Claire Weekes

Weekes described her own battle with nervous illness in her final book in which she explained how she began suffering from anxiety. At the age of 26, she was misdiagnosed with Tuberculosis which caused her to become anxious and introverted. Weekes’ anxiety lasted for two years and gave her valuable insight into nervous illness. Dr. Robert L. Dupont describes in his book The Anxiety Cure (1998) that in 1983, he asked Weekes if she had ever had panic disorder. She replied “Yes, I have had what you call panic attacks. In fact, I still have them. Sometimes they wake me at night.” Dr. DuPont responded by saying he was sorry to hear that. He described Claire Weekes as looking at him in shock, and she responded “Save your sympathy for someone else. I don’t need it or want it. What you call a panic attack is merely a few normal chemicals that are temporarily out of place in my brain. It is of no significance whatsoever to me!”

Today, many doctors may be unaware of her books, but they are still in print and her work is promoted by an organization in Australia set up by her heirs. Over six decades, Dr. Weekes’ first three books have brought life-changing relief to hundreds of thousands of people suffering from anxiety and panic disorders around the world. Although Doctor Weekes has been deceased since 1990, at least half of Amazon.com’s customer reviews state that one of her books “saved my life”.

In 1983, Dr. Weekes was interviewed in a series of six talks, called Peace From Nervous Suffering, on the British national TV program Pebble Mill at One, in which she explained her techniques. A transcription of these talks along with two BBC radio interviews and two interviews at White Plains Hospital in New York, were published in her final book The Latest Help for Your Nerves.

Self Help For Your Nerves (1962) (US title: Hope and Help for Your Nerves), Weekes’ first book, has sold more than 300,000 copies and has been translated into fourteen languages. It was followed by Peace from Nervous Suffering (1972), Simple Effective Treatment of Agoraphobia (1976) and More Help for Your Nerves (1984). Her fifth and final book The Latest Help for Your Nerves (1989) was published one year before her death.

Claire Weekes began her career as a research scientist, receiving her D Sc in 1930 from the University of Sydney; she was the first woman to attain that degree from the university. Working under Prof. Launcelot Harrison, she conducted research on reproduction and placentation in viviparous (live-bearing) lizards from 1925–1934; part of this period (1929–1931) was spent in England in the lab of J.P. Hill. Weekes’ work led to eight published papers, including a major summary published in 1935 in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Weekes’ work provided the basis an understanding of reptile placentation that lasted for nearly 50 years. More recent work has continued to build on the empirical and conceptual framework that she established. Weekes’ research on the complex placentae of Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii was instrumental in the establishment of the species as a model organism for studying the evolution of pregnancy.

Doctor Hazel Claire Weekes MBE (11 April 1903 – 2 June 1990) was an Australian general practitioner and health writer; she also had an early career as a research scientist working in the field of comparative reproduction. Doctor Weekes is considered by many as the pioneer of modern anxiety treatment and has written several books on dealing with anxiety disorders. Many of today’s self-help books on anxiety continue to cite her work.