me? They don't act like this, why can't I not act like this.
Now, I am really confident with school and everything and I don't worry when people make fun of me. (But they don't anymore.) I would say the program is great, it helped me overcome my anxiety in such a short time. It really helped me so much.\"
Tammy \"I lived in my own world. I did my job, but I felt very insecure about everything I did. The bodily symptoms were the worst. They were very painful - the chest pain, the light headedness and dizziness. I was nauseous constantly, and couldn't eat. At times, I was just immobilized. My biggest limitation was speaking in front of people. If I had to give a presentation or speech, my blood ran cold.
Since the program, life has opened up for me. We took skiing lessons with the whole family. That's probably something that I wouldn't have tried before. I just feel I'm out there and I'm healthy. I have a chance.
One of the best things about the program was that I found people who were like me. I didn't need to feel so alone.\"
