There is so much going on in the world right now. It is likely bringing up so many emotions for you. I just wanted to start by saying that whatever you are feeling is completely valid. You do not need to minimize how you are feeling because other’s have it worse than you right now. This is referred to as toxic positivity, and it has the word toxic in it for a reason. At the end of the day, we all have to deal with our feelings. Making ourselves, or letting anyone else make us, feel bad about our feelings is so unnecessary and harmful. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

Okay, so we are back talking about worry. So in part I, I covered what worry is, when it is a problem, when is it productive vs toxic, taking action, and the myths of worrying. I hope all of that makes sense, and that you have been able to put some of that into practice. We will talk more about the practice part of this today. Let’s start with a CBT technique called worry time, which I discussed on my Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/howtobeatanxietyblog/).

Worry Time

Worry time is a CBT technique that can help you learn to develop control over when and how often you worry! There is research that backs the effectiveness of this strategy and I can say I have seen it’s first hand with my patients.

The more time we spend feeding our worries (i.e., giving them attention), the stronger they become. If you are reading this, you or someone you love has likely experienced this. The goal of worry time is to help limit the attention you are giving to your worries.

SO here is how worry time goes:

• Schedule worry time at a time of day and at a place that you are available each day, 15-20 minute interval. Be mindful of not scheduling it close to bed or doing this in your bed! Also, put it in your calendar to remind yourself to complete it. This is letting your brain know THIS is the time to worry, not when you are trying to fall asleep!

• During that window, write down your worries. Just the act of writing them down can help us feel a little bit better. You can worry about these things as much as you would like during this time (i.e., say aloud, focus on them)
  • I often suggest using this time to be productive. You can start by distinguishing between worries which you have no control over and worries that you do have some control over. For those you have no control over, remind yourself of this and that worrying about these things is only draining your energy. For those that you do have some control over, make an action plan of steps that you can take to address the thing you are worried about.
  • When I say action plan, I do not mean things like picturing your worries floating away. I am talking real action.

• Once the time is up, you can remind yourself that your worry time is up and that you will do your best to not pay attention to or intentionally worry until your next designated time. It is likely that it will be difficult to just stop worrying once the time is up. That is okay!! This gets easier with time.

• Between worry times, if you start to worry, you can remind yourself that it is not time to focus on these worries and they will have to wait till your next designated time. DO NOT suppress worries- this makes them come back stronger!!

I suggest you try this consistently for 2 weeks. As I mentioned, there is NO expectation that you will all of sudden just stop worrying once the time is up the first time. Please be patient with yourself, and use the time to try to catch yourself worrying earlier and earlier.

This is one tool we use in CBT to help individual that struggle with worry. For those of you that struggle with chronic worrying, I strongly suggest you find a CBT clinician that has experience working with anxiety disorders.