When Worrying Becomes Worrisome

“Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.” – William Ralph Inge

We live in a time where worry is understandable and even to be expected. The economic headlines reveal our collective difficulties and more than likely exacerbate them. Almost all commercials for the news include something to be afraid of. “That food you just ate may be toxic, news at 11.” Fear grabs our attention and thus, fear sells.

Some fear and some worry is functional. It makes you check that the gas is turned off and reminds you to keep an eye on the children. But worry can become an issue. For example, if you find that you just can’t turn it off, if it keeps you up at night or if it begins to interfere with your relationships or your job. 

So how do you keep worry from becoming worrisome? A few tips might help. First, work on improving the ability to clear your mind. The best techniques that you can do on your own are mindfulness and meditation. There are many books on meditation but the one I recommend to new meditators is “The Three Minute Meditator” by David Harp (who can’t spare three minutes?). And for mindfulness, I recommend “Mindfulness for Beginners” by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

There are many more techniques that will help you stay present in the moment. Monitoring your breathing will provide you with feedback on your stress levels. Shallow or “chest breathing” is a sign of stress, while effortless breaths that expand your belly indicates relaxation.

Also, don’t fall for the false belief that worry can actually help prevent undesirable events. The notion that worry serves a positive function is refuted in the book “Anxiety and its Disorders”:

Positive beliefs about worry have been significantly associated with GAD [generalized anxiety disorder]… evidence suggests that worry does not reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes or increase the likelihood of effective coping [and] worry may interfere with attentions to actual [events] taking place (p. 492)

So worry does not prevent bad things from happening but it does increase the chances that you will suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and can distract you from current situations that need your attention.

Finally, for pregnant moms, monitoring worry and anxiety is especially important. From the book “Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain: Neurologically Based Interventions for Troubled Children” comes this:

Researchers hypothesize that a mother’s stress hormones can damage the developing brain of the fetus. Very recent research shows that maternal stress hormones released during pregnancy may adversely affect human fetal brain development (pp. 21-22)

If worry is interfering with your daily life, you should consider consulting with a therapist. Many fears and worries can be reduced or eliminated by exploring them with an experienced professional.