Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT for short) is one of the best ways to help people who worry too much. CBT is a commonsense approach that helps you to examine your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and the interplay between each of these elements. As an example, let’s consider what might happen if you are worried about getting a project done. Your thoughts might sound something like this: “What if I don’t get this project done right? What if it’s not exactly what the client wants? What will my client think? I could lose the account and who knows, maybe the company will fire me?

If all of these worrisome thoughts are racing around in your head, it stands to reason that you might feel anxious and fearful. You might even be experiencing physical symptoms like headaches, muscle tension, an upset stomach or you might become irritable or short-tempered.

As a result of your thoughts and feelings, you might avoid talking to your boss or co-workers just in case they ask you how the project is going. You might be so caught up in getting the project done perfectly that you actually procrastinate. In addition, you might think that you need the extra incentive that being on a very tight schedule creates in order to motivate you to produce a great outcome.

Using CBT, you can begin to examine your thoughts and test whether the negative consequences you are envisioning actually happen. You would also go further than these initial thoughts to tease apart the underlying expectations and eventually, understand what the structure of your beliefs are regarding this situation. Going back to the example, getting fired might mean that this person thinks he will become homeless and people ignore him and treat him like he is not worthy of respect. A possible explanation for these worries that the person in our example holdsis a fundamental belief is that he is worthless. His negative emotions and avoidance type of behavior then make sense in light of his beliefs.

Of course, it may not be at all realistic that this person is worthless. With CBT you able put this belief to the test. For example, what experiences in the past have both shaped this belief and have countered it? Are there situations where this person felt worthwhile and respected? Has he ever rebounded from a disappointment and gone on to feel good about himself? Has he ever done something less than perfectly? What was the result?

He might also test out the consequences of not avoiding. If this gentleman took the risk to discuss his project with other people what might happen? We call this method of counteracting avoidance an “exposure.” If as a first stem, we asked him to talk about the project with someone outside of work, what happens? If he then approaches a secretary and mentions what he’s working on is he given the third degree. What about having a conversation over work with a co-worker — do they focus only on his project and then chastise him for not being further along. And finally, what happens if he actually brings up the project status with his boss? Are his worries and fears realized? If actually doing each of these steps is too hard, an alternative is to do an imaginal exposure. In other words, you can imagine each of these steps before doing them. In either case, you keep practicing these situations until your anxiety is less. In addition, you use the information you are gathering during the course of the exposures to help yourself re-evaluate the extent to which you believe the negative thoughts. You will also have much more realistic information that will help you develop a new set of beliefs that will, eventually, allow you to spend less time worrying.