The Truth About Stress

By Angela Patmore

We seem to be living through an epidemic of stress. There are 15 million websites dedicated to the subject and Britain alone has over two million accredited therapists, counsellors and healers devoted to protecting us from what they claim is a debilitating disease.

But is there really a stress problem? In this brilliant and provocative analysis, Angela Patmore examines the confusion and controversy surrounding the whole concept, raising important questions about the treatments and advice that offer to cure it. She argues that the health angst engendered by all this lucrative 'stress awareness' sends its victims in search of therapy and sedation and fuels an epidemic costing the UK billions.

Far from helping people cope with their problems and feelings, Patmore contends, the unregulated industry is harming them. Her conclusions suggest we need to reappraise profoundly the way we understand our own health and well-being.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781782395003

Angela Patmore

Angela Patmore is a former University of East Anglia research fellow and International Fulbright Scholar. Her analysis of competitivepressure, Sportsmen Under Stress (1986), was The Times sports books of the year. A former Guardian columnist on the psychology of sport, she writes extensively for newspapers and magazines and has contributed to many television and radio programmes on stress. She served on the Metropolitan Police External Experts stress advisory group under the chairmanship of Sir John Stevens and works as a psychological skills trainer rehabilitating the long-term unemployed. The Truth About Stress was published in 2005.