Worry is a normal part of our everyday lives, but it can also be an incredibly detrimental process that takes people out of the day to day and into living in their own heads and not engaging with the world, says Dr. Michael Bordieri. He speaks with Kate Lochte on Sounds Good about worry and anxiety and how this can prevent us from living the life we want.
Generally, most people spend time worrying each day about the same things: career, interpersonal relationships, health, family, children, etc. The distinguishing factor is in the minor, day to day hassles. People with chronic worry or anxiety disorders tend to spend significant amount of time worrying about the little things every day: finding a parking spot, being on time, catching the elevator. Most of us recognize when things like these don't go well, but we don't spend the same amount of effort an attention on this.
A recent study looking at how much time people spent worrying shows a large gap between the control group of people who didn't have any significant or clinical problems with anxiety versus those who do. The control group varied widely, but showed that on average most people send about an hour or an hour and a half each day worrying about something. The group of people with clinically significant anxiety problems or generalized anxiety disorders spent as much as six hours per day on average, some more than that.
Psychologists are working now on understanding the function of worry so that that we can get better at treating it, says Dr. Bordieri. Worry can have some positive effects like helping us solve problems or figuring out what to do next. Planning out the day can help us live more effectively, he says, for instance: worrying about the weather might prompt taking an umbrella to work.
For the clinical cases, worry tends to be less concrete, less of an effort to solve a puzzle and more of an abstract thought that can actually hinder progress in addressing the immediate problem. If one spends eight to ten hours a day reading through every article on nutrition, this might be helpful for a day or two, but over time it takes away from exercise, diet or other things that might actually help. He says this is a paradox of worrying. More time spent worrying about something like health issues can take away from concrete things that can help resolve issues, things that really matter. Addressing this paradox is a starting point in treatment. People suffering from chronic worry can become absorbed in the worry as a way to avoid emotions or unpleasant thoughts, more time trying to control the worry rather than doing something that might make a difference.
Dr. Michael Bordieri is an assistant professor of psychology at Murray State University and is a clinical supervisor at the MSU Psychological Center, which is staffed by graduate students in clinical psychology providing therapy and assessment services under the supervision of licensed clinical psychologists. The center is open to all. Call for summer hours at 270-809-2504.
Our next discussion with Dr. Bordieri will be on July 14 to look further into concrete things people can do with worries and anxiety to help them get more engaged in their lives.
