Dr. Claire Weekes was an Australian physician who pioneered a groundbreaking method for overcoming anxiety through acceptance. She wrote many books on this topic that are still popular today.
Her approach has proven to be extremely effective. It has enabled countless anxiety sufferers to recover from anxiety and reduce or eliminate their dependence on medication.
The Claire Weekes method enabled me to completely recover after decades of struggling with anxiety, having previously tried countless other treatments and therapies without success.
Since completing my own recovery and subsequently helping others on their journey to peace, I’ve gained a much deeper insight into Claire Weekes’ work.
In this article, I’ll review her teachings, and provide my take on her approach and how to put it into practice in everyday life
Sensitized Nervous System
Dr. Weekes addresses this in Chapter 4 of her book “Hope and Help for Your Nerves”, describing sensitization as: “a state in which our nerves react in an exaggerated way to stress”.
When our nervous system is sensitized, it doesn’t take much to trigger an anxiety response, and our anxiety responses are out of proportion with whatever triggered them. Sensitization can occur suddenly as a result of a shock, an illness, an accident or trauma, or it can develop gradually over time from things such as prolonged anxiety, lack of sleep, or stress.
Sensitization causes us to feel agitated, on edge, or that something terrible is about to happen at any moment. It can cause us to react with fear to minor, everyday things like a phone ringing, a knock on the door, or an email arriving.
When sensitized, we can feel a powerful urge to move, to run, and yet at the same time be totally exhausted. It tends to come with racing thoughts and difficulty concentrating or remembering. Other common symptoms are heart palpitations, dizziness, and feelings of unreality.
Our sensitized nervous system will return to normal when we heal our anxiety using an acceptance-based approach, but it takes time.
Acceptance Approach (Claire Weekes Method)
The goal of the acceptance approach pioneered by Claire Weekes is to learn how to face and allow our anxiety, how to sag and accept, how to stop adding second fear when we feel a wave of first fear, how to float through our anxiety, and to let time pass.
Understanding what is happening, and why, eases the bewilderment that people feel when they descend into the anxiety state. The approach as described by Dr. Weekes explains what we need to do, but it always left me wondering “exactly HOW do I do these things”.
- How do I face my anxiety?
- How do I sag?
- How do I float?
- How do I not add second fear?
- How do I accept my anxiety symptoms?
Through countless attempts and adjustments, I eventually mastered the process. I also came to understand that many people face the same fundamental challenge – “how?”
This realization inspired me to focus my book, “It’s Only Anxiety: How to Recover from Anxiety & Panic”, around a clear, step-by-step guide for applying the Claire Weekes method. Based on the feedback I have received, most anxiety sufferers seem to find it helpful in that respect.
Face
Claire Weekes talks about facing as not running away, but “facing the symptoms squarely”. Now, she also says that we “cannot increase your symptoms by facing them or even trying to intensify them”. While I agree that we are not making things worse by facing, I experienced an increase in the intensity of my symptoms when I began to face them. I put this down to the fact that I was no longer suppressing them as much, and so they felt stronger.
Regardless, I simply accepted the increase in intensity, trusted that it was temporary, and continued to face and allow the symptoms as best I could. Something that helped me with this is to not judge my progress by how I felt at any given time.
“Facing” is the first big change we must make to our behavior when employing the Claire Weekes Method. I picture this as mentally turning 180 degrees to face our symptoms and standing our ground. This is very different from what we typically do when in the anxiety state which is to recoil away from our symptoms and feelings.
Instead, we must place our attention squarely on the anxiety symptoms in a calm detached way, becoming the observer of our symptoms rather than the victim of them. We face them without resistance, and without reaction. It is a mental decision to face and stand up to the bully (our anxiety) and allow the symptoms to wash over us.
Sag
Claire Weekes describes responding to tension by sagging, specifically to “flop in a chair”, and to “relax to the best of your ability by letting your arms and legs sag into the chair”. She also asked a client to “to try to loosen that tight hold on himself”.
In my experience, tension can be physical and mental, and so “sagging” can be applied to both our physical and mental state. Physically, in addition to relaxing my arms and legs, I would drop my shoulders, loosen my stomach muscles, and unclench my jaw. Mentally, I would slow down my thinking, and do my best to let go of any sense of agitation or urgency.
The effect of sagging often did not last long for me, maybe a few minutes, sometimes only a second or two. When I noticed the tension returning, or my thoughts becoming rapid again, I might sag again. I would repeat it from time to time, but without forcing anything.
It is important not to attempt to sag so frequently that we make it a battle against our tension, or we are simply fighting and will make things worse. We can only sag now and again, without expecting any lasting change. We are gently trying to teach our body a new state of being, but it will not take hold fully until we desensitize. The physical and mental tension will disappear naturally as we recover.
Accept
Acceptance is a very simple concept, but not easy to master. There are so many aspects to acceptance, and so many levels of understanding that develop as we recover from anxiety, that I cannot do it justice in this blog post. I will provide a brief discussion below, but you can find much more in-depth information in my book.
Acceptance is the core element of the Claire Weekes method. She describes it as letting the symptoms play out “without being too disconcerted by them”. She goes on to say that: “With 100 per cent acceptance, you are prepared to accept totally whatever your body, your thoughts may bring, even at the moment of great suffering”.
What she is describing I believe are the two most important elements of acceptance: a “willingness” to allow the symptoms, and at the same time an “indifference” to them, i.e. not giving them any degree of importance.
Anxiety bluffs us into thinking it is serious, and that we are in danger. This causes us to fight the symptoms. By facing, allowing, and accepting them without resistance, we are telling our brain that there is really nothing to fear. These are just feelings, just physical and emotional sensations. They are not dangerous, and we can allow them safely.
Second Fear
Claire Weekes identified two fears, which she called first fear and second fear.
She defines first fear as one over which we have little or no control: “a fear that comes reflexly, almost automatically, in response to some threatened danger”. She states that for an anxiety sufferer, this first fear: “can be so overwhelmingly intense, so electric in its swiftness, so out of proportion to the danger causing it that a sensitized person cannot readily dismiss it”.
The anxiety sufferer then adds a flash of second fear – the fear of the fear. This increases the intensity of the feelings causes yet more second fear to be added.
Second fear is our reaction to the first fear, and all the physical feelings that follow. It is accompanied by thoughts that usually fall into the category of “Oh my goodness!” (Oh no!), and “What if ______?”. Second fear can ramp up and up until it becomes a full-blown panic attack.
I found that I often had no idea what triggered the original (first) fear. It happened at a subconscious level. My adrenaline was surging and I was adding second fear before I could even think about implementing the acceptance approach. With practice I was able to respond better to the arrival of the first fear, and reduce and eventually stop adding second fear.
I discuss this in greater depth in my blog article: Second Fear.
Float through Anxiety
Claire Weekes described to “float through anxiety” as when a sufferer does his best to: “let his body go with the feelings his nervous reactions bring instead of trying to withdraw from them or force his way through them”.
I view this as allowing yourself to feel your feelings (both physical symptoms and emotions) as willingly as you can while gently carrying on with your day. You bring the anxious feelings with you, but give them as little importance as possible.
Let Time Pass
This is self-explanatory and a very simple instruction. But please don’t let its simplicity cause you to underestimate just how important it is to take this guidance onboard. Specifically, it means letting go of any urgency to recover, and no longer counting the days, weeks, or months that we have been suffering, nor placing any timeframe on recovery.
The anxiety state is very unpleasant, and the desire to feel better is normal. But no matter how much we wish to be recovered, the journey cannot be hurried. The sooner we can accept that recovery will take as long as it takes, the sooner we will get there.
It is pointless to decide we want to be recovered in time for our holiday trip, or by Christmas, or whatever, and simply adds unwanted pressure. Doing so just means we don’t accept that we may have anxiety when that time comes, and this lack of acceptance will hinder our recovery. The pressure to meet deadlines will also increase our impatience, agitation and cause us to fight our anxiety.
Every aspect of our journey must be one of allowing, accepting, and letting recovery take as long as it takes. Trust me, it is vital to stop calendar- watching and let time pass, and the rewards are well worth waiting for!
Click here for more Information on Dr. Claire Weekes.
