Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I What Is Worrying, and Where Does It Come From?
1 Making Mountains Out of Molehills
The Process of Catastrophic Worrying 5
2 The Origins of Worrying
What Made You a Catastrophic Worrier? 29
3 The Worries of the World
What Do People Catastrophize About? 49
4 Worried Sick
How Does Worrying Affect Your Mental and Physical Health? 71
Part II Why You Worry, and How to Stop
5 Why Do We Worry About Things That Don't Happen?
Worrying as a Compulsive Lifestyle Choice 87
6 The Toxic Duo: Anxiety and Worry
The Collision That Creates Catastrophizing 101
7 Why Doesn't Worry Have an "Off" Switch?
The Worry Machine 123
8 Combat Catastrophizing by Practicing Good Worry Habits
Begin to Manage Your Chronic Worrying 143
9 The "Smart" Worrier
Become a "Smart" Worrier and Learn How to Problem Solve 167
10 Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative
Tweaking Your Worry to Make It Adaptive 187
Endnotes 204