NeuroMastery: Retraining Your Brain to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Panic Attacks Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given an ARC of this book from Stress Free Book Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

It’s no secret that mental health has become a more prominent issue in today’s life. Plenty of self-help books have come out to address it in a variety of ways. But, have any of them gone inside the brain? I have come across one recently that explores the neurological side of having mental wellness issues called NeuroMastery: Retraining Your Brain to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Panic Attacks by Ugochukwu Uche MS., LPC. It’s a unique book that gives tips to readers on how they can gradually rewire their brain to overcome the problems mentioned even if it repeats itself constantly.

Based on the latest cognitive neuroscience and counseling psychological research, NeuroMastery: Retraining Your Brain to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Panic Attacks offers a comprehensive guide to reshaping one’s brain to improve responses to anxiety, fear, and panic attacks. One will learn about the brain’s anatomy, the trail that stress takes through the brain, and how negative thoughts contribute to anxiety and fear. The book also introduces readers to effective cognitive behavioral strategies, mindfulness techniques, and lifestyle modifications to manage anxiety. One can learn to face one’s fears through exposure and desensitization and discover how resilience and positive change can be nurtured through understanding and harnessing neuroplasticity. It’s a road map to a calmer, more controlled, and resilient life. 

As one will probably figure out from that summary, NeutroMastery focuses more on what the brain does while someone is experiencing anxiety, fear, and/or panic attacks. There are plenty of books that discuss how to overcome those states through various measures, but as far I know, not many discuss what the cerebellum functions while dealing with those emotions. The first half of this title greatly details what the brain experiences while going through anxiety, fear, and panic attacks. These involve parts of the brain like the amygdala – “a small, almond-shaped structure deep within the brain’s temporal lobes” that interprets “sensory information information and [initiates] the body’s response to danger;” the prefrontal cortex, which plays a crucial role in managing emotional responses triggered by the amygdala; and the hippocampus, which is responsible for “[storing] and [retrieving] memories related to fear and trauma” (p.5-6).

These sections will delight readers who are interested in the neurological side of mental health. Personally, I have dealt with anxiety, fear, and panic attacks, and it helps me to understand how and why my brain responds to things that trigger me. However, I can see how others can be bored by them, especially if they never really liked biology to begin with, because it is super into explaining how the brain operates in those states. 

The second half emphasizes various treatments. This includes cognitive behavioral and exposure therapies, mindfulness and relaxation techniques, desensitization, yoga, eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, and thinking more positive thoughts (p.55-103). Uche goes through assessment and how to apply each one although he is quick to mention that one treatment may work for some, but not for others. In addition, he stresses that these should be conducted by a trained mental health professional. These sections are a lot more fascinating to read about because the author is clearly invested in exploring each option. This love even gets spilled over to the first half as a way to tease the readers of what is to come.

At the end of each chapter, Uche provides a story about a woman named Lucy who has panic attacks whenever she drives or has thoughts about driving. Her gradual journey in retraining her brain unfolds throughout the book, and it provides a good way to apply what he has been saying into a real world scenario. Without it, not many readers would fully understand the handbook.

My complaint is that Uche has a tendency to repeat himself a lot. Now, I understand that this is necessary in self-help books in order to drill what they say into the readers’ heads. In this case, the author’s repetition is frequent. What do I mean by this? He’ll introduce a concept on one page. Then, he says roughly the same thing a few pages later. I swore I was having deja vu when reading certain sections because they sounded so identical. For example, Uche talks about the feedback loop of fear, which is a “self-perpetuating cycle of fear and anxiety” (p. 26).

In the paragraph that describes the feedback loop of fear, it starts off like this:

“The feedback loop of fear starts with an initial trigger—an event, situation, or even a thought that the brain interprets as threatening. This trigger activates the amygdala, the brain’s alarm center, sparking a cascade of physiological responses—the fight, flight, or freeze response” (p. 26)

A few pages later, he summarizes his point like this:

“The feedback loop of fear begins with a trigger—a situation, thought, or sensation perceived as threatening. This trigger activates the amygdala, leading to a fight, flight, or freeze response, which involves various physiological changes such as increased heart rate, rapid breathing, and heightened alertness” (p.29).

While it’s not quite copy and paste, I had to do a double take just to make sure I wasn’t re-reading the same thing.

Another thing I thought of is that this book is certainly useful for people whose lives are divided because of the trauma they experienced. In other words, there was life before and after the event. But what about those who suffered through trauma before they even started to remember? There are plenty of people who basically grew up with anxiety, fear, and panic attacks like growing up in an abusive environment. Uche doesn’t really address that, and I wish he did.

Overall, NeuroMastery: Retraining Your Brain to Conquer Anxiety, Fear, and Panic Attacks by Ugochukwu Uche MS., LPC is a unique look at anxiety, fear, and panic attacks and how one can overcome them by understanding how the brain functions. While it’s clear that the author is very knowledgeable about the subject, he could’ve conveyed how the brain operates while under those states more effectively, so all readers regardless of their personal interests would get. Nevertheless, readers will certainly learn about the neurological side of dealing with mental wellness issues as well as how various treatments affect the cerebellum. Since the book is out tomorrow, Tuesday, October 24, I would recommend this book to those who are into the science aspects of mental health, especially those who are biology and psychology students. It may help to retrain some brains to conquer anxiety, fear, and panic attacks, but possibly not others, particularly those who would need a more traditional approach to conquering those problems.

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