If you’re a worrier, don’t worry; New research offers some help "When Penelope Malone got a traffic ticket recently, she says she fretted about it 24/7 for a month. Many nights she bolted awake with worry around 4 a.m., “like a piece of toast coming out of the toaster,” she says. The ticket’s penalty? About $200." More below. Good ol' ma is a inveterate worrier. It is exhausting to be around her, since she not only worries, but constantly checks in with others about the issue. It's like being in a car full of kids each asking, "Are with there yet," every minute or so. Ugh. "For most people, worrying is a form of problem-solving where you look at challenges in the future and work them out before they happen, which can be constructive. Researchers call this adaptive worrying and have identified the top five areas that people worry most about: relationships, finances, work, lack of confidence and an “aimless future.” But some people worry too much. Chronic worriers fret all the time, about everything. Pathological worriers are chronic worriers whose apprehension affects their functioning. They’re just as likely to fret over a real problem, such as a job setback, as they are to stew over something that may not be a problem at all, say the weather next week." I'm exhausted just reading about all the useless worrying these people do. "New research by Dr. Davey and colleagues, reviewing more than 50 scientific studies on worry and published in December in the journal Biological Psychology, shows that people who worry excessively believe that if they don't agonize over every aspect of an event or challenge, something bad will happen. The research identifies what happens when people start worrying and are unable to stop. People who over-worry tend to be hypersensitive to negative events or threats. Before they are consciously aware of a threat, their brain focuses on it. Then they sort through all the possible scenarios that could go wrong. This makes them feel bad, which they then take as a subconscious cue to keep worrying because they haven’t found the answer yet. So they repeat the cycle. “Chronic worriers don’t have any confidence that anything they come up with is going to work, so they continue to try to access their mood, which is negative and tells them to keep worrying,” Dr. Davey says." So, just STOP! How? "Start with a reality check. Ask yourself if the emotion you are feeling is equivalent in intensity to the situation you are worried about, recommends Dr. Judy Rosenberg, a psychologist with a private practice in Los Angeles. “Usually the answer is no.” Tell yourself a better story, rather than focusing on the worst-case scenario. This will help you feel less negative and will free your mind up to find solutions to your problem, says Christa Schorn, a licensed clinical social worker in Merrick, N.Y. Make a plan. Write down in detail how you will deal with the situation. It will seem more controllable. Set a timer. Give yourself 15 minutes to worry as much as you want. Then stop. Yell ‘Shred!” (in your head). Picture your worries going through a paper shredder. Visualize them being destroyed. Distract yourself—with music, exercise, a good book or movie. It is hard to focus on the negative when you’re enjoying yourself. Ms. Malone admits that she worries a lot—about the stock market, North Korea, whether she will miss an important phone call. She says her worry about the ticket wasn’t the cost, but all the things she couldn’t control: why she’d gotten it and how she would explain herself to the judge. Did all her worrying help? Not really. “The judge had to pick someone up at the airport, so he dismissed the charges,” she says." Watch the video it has the tried and true method down pat!
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