Worry

Worry

Mark Twain said, “I have had a lot of problems in my day--most of which never happened.” It has also been said that worry is interest paid in advance on a debt you may never owe.

Worry is a significant problem for many people. It is the major component of all anxiety disorders.

Some talk about "good" and "bad" worry. I feel that a clearer conceptualization is between concern and worry. I differentiate between the two in that concern reflects realistic attention to things in our lives and leads to constructive efforts to deal with them. It is certainly in one's best interest to be concerned enough to watch a young child when they are around traffic, pay your taxes, exercise, etc. It is NOT in one's best interests to incessantly dwell on all the possible dangers in the world for a child, incessantly worry about tax issues, incessantly be hyper-focused on what is going on in one's body, etc. Worry almost always leads to catastrophizing about dire potential outcomes and generally assuming those outcomes WILL occur, especially if one does not worry about them.

At the cognitive level, all worry will begin with a "What if..." Monitoring your "What ifs" can be a powerful tool in getting increasing control over your thoughts. This is one way to nip the worry in the bud. It is also easier to tell yourself, "STOP!!!", "SHUT UP!!!," or the like," at this point. This is referred to as “thought stopping.” Someone once told me, "It's easier to stop when you are going 5 mph than when you are going 60 mph." The thoughts will often come back, but each time you use such interventions, you are becoming stronger and the worry becomes weaker.

Often, worry also is strongly shaped by “Emotional Reasoning,” i.e., "I FEEL so strongly that I will fail the test, therefore I KNOW I will fail the test!" This may be in spite of having a strong command of the material, having aced the quizzes, put in the study time, etc. When this is a frequent event, it is extremely helpful to monitor for this, as well as to remind yourself that, “Feelings are NOT facts!”

Another powerful intervention is to schedule a “Worry time.” This may sound silly, but when worries come to mind, you refuse to think about them until said scheduled time. If a worry comes to mind at 3 PM and the worry time is at 6:30 PM, you tell yourself you will not think about that matter until 6:30 and continue to chase the thought out of your mind.

Exercise is often helpful. It generally shifts one focus off the worries. It can also give release to some of the tension most worriers experience. Yoga, relaxation exercises, guided imagery, and meditation can also be beneficial.

Many have found the self-help group Recovery, Inc. very helpful in beating worry.

Regardless, in order to decrease worries, one must monitor themselves for worry. If one remains passive, the worries will win every time. With increased awareness and effort, YOU CAN beat worry.

NIMH Generalized Anxiety Disorder Information