The Worry Cycle

Worry as a Cognitive Process

It is a common clinical mistake to confuse worry with an emotion. Worry is not a feeling; it is a cognitive (thought) and behavioral process oriented toward the future.

It is characterized by a chain of negative verbal thoughts and images that attempt to anticipate potential problems.

Generally, this cycle is initiated by the linguistic formula "What if?". Imagine a father expecting his teenage daughter.

The worry is not the knot-in-the-stomach feeling (that's the resulting anxiety); the worry is the mental discourse, "What if the car broke down? What if she ran into dangerous people? What if she has no battery to call?"

It is a failed attempt at problem solving about events that have not occurred.

Anxiety as a Response to Worry.

The causal relationship is clear in the cognitive model: worry (thought) generates anxiety (emotion/physiology).

When a person engages in a chain of catastrophic thoughts about the future, the body reacts as if that catastrophe is actually occurring or imminent.

If an individual spends two hours ruminating about the possibility of being fired ("What if my boss noticed that mistake? What if I get called into human resources?"), his or her body will respond by secreting cortisol, generating muscle tension and insomnia.

Anxiety is, therefore, the secondary symptom derived from keeping the worry process active.

Differentiation between Productive and Unproductive Worrying

Not all worry is pathological. There is a productive worry that leads to action and resolution (e.g. "It looks like it is going to rain, I will get an umbrella").

However, in anxiety disorders, worry is unproductive and paralyzing.

It focuses on hypothetical scenarios of low probability or problems with no current solution.

Instead of executing corrective action, the person becomes trapped in the mental loop of threat, mistakenly believing that simply worrying helps him or her to be "prepared" or to avoid danger, when in fact it only increases discomfort.

Summary

Worry is not an emotion, but a cognitive process of verbal thoughts and negative imagery. It usually starts with the formula "What if?", anticipating potential future problems.

In the cognitive model, worry generates anxiety. When ruminating about catastrophes, the body reacts physiologically with stress, as if the imagined threat is actually occurring.

It is vital to distinguish productive worry, which leads to action, from unproductive worry. The latter is paralyzing, focuses on hypothetical scenarios and avoids real solutions.