~IF YOU'RE WORRIED... there is HELP ~

            or  DON'T WORRY ..... BE  HAPPY!!

                         from an interview on Bay TV, cable, San Francisco*
                            with Dr. Edward Hallowell by anchor John Kessler
                                                transcribed by scott richie for winky

John Kessler: Are you a worry~wart?  All of us worry at one time or another and sometimes
with good reason.  But needless anxiety can affect your health, your relationships, and
interfere with your life.  Dr. Edward Hallowell is an author and senior lecturer at Harvard
Medical School.  He's written a book...it's called "Worry: Controlling It and Using It Wisely".
He offers some tips on how to control fear and anxiety.  I've got to tell you, uh, right off, uh,
doctor, that, I, uh,  I, fear this interview....**laughter**   I've been worrying about this...

**more laughing**

Dr. Edward Hallowell: We'll get through it, don't worry.

JK: How do you distinguish...welcome by the way, thanks for coming in. How do you
distinguish between good worry and unnecessary...it's like good cholesterol, bad
cholesterol?

Dr. H: It really is...and good worry is essential for life. It's like blood pressure. You need
*some* to survive. In fact if you don't worry, that's bad. A word for that is called "denial". But
bad worry, *toxic* worry, is like high blood pressure; it's bad for you physically, it's bad for
you emotionally. The way you can tell the difference is that good worry leads to constructive
action: worry that you're gonna go broke, or you don't have enough money, so you take
action to save more, earn more. On the other hand, *toxic* worry immobilizes you, it
paralizes you, you just sit in your chair and stare into space and brood. You worry you're
going broke and instead of taking any action you just sit there and get more and more
wrapped up in the worry, and the reason I wrote the book is to give people practical
strategies to get out of *toxic* worry and bring themselves back into the domain of worry
that leads to constructive action. The name of the game is not to get rid of worry altogether,
but to get rid of *toxic* worry and be in the region of good worry.

JK: When you say toxic worry, it would make someone think it's a chemical problem. Is it?
What causes us to worry?

Dr. H: Well, psychologically what causes us to worry is that we feel vulnerable and we feel
out of control. Physically what causes us to worry is our fear system and it is chemical.
Some people are born to worry more than others. They are born with a hard wiring set, an
alarm system set to go off too quickly. That's why sometimes chemical remedies,
medications, @Please see Winky's comments below@ can be very helpful. That's not the
first step, however, in worry control. The first step is just to talk about it; I have an aphorism
in the book, "never worry alone", and the minute you start talking about your worry, the worry
goes down.

JK: I wonder if that's where "misery loves company" comes from...

Dr. H: Absolutely. And you know, it's just a fact, that if you begin to get it out into the open,
it becomes much more manageable. A lot of the--the worst part of worry is a disease of the
imagination. The imagination exaggerates the danger and minimizes the power that you
have, and as you talk about it, you almost instantly begin to feel more powerful and less
vulnerable because you have some company.

JK: Is there a way to figure out whether you are one of those problem worriers?

Dr. H: Yes. The simplest way is: does it get in your way? Is it getting in your way at work?
Is it getting in your way with relationships? Do you get feedback from others: gee, y'know,
c'mon, lighten up a little bit, let it go? Does it hurt? Do you find yourself waking up in the
night; do you find yourself brooding as you're driving along in a car. If that's the case, the
good news is, it doesn't have to be that way. It's not, you know, we used to think of worry as
unchangeable. It's not the case. If you are a problem worrier, it's like having high blood
pressure. It can be regulated. Never worry alone. Get exercise. Get the right amount of
sleep. Get the facts; a lot of people are worrying because they don't have the facts. Get the
right advice. And then if that fails, professional intervention: positive behavioral therapy,
medication, can be extremely helpful. @Please see Winky's comments below@

JK: Hmmm. And on the flip side you had mentioned that you're in denial if you *never*
worry. That can be problematic as well, now, not worrying...

Dr. H: You bet. If you've got a bigtime problem, and your solution is just to avoid it...some
people, when they see a problem, they're too overwhelmed by it. They don't know what to
do. So they'll just pretend it isn't there. And let the credit card debt go up and up and up and
up.

JK: I was gonna say, doesn't that beget more worry?

Dr. H: Well, or more denial. If your response to the problem is to ignore it, to deny it, it
tends to get worse. So that's where not enough worry can become just as severe a
problem as too much worry. Then the idea is, it's like blood pressure you want to keep it in
the normal range. You want to worry enough to take constructive action, but not so much
that you become immobilized.

JK: How long of a deadline do you have on this? **laughter** I was gonna say, do you
worry?

Dr. H: The reason I wrote that book is that I am a big time worrier. @Please see Winky's
comments below@

JK: Are you really?

Dr. H: Oh, yes! That's why I wrote the book. I wanted to get all the information I could to see
what could be done about it. The good news is, there's a lot you can do about it. I'm less a
worrier now than i was two years ago when i started this book. I went out to find every
practical solution I could to the problem of worry...and now, I'm using them in my own life
and I'm less of a worrier than i was two years ago. My wife will tell you that.

JK: Now, if you've worried all your life, it doesn't mean you have to worry the rest of your
life, right?

Dr. H: Exactly, that's the good news. We have learned enough about the brain now, that we
can begin to regulate it and not necessarily with medication @Please see Winky's comments below@ ....regulate it with very simple remedies the way we can regulate blood
pressure. We can train our brain the way we can train our bodies. We can get control over
it, and reduce these painful feelings, and in this case worry, so that we can be more
effective.

JK: All right. And once again the book is called "Worry: Controlling It and Using It Wisely".
Dr. Edward Hallowell, thank you. We've got a little something here for you....this will get rid
of your worries. Have a cookie, doctor.

Dr. H: Ahhh, chocolate, the infinite worry.

**laughter**

JK: It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you very much.

Dr. H: Thank you.

*recorded on or about nov 6, 1997.

winky has 2 comments.....

this guy's an admitted worrier so i'm worried his worry theory may be 'tilted', or perhaps
somewhat 'skewed', possibly even 'unorthodox'......hmmmew

also, winky wants the universe to appreciate that mediTation is very much preferred to
mediCation.....almost always!

since i can't read human, i cannot recommend that anyone read the aforementioned book
by Dr. Hallowell, but should you be interested in more information....it is here:
        Worry: Controlling It and Using It Wisely
by Hallowell, Edward
ISBN 0679442375 - Hardcover                Publisher: Random House Price, $26.00

available online here....

  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0679442375/1748-1533409-653135

but especially here....ok, not especially...in fact, his book
    isn't even here yet, but it's still a neat library...

         the Internet Public Library
    

an interesting doc hallowell article here:
50 Tips On The Management of Adult ADHD
by Dr. Edward McKey Hallowell, M.D. (with John J. Ratey, M.D.):

 LET THE FUN BEGIN~
     TAKE THE* worry QUIZ:
How Much of a Worrier Are You? A Self-Assessment Quiz
*go halfway down the page for the quiz
     
          MOM!! you can stop WORRYING now!!

...if you are, after all of this, still worried, there is only
   one POSSIBLE HOPE left for the sorry likes of you~
   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"you wouldn't wanna end up like this, would you now??"
                   whoo boy!

and if all else fails... Don't Worry, Be Musical???

            besides! who needs to worry when
   the 
   Guatemalan Worry-Dolls are here to help!

OK OK!!! you'll worry if YOU WANT TO WORRY!!!
      but it's always GOOD to have Reasons to Worry...
    after reading this you'll WANT to WORRY even if you didn't BEFORE!!

and if you STILL really REALLY wanna WORRY...

 WE'VE got the usual GLOBAL WORRYS...Yiiiii!!

                ====  ====  ====  ====  ====  ====  ====  ====
and how about those feds!!   W-O-R-R-Y !!
      then there's always   "Local issues to worry about"
not much there!

so if you think you had troubles before
just kick up your heels and laugh, laugh, laugh: everybody is worried.

besides...why WORRY?
                                                            look out for the SMILEYS!!!!! arrghh!!
and finally, last and CERTAINLY least, that oft asked question here in winky's parsect of the galactica...Should you worry about inflation???
You have got to be kidding...heehee...hahaha...LOL.....ROTFLOL...oh stop.
please.

and to think we started out soooooooo serious        ;op

                                                                           
                                                      WINKSLINKS