Reading about worry
Two ideas from research on everyday worry that help make sense of it, plus studies of what people commonly worry about.
This is for everyday worry. It isn't a diagnosis or a replacement for a professional.
Is it happening, or might it happen?
Some worries are about a problem that's here now, like rent going up. Those get lighter when you take one small step. Others are about something that might happen. There's nothing to solve yet, so what helps is getting more used to not knowing. Psychologists call the struggle with not knowing intolerance of uncertainty.
- Accepting Uncertainty Centre for Clinical Interventions, Western Australia Free. A short self-help module from a public clinic's worry program.
- The Worry Workbook Melisa Robichaud & Kathryn Buhr, 2018 Book. For everyday worry, not a diagnosis.
- The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Workbook Melisa Robichaud & Michel Dugas, 2015 Book. By the researchers behind the uncertainty model.
- Intolerance of uncertainty Psychology Tools Free. Written for therapists, but readable.
Thinking traps
Worried minds take shortcuts: predicting the worst, guessing what others think, telling themselves they should be further along. Therapists call these thinking traps. Noticing one is often enough to loosen it.
- Reframing unhelpful thoughts NHS Every Mind Matters Free. The plainest place to start.
- Checklist of Negative and Positive Distortions David Burns Free. The traps, one line each, from the psychiatrist who named them.
- Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy David Burns, 1980 Book. The classic on thinking traps.
What people worry about
Studies and surveys of what people actually worry about.
- A questionnaire for the measurement of nonpathological worry Tallis, Eysenck & Mathews, 1992 The five areas of everyday worry.
- Worry content across the lifespan Lindesay et al., 2006 What 8,580 British adults worry about, by age.
- An investigation of worry content among generally anxious individuals Roemer, Molina & Borkovec, 1997 Family and relationships come up most, for everyone.
- What's worrying our students? Davey, Meeten & Field, 2021 Free. Student worry has risen for 20 years.
- Stress in America 2025 American Psychological Association Free. What US adults say stresses them most.
- Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation US Surgeon General, 2023 Free. About half of US adults feel lonely.
- Generalized anxiety disorder: a preliminary test of a conceptual model Dugas, Gagnon, Ladouceur & Freeston, 1998 Where the uncertainty idea comes from.
- A cognitive model of insomnia Harvey, 2002 Why worrying about sleep keeps you awake.
Reading about worry · Lost your worries?
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