Contact: Joni Sullivan Baker, Buoyancy PR, 513/319-3231

CINCINNATI, Sept. 11 /Standard Newswire/ -- Take a deep breath and focus on the "What-Is" in your life instead of the "What-Ifs." That's the remedy author Marcy Bryan recommends for the person caught in debilitating fear and anxiety.

Oh yes and don't forget the power of chocolate.

"I realized that my whole world had revolved—for as long as I could remember—around the what-ifs….the What-Ifs had sucked the very life out of me, leaving a shame-filled, self-hating corpse of a Christian. I was breathing, but it was only to allow me to exist. I had quit living years ago."

In her new book, Scared Silly: Taking on Your Fears, Worries, and What-ifs, (Standard Publishing, September 2007) author Marcy Bryan shares her own history of anxiety and agoraphobic tendencies, along with a healthy dose of humor and quotes. Although this is a serious subject, Bryan's Dave Barry-like humor sweetens the punch of her frank admission of a life lived for more than 20 years as a Christian with debilitating fear and anxiety.

Combining humor with this topic may seem unexpected, but the mental health community continues to note that humor not only helps with the learning process but can actually be therapeutic in overcoming anxiety. People relax when they laugh, and in a time of relaxation are more receptive to new ideas, concepts and lessons.

Interspersed with helpful scripture verses (in sections titled "Meds") plus thought questions, small group discussion starters, and quizzes, Bryan unmasks fears, guilt, anger, resentment and perfectionism (which Bryan calls the "wouldacouldashouldas") and counters them with God's grace.

"Eventually I decided to just give up. I would live and die ill…Yet oddly, in giving up and finally deciding to accept myself warts and all, there came a new sense of peace and another teeny dash of hope. 'I will never leave you or forsake you,' whispered Jesus. Maybe God hadn't abandoned me, and maybe Jesus could love me after all. I determined to bet my life on those two maybes."

After that breakthrough, Bryan recounts, she began moving toward health and healing for her fears, and to writing this book.

"This book was An Assignment and came from over 20 years of panic-induced suffering," she later said. "I never intended to write it…because it was more than I could think of or bear. Assignments from God are strange that way."

"I'm still on this Journey, just like you. But I'll do my best to connect you with things that have helped me and others laugh and grow, even if it's been just a little bit. Feel free to connect me with tools that have helped you…I probably need them. Together, with God, we will make it. "

And about that chocolate? Bryan favors dark chocolate Hershey's kisses and admits to using chocolate—and Diet Coke—to medicate herself, even as she admits, ""So I'm writing this book while I'm still walking through the struggle. Will I always be fighting fear? I have hope that I'll break free from all that hinders me. But I'll probably have bits and pieces to work on all my days. Hauling along or peeling off some kind of junk is part of living. God's OK with that, and I need to be OK with it even as I'm not content with it."

For more information about this book, visit www.standardpub.com. Since 1866, Standard Publishing has been providing true-to-the-Bible resources that inspire, educate, and motivate Christians to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Standard creates a wide array of Christian products and resources for churches and families.