Insomnia, tachycardia, phobias, hypercontrol, catastrophic thoughts, even depression: one in six people experiences an anxiety disorder at some point and ends up trapped in a dark and relentless mental cycle of "Everything is going wrong!", "I can't do this!", "I have to keep everything under control," "I'm a failure." It's an exhausting spiral, both for those experiencing it and for those around them. A spiral exacerbated by the shared sense of living in a more uncertain and changing world than it was thirty years ago. Today, there's more unpredictability, but also the possibility of living multiple lives within one's own life.
Hence the anxiety about employment, the need for continuous training, the need to deal with a changing and accelerating reality that challenges us because we, human beings, are designed not to change. Change isn't something we activate spontaneously; it's triggered either by force or by the throes of strong passions, such as love. Stability and continuity allow us to anticipate and predict situations, and this allows us to recognize them. To keep them under control. In short, changes are opportunities, but they also disrupt life. Thus, in an increasingly frenetic and pressured world, anxiety is becoming a common experience that can transform even simple days into moments of fatigue and worry.
But anxiety is not an inescapable fate. Its mechanisms can be understood, dismantled, and transformed. This is illustrated in an entertaining way through the comics The Anxious Club (Sonda, 2026, pp. 128), written by psychiatrist Frédéric Fanget and popularizer Catherine Meyer, and illustrated by Pauline Aubry . The book offers an original approach to understanding anxiety, accepting it, and learning to manage it, transforming the difficulty into an opportunity for growth.
Through the language of comics, Frédéric Fanget and Catherine Meyer guide the reader to discover the mechanisms that cause anxiety and practical tools for dealing with them in everyday life. Through the stories of three anxious people followed by Fanget in their therapeutic journey, the reader enters a "club" where they can recognize themselves and feel less alone. Session after session, we discover where anxiety comes from, why it takes over, and what tools—psychological, practical, and everyday—allow us to regain freedom and mastery of our thoughts. Small exercises, practical strategies, and psychological advice become accessible resources for building emotional resilience, reducing stress, and regaining a sense of control.
Designed for kids, young adults, teachers, educators, and parents , The Anxious Club is the second volume in the LiberaMente series, the new Sonda series of comic book guides focused on life, happiness, resilience, and emotional balance. This series aims to help us develop resources and strategies to avoid psychological illness.
Each LiberaMente book thus becomes a valuable companion for developing awareness, caring for one's emotional well-being, and building more serene relationships with oneself and others. Because just as we can prevent physical ailments and illnesses, we can also develop resources and strategies to avoid psychological illness.