ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 investigates how people try to protect themselves from difficult feelings by engaging with potential scenarios in our thinking which may evoke anxiety. The main focus of this chapter is on assessing how self-worrying prepares us for potentially emotionally difficult situations, but how at the same time it produces anxiety and keeps us on edge and tired. This chapter introduces an experiential task called the Self-Worrier that is designed to help the reader become more aware of how they tend to worry themselves and also guides the reader in considering the significant cost of that worrying. It also aims to help the reader rebalance the worrying in such a way that it brings less anxiety. The chapter also presents case examples to guide the reader about how to undertake the Self-Worrier task and provides detailed step-by-step guidance sheets so that they can undertake the task themselves. The chapter concludes with a summary sheet and quiz for self-assessment.
