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In Brief
- Worrying about the future is a natural tendency, but for some people it is a constant, unwelcome state of mind. These chronic worriers crave a sense of control they can never seem to find.
- Spending too much time fretting actually undermines the body’s ability to react to stress, weakening the cardiovascular system and disrupting normal emotional functioning.
- When overworrying seriously threatens a person’s health and happiness, drugs or psychotherapy can help.
The young girl wanted to unburden herself about her problem. She told her doctor that she worried excessively and that she felt overwhelmed by these thoughts. One memory that she described to Douglas Mennin, director of the Yale Anxiety and Mood Services at Yale University, was particularly telling. Her grandmother had shared intense feelings about the recent passing of a good friend. As the young girl listened, her mind wandered to thoughts of her grandmother dying. The worry soon spiraled into concerns about the girl’s own death. She became so disturbed, she cut short her visit to her grandmother and ran home.
Psychologists believe that worry, defined as a person’s negative thoughts about a future event, evolved as a constructive problem-solving behavior. But excessive fretting—as happened with the girl—does more harm than good. Chronic worriers operate under the misperception that their overthinking and attempts at controlling every situation allow them to problem-solve and plan for the future. Instead their thought pattern hinders cognitive processing and also causes overstimulation of emotion- and fear-processing areas in the brain. The hypervigilance that is the result can lead to cardiovascular problems, ultimately rendering the body unable to cope properly with stress.
This article was originally published with the title Why We Worry.
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6 Comments
Add CommentReally interesting & well written. I found the article hit home with me as I suffered from that kind of anxiety when I was 6 years old and my grandmother died. No one would tell me she was dead - they just kept saying she "passed away." This led me to believe my mother would "pass" and be gone forever. I took to following her everywhere, including hiding under the couch when I was supposed to be in bed. I ended up on phenobarbitol for several months, supposedly to help me get over my night terrors - at the age of 6! I'm heartened to see that serious and productive research continues to be done for those who suffer from a disorder that can be crippling. Kudos!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article. I found the tips on how to manage worry to be quite helpful. My favorite is letting go of needing to know and learn to be comfortable with uncertainty. I re-frame the feeling of uncertainty as the feeling of butterflies... it's more of an adventure... that feeling combination of thrill and excitement. Thanks for tying in the unhealthy consequences. So many people (esp in NYC) are on a fast track to heart problems letting worry go unchecked. Keep up the wonderful writing!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMOST OF THE WORRIES CAN BE SOLVED IF U HAVE GOOD AND SENSIBLE FRIENDS OR RELATIVES. MOST OF THE FEARS ARE UNFOUNDED. EVEN THERE ARE MANY PROBLEMS WHICH CAN NOT BE SOLVED. BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT U DONOT FIND THESE GOOD FRIENDS OR RELATIVES.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCrocodile Dundee cracked it!!! And cracked me up!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have noticed the following over 65 years and am wondering if there is any evidence to back it up. It seems to me that most people are born with a "worry quotient"; a set amount of worry that they engage in. It seems unconnected to their actual circumstances of external threats. If one threat is removed they replace it with another no matter how remote the new threat may actually be. People with a low "worry quotient" seem to restrict the amount of things they worry about to a manageable few no matter if they are, to use the colloquialism "up to their ass in alligators".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnother thing I have observed is that a mother's "worry quotient" seems to take a large jump on the birth of a child.
Sometimes, something cannot be recalled!
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