As I described in the section on theories of responding to psychological suffering, I belong to the school of thought that believes that it is your response to yourself and your environment that determines your sense of wellbeing. It is not your circumstances themselves, but rather your interpretation of them and your beliefs about them …
It is rare that the anxious person will go to a doctor and say, “My problem is that I’m afraid of my thoughts.” You are more likely to complain, “I’m always thinking… I can’t stop thinking… I can’t turn my mind off… I can’t relax… I can’t sleep… I can’t concentrate because of my worries.” …
Worry is a two-part process including an uncertain question and an attempt to answer it. Whether the attempt to answer it occurs via analysis, problem-solving, distracting, or getting reassurance, the attempt to answer is always problematic because it can never “solve” an unanswerable question and it makes the original uncertainty feel more threatening. We typically …