After Fatma Taspinar's testimony about her anxious thoughts: How can you treat anxiety? | is reading

Today, Taspinar is no longer a troublemaker: “Things are better now, with time.” She still calls herself morning anxiety.

“I'm 41 and have more experience, and after the umpteenth anxiety session you can conclude that it's never helped you move forward. I've never arranged anything through anxiety.”

“I also realized that I can't change myself. I'm very vocal and present when I'm somewhere, and worrying about that for an hour is not fun. People have also told me that makes me fun, and I try to remember that.”

The difference between worrying and thinking

Fatima Taspinar's testimony is well known to clinical psychologist Philip Rice, author of the books “Away from Worrying” and “Tomorrow I Will Stop Worrying”. He also calls himself a born worrier.

“I used to be anxious, I'm always more anxious,” he says on The World of Sofie podcast. “There's also a difference with just thinking. When you worry, it stays in your head for a long time and goes around in circles. Your anxious mind thinks you're doing something, but objectively nothing is happening. The longer you stay in it, the bigger the problem.”

“There are also many classic fears. We worry about the health of ourselves, our loved ones, money, work, school, and other people.

'Anxiety is in our system'

Worrying takes a lot of time and energy. But if it's pointless, why do we do it? “It's in our system,” Rice says. “It is a distortion of our attention: it directs us to everything that is wrong or unacceptable.”

“Imagine if there was a human species that relaxed under a tree 24 hours a day, thinking at the slightest rustle that nothing would happen? That species would not be alive today.”

“We come from a different species, a species that thought at the slightest rustle in the bushes: 'What is this?' This is the success formula for living long. It is in us and will never go away.”