Summary:
Monkey mind is a memoir written by Daniel Smith. Daniel struggled with anxiety for the majority of his childhood and adult life, and explains his experience with anxiety through the writing of his memoir. When Daniel was diagnosed with anxiety it was almost expected because both his parents also suffered the cognitive condition, so much so that his mother became a therapist in order to understand her own anxiety. Daniel’s anxiety increased significantly when he lost his virginity in a traumatic experience. His story deeply describes his rollercoaster experience of episodes of anxiety through his life. He brings readers through his life timeline from his early childhood to graduating college to life after graduation. Daniel describes …show more content…
These individuals had extensive experience in treating anxiety and other cognitive conditions, but all five of Daniel’s first therapists went about treating his anxiety in a similar way. They all asked him to talk about his anxiety. Daniel summed up his early experiences with therapists as effective as “taking aspirin for leprosy” (Smith, 2013, p. e1055). In each of these cases Daniel attempted to reach out to his therapist to connect with them, but only found vague and non-disclosure type communicative feedback. Daniel found talking about his anxiety helped, but only temporarily and the benefits from talking about his anxiety could come from his friends and family with similar results compared to his general …show more content…
There are two main insights I have found that will help in my final paper which include, the description of how anxiety feels and works and the overall narrative structure of the memoir.
The first insight was the description of anxiety, Daniel describes his own feelings of anxiety in great detail and brings in quotes from Kierkegaard, who was a psychologist who studied and was believed to have anxiety. Daniel quotes Kierkegaard as stating “His age, he wrote, “ was a cowardly age,” in which “one does everything possible by way of diversions and…loud-voiced enterprises to keep lonely thoughts away just as in the forests of America they keep away wild beasts by torches, by yells, by the sound of cymbals” (p. e1156). The beginning of this quote feels as if it could be published in 2016, even though it was published in 1844. This relates to the distraction of media I have used to hide my stress and my conversation partners have also
Monkey mind is a memoir written by Daniel Smith. Daniel struggled with anxiety for the majority of his childhood and adult life, and explains his experience with anxiety through the writing of his memoir. When Daniel was diagnosed with anxiety it was almost expected because both his parents also suffered the cognitive condition, so much so that his mother became a therapist in order to understand her own anxiety. Daniel’s anxiety increased significantly when he lost his virginity in a traumatic experience. His story deeply describes his rollercoaster experience of episodes of anxiety through his life. He brings readers through his life timeline from his early childhood to graduating college to life after graduation. Daniel describes …show more content…
These individuals had extensive experience in treating anxiety and other cognitive conditions, but all five of Daniel’s first therapists went about treating his anxiety in a similar way. They all asked him to talk about his anxiety. Daniel summed up his early experiences with therapists as effective as “taking aspirin for leprosy” (Smith, 2013, p. e1055). In each of these cases Daniel attempted to reach out to his therapist to connect with them, but only found vague and non-disclosure type communicative feedback. Daniel found talking about his anxiety helped, but only temporarily and the benefits from talking about his anxiety could come from his friends and family with similar results compared to his general …show more content…
There are two main insights I have found that will help in my final paper which include, the description of how anxiety feels and works and the overall narrative structure of the memoir.
The first insight was the description of anxiety, Daniel describes his own feelings of anxiety in great detail and brings in quotes from Kierkegaard, who was a psychologist who studied and was believed to have anxiety. Daniel quotes Kierkegaard as stating “His age, he wrote, “ was a cowardly age,” in which “one does everything possible by way of diversions and…loud-voiced enterprises to keep lonely thoughts away just as in the forests of America they keep away wild beasts by torches, by yells, by the sound of cymbals” (p. e1156). The beginning of this quote feels as if it could be published in 2016, even though it was published in 1844. This relates to the distraction of media I have used to hide my stress and my conversation partners have also