Introduction by Marian Foster. Dr Weekes teaches people that they have often been trapped in nervous suffering by worrying more about the “state they are in,” the symptoms themselves, than the original cause of their illness.

It's the commonest kind of nervous illness. It really means a person who is possessed with anxiety, which turns to fear. In my experience there are two main kinds. There is the person, whose anxiety has come about because of some specific problem, perhaps including sorrow, guilt or disgrace. The sufferer knows what caused the anxiety originally and tries to grapple with the cause.

Fatigue can often be one of the most distressing aspects of nervous illness. Tired minds can give rise to all manner of exaggerated or inappropriate thoughts.

Dr Weekes continues her series, looking at the particular problems of phobias and obsessions, the cause of our patient Anne's nervous breakdown. A phobia is a persistent, irrational fear and obsessions are thoughts that occupy a mind to an abnormal degree.

Depression can be one of the most self-defeating obstacles to recovering from nervous illness. Dr Weekes has treated many patients for depression, and has developed special insight into how to offset some of its alarming symptoms.

In the last of Dr Weekes's talks, we turn now to the road to recovery from nervous illness, a road which, though simple, is not always as straightforward as it seems. Dr Weekes talks about the setbacks which can delay the process of recovery.