Tips can take chronic worry out of life

Did your dad worry a lot? Did your mother? Worriers frequently have a familial history of worrying. It has been my experience that worriers are frequently the direct descendants of a parent who worried a lot.

Worrying is frequently a part of a constellation of a group of other emotional difficulties including depression and other forms of anxiety. Because worrying consumes a large part of many indivdiuals’ lives and because it stems from multiple causes, it is first necessary to evaluate the worrier’s mental and emotional state in order to rule out more severe types of emotional difficulties which may require professional attention.

However, if the worrying is for the most part based on types of thinking patterns governed by habit, then behavioral techniques maybe effective in modifying and altering the thinking patterns and outlook of the worrier.

Worriers are notorious for embracing “yes but” thinking. Anyone seeking to help the worrier needs to have patience and higher tolerance for rejection of their ideas and suggestions than the average person.

Given this information, and a continued willingness to attempt to help the worrier, the following suggestions may be helpful:

• Worriers frequently have an underdeveloped sense of humor and are often seen by others as serious, somber individuals. Laughter and humor are, for the most part, the flip side and opposite of worry and anxiety.

If an individual can begin to laugh more, see the humorous side of things, then the tendency to worry will often begin to dissipate.

Video and audio cassettes contain humorous material available to rent or buy. Slapstick humor or perhaps a drier form of humor should be explored, along with books and newspaper cartoon strips. Remember, it may take some time to reestablish an underdeveloped sense of humor or to build one from scratch.

• Mental health professionals have found a technique called “thought-stopping” to be very useful with individuals who constantly dwell on certain topics. The individual is taught a process of stopping these bothersome, repetitive thoughts, interrupting them by shouting “stop” or is taught to think “stop” when the thoughts first begin.

• Worriers need to practice engaging in activities that require thinking and concentration that competes with and overrides the worrisome thoughts. It is difficult to focus on worries when participating in athletic competition, or when helping someone less fortunate.

• Many individuals lapse into worrying when they are fatigued. When this tendency is noted, it is helpful to get a good night’s sleep. Things usually look brighter the next day.

• Worriers often withdraw form those who think more positively. They should, however, seek the company of those who have a more optimistic, healthy outlook. This allows them to reframe their thinking and disengage in habitual negative thinking.

Breaking the worry habit is work pursuing. Life can be more enjoyable for the worriers as well as those around them.

Copyright c 1991 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.