About Charles Linden

Charles Linden was born in Worcestershire in the UK in 1968. Charles’ given name is Charles Linden-Griffiths but at school he became Charlie or Linden and that’s how it has remained.

Till Charles was around 14 years old he lived under the belief that the inappropriate, frightening and anxious thoughts, racing heart and other symptoms were ‘normal’ and that everyone else felt the same way. Aged 14 Charles experienced a surge in anxiety levels which led him to develop OCD, agoraphobia, Pure O, panic attacks, derealization and depersonalization.

Through the following 13 years, Charles managed his anxiety, still heading into every challenge despite how it made him feel and would often have panic attacks during rugby games, whilst socializing and even during the 6 years he lived alone in Germany.

It was whilst in Germany that Charles’ anxiety became chronic and over the ensuing seven years, Charles became agoraphobic, addicted to tranquilizers and was ‘pushed from pillar to post’ by medics and psychologists who gave up on him. Eventually aged 26 Charles became housebound and desperate, overweight and very unhealthy. Panic attacks, Pure O, OCD, agoraphobia, derealization, depersonalization and inappropriate thoughts dominated his life and it was at this point that he decided that enough was enough and it was time to end living like this.

In a moment of clarity, all became clear and Charles’ experience at the hand of his anxiety conditions and his realization that the anxiety response could be deactivated by doing the reverse of what had activated it, within days he felt almost totally cured.

Over the following three months of research, trials and struggles, from a program he had for himself, he developed a program of recovery that has since been used by over 150,000 people in 57 countries. Charles called it The Linden Method and it now forms the basis for all of Linden Recovery’s anxiety elimination solutions.

Administered by mental health professionals, the program has become known as a ‘new branch of psychological practice’ that’s is integrated into practice under license by health care professionals around the world.

Charles is married to Beth who is director of the Retreat and Workshop programs and they have two children, Charles Dylan (10) and Florence Bibi (7). Charles and Beth dedicate their lives to helping anxious people from around the world to avoid the pitfalls, potholes and disasters that they experienced and tolerated as Charles went along his anxiety journey. Over the 14 years that they have been helping anxious people, they have personally been party to many thousands of receoveries and despite the, sometimes dreadful, stories they hear, they remain focused on each and every client’s wellbeing and recovery.

Beth plays a very active role at the Retreats and runs a “Parents, Partners and Loved Ones’ mini-programme during the Retreat so that she can offer family members advice and support from the perspective of a carer. Beth and psychologist Jenny Brookes, offer structured and impartial advice and often, the session ends with tears of relief as the loved ones understand exactly what they must do to help the sufferer to recover.