HOW CAN I STOP TOO MUCH WORRYING?

Dear HH,

I tried to post this answer to your pill question, but it was already marked Resolved. I think it addresses what you’ve just asked.

Technically, drugs like this are not addictive but they can be habit-forming. Your doctor can explain the difference. What you decide about using prescription drugs is between you and your doctor, who would probably tell you that these things can be helpful if they’re used wisely.

An official British health agency says that cognitive therapy and special books based on CBT are recommended for anxiety, the choice of treatments depending on the individual. I’ll name what I think are the three best self-help books and tell you ways to get started with them.

The Depression Cure by Stephen Ilardi, therapist and researcher who has been studying depression and neurology since the 1990s. Six-part lifestyle change program for stress, anxiety and depression. The program involves

* Exercise. Jogging is great, but any kind of exercise is better than none. Maybe a brisk walk around the block.
* Bright light. You’ve probably been getting less sunlight this winter. An easy way to overcome this is with a SAD therapy light. A perfectly good one can be bought cheap at Walgreen’s
* Fish oil capsules. NOT omega-3 from flax seed, which doesn’t help with mood problems. See the book for instructions.
* Sleep. If you’re just taking an OCD aid, the best one seems to be melatonin. You can learn the basics of therapy for sleep by googling University of Maryland Sleep Center and scrolling to Sleep Hygiene.
* Social activity. Phone calls to friends and family members are great. Isolation is bad.
* Distractions. Find time for something to get involved with, as opposed to looking at a lame TV show and not paying attention.

The Mindful Way Through Depression by the scientists who developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. A recent study showed this program to be as good as antidepressants in preventing relapse after depression.

Mindfulness is awareness of the present moment and awareness of our thoughts and feelings as they occur, sort of like observing one’s situation as if it were a movie. It may not be obvious at first, but a lot of the time we don’t really know where we are. If you’re in a market and you’re thinking about things in the future, you’re not fully aware of where you are. When you look around and see all the colors and shapes before you, and feel something like the texture of your jacket, it’s waking up – literally waking up from your daydream. A good thing about this awareness is that awareness of your thoughts and feelings lets you evaluate them in terms of their truth and relevance. It’s true that bad things are happening to you, and you don’t have to make it worse with thoughts that are untrue or useless. When you recognize one of these thoughts for what it is, it goes away.

An author that’s often recommended for people with anxiety and depression by mental health professionals is David D. Burns (When Panic Attacks and Feeling Good Handbook).

Also: Abraham Low Self Help Systems and the online cognitive therapy program MoodGYM.