Actually, Johnny, monsters do exist

RACHEL RAFELMAN

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANXIETY(Yours and Mine)By Patricia PearsonRandom House Canada,198 pages, $29.95Some time ago, an unopened envelope sat on writer Patricia Pearson's dining table. For Pearson, afflicted with a lifelong anxiety disorder, this ordinary envelope evoked a scenario more threatening than any she could conceive of "short of standing on the edge of a cliff." So menacing did the envelope become (threats of penury, jail time, personal ruin lurked in its interior), she began serving meals in her kitchen in order to avoid it. Even worse were the imaginings that it had undiscovered physical properties: Was it ticking, or perhaps giving off an ominous green glow? These days, back in "Rational World," Pearson is able to provide the triggering detail: The envelope was return-addressed "Revenue Quebec."