• Williamstown, Altona, Laverton Star

By Nicole Precel

29th September 2009 11:05:50 AM

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Fighting demons … Newport resident Bev Aisbett has written four books about anxiety. 36752

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WHEN Newport author Bev Aisbet was recovering from a panic attack on Sydney Harbour, the possibility of becoming a successful author was far from her mind.

“It was a beautiful sunny day and I was in hell. I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling this way,” she said.

Years later Ms Aisbet is running lectures and seminars about coping with anxiety and depression.

She has also published four best-selling books about the subject.

Her books, Living With It, Living It Up, Letting It Go and Taming the Black Dog, have been translated into four languages and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

But her troubles with anxiety snowballed when as a young cartoonist she tried to crack the tough industry.

“If I didn’t frighten myself enough, everyone else did,” she said.

“Apparently female cartoonists couldn’t make a living, and the fact that it was a recession... it really started to chew away at me.”

Negative self-talk led Ms Aisbet into a downward spiral.

“I really started to ruminate on all this: “I’ll fail, I’m not good enough, no one knows who I am,” she said.

“It was running in the background and I didn’t realise how significant that would be.”

She experimented with different ways of dealing with her issues, and came up with a cartoon character, “It”, that symbolised her inner critic.

It became a prominent figure in her books.

“It helped me so much I thought it might help others,” she said.

“I handed the publisher this rather left-field manuscript and she virtually dragged it out of my hands because she herself was a sufferer and so were many of the people she knew. The rest was history.”

Ms Aisbet will run the forum About Anxiety on 6 October from 7pm at the Williamstown Town Hall Supper Room.

Call 9932 4170 to book or visit www.aboutanxiety.eventbrite.com

She will also conduct a lecture entitled Anxiety and Depression - Taking the Fear out of It on 14 October at 12.30pm at the Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre.

For more information visit www.adavic.org.au

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