ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book is written in the hope that it may help remove some of the mystery which surrounds psychological distress, not just from an abstract point of view, but in terms which make concrete sense to people who are frightened or anxious about aspects of their lives which they experience as abnormal. Behind many 'symptoms' of anxiety lies an injury to the person's self-esteem, a despairing, inarticulate awareness that he or she has not lived up to the standards of adequacy which we are all complicit in setting. The book expresses that the ideal world in which we profess belief is riddled with myth, and that the secret world of anxiety and pain in which we actually live our lives is the real one which we truly share.
