How People Can Learn To Stop Worrying
December 18, 2007
We all worry from time to time, but some people find it particularly hard to
stop themselves from worrying about lots of different things. People whose lives
are seriously affected by worrying can be helped to change their way of
thinking, which reduces the uncontrollability of worry.
This is the finding of a study presented on Thursday 13 December 2007, to the
Annual Conference of the Division of Clinical Psychology at the Congress Centre,
London, by Dr Collette Hirsch's research group from King's College London.
Dr Hirsch, together with colleagues from the King's College London and the
University of California, studied a group of people who were chronic worriers.
About half had problems so severe that they would have met diagnosis for the
psychological condition Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which causes significant
distress. People with this problem typically have their attention taken up by
worry-related information more than positive information. The research carried
out at King's College London investigated whether what we focus our attention on
influences our ability to stop worrying.
People in the attention changing condition were given practice in attending to
positive (not worry-related) information when both positive and worry-related
information were presented at the same time. Other participants completed a
control condition where their attention was not modified. People in the positive
attention group worried less during a subsequent task, indicating that attention
is important in keeping worry going and providing a potential new way to help
reduce worry.
Dr Hirsch says: 'These findings support the growing body of evidence that
helping direct their attention away from troubling material is the key to
helping people whose lives are seriously affected by worrying. We think this
work has the potential to help people who suffer from Generalized Anxiety
Disorder.'
The British Psychological
Society
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