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Areas › Worry and anxiety › What worry does
That is a reason to deal with avoidance early, while your world is still shrinking rather than already small. If you notice you have stopped trying things because trying feels pointless, treat that as the signal it is. Getting help at the worrying stage is far easier than getting help once nothing seems worth the effort.
go and seek news of Joseph and his brother and do not despair of God's mercy (Quran 12:87). Action and hope are asked for in the same breath, which is the opposite of sitting still and turning it over.
يوسف
يَٰبَنِيَّ ٱذۡهَبُواْ فَتَحَسَّسُواْ مِن يُوسُفَ وَأَخِيهِ وَلَا تَاْيۡـَٔسُواْ مِن رَّوۡحِ ٱللَّهِۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يَاْيۡـَٔسُ مِن رَّوۡحِ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلۡقَوۡمُ ٱلۡكَٰفِرُونَ
My sons, go and seek news of Joseph and his brother and do not despair of God’s mercy- only disbelievers despair of God’s mercy.’
Qur’an 12:87read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta-analysis of randomised trials found that treatments for depression reduce repetitive negative thinking, and that therapies built specifically to target rumination were not clearly better than the rest. The circling habit sits across both conditions and shifts with treatment generally. What it does not do is tell you which treatment any particular person should choose.
Spinhoven P, Klein N, Kennis M, Cramer AOJ, Siegle G, Cuijpers P, Ormel J, Hollon SD, Bockting CL. (2018). The effects of cognitive-behavior therapy for depression on repetitive negative thinking: A meta-analysis.. Behaviour research and therapy doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
The same circling thought habit feeds both, so it keeps running as the mood drops.
If the flatness has already settled in and most days feel pointless, this is the point to bring in a doctor or a therapist rather than manage it alone.
The pull you feel towards the screen was built on purpose by people paid to make it strong. That is not an excuse, but it does take some of the shame out of losing an hour to it.
Watch for the moment a what if turns into a when. That small slide, from a possibility into something you can already picture in detail, is where worry does most of its damage.
The mind that runs ahead into everything that could go wrong is the same mind that plans well, sees round corners and has things ready in time. One trait, pointed in two directions.