Introduction ix
Part 0 Understanding Your Mind 1
Chapter 1 Anxiety Goes Viral 3
Chapter 2 The Birth of Anxiety 15
Chapter 3 Habits and Everyday Addictions 27
Chapter 4 Anxiety as a Habit Loop 37
Part 1 Mapping Your Mind: First Gear 51
Chapter 5 How to Map Your Mind 53
Chapter 6 Why Your Previous Anti-Anxiety (and Anti-Habit) Strategies Failed 65
Chapter 7 Dave's Story, Part 1 75
Chapter 8 A Brief Word on Mindfulness 84
Chapter 9 What Is Your Mindfulness Personality Type? 93
Part 2 Updating Your Brain's Reward Value: Second Gear 103
Chapter 10 How Your Brain Makes Decisions (Why We Prefer Cake to Broccoli) 105
Chapter 11 Stop Thinking: Dave's Story, Part 2 117
Chapter 12 Learning (and Growing) from the Past 124
Chapter 13 Fixing the Fix: Dana Small's Chocolate Experiment 136
Chapter 14 How Long Does It Take to Change a Habit? 143
Part 3 Finding That Bigger, Better Offer for Your Brain: Third Gear 157
Chapter 15 The Bigger, Better Offer 159
Chapter 16 The Science of Curiosity 173
Chapter 17 Dave's Story, Part 3 186
Chapter 18 What's Good About Rainy Days? 197
Chapter 19 All You Need Is Love 207
Chapter 20 The Why Habit Loop 216
Chapter 21 Even Doctors Get Panic Attacks 226
Chapter 22 Evidence-Based Faith 239
Chapter 23 Anxiety Sobriety 250
Epilogue Six Years and Five Minutes 261
Acknowledgments 265
Notes 269
Index 277