Why do I worry so much? Judson Brewer on why worry feels useful

You worry so much partly because worrying feels useful. It feels like preparing, like being careful, like caring. Each round brings a small sense of control, and that feeling is enough to bring you back for the next round, even when nothing gets solved. The way out starts with one question: what is this worry giving me? Then you give it a job, a step it can end in, or a later time when it can have your attention.

Brewer is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and the author of Unwinding Anxiety (2021). He came to worry through his own clinic. Medication helped some of his patients, and he went looking for what he had been missing for the rest. What he found was an old idea from worry research: that worrying is learned and kept going like any other habit, because it brings a small reward each time.

He laid it out on the WHOOP Podcast (8:40 to 9:49) and on The Art of Manliness (23:49 to 24:24). Brewer has also developed habit-change apps, which he mentions in these interviews; this article uses his ideas, and we don't name or recommend any app.

By the end, you'll be able to say why your worry keeps coming back, sort the useful part from the rest, and turn one worry into a single next step.

Why does worry feel so useful?

1. See the mix: fear plus planning

Brewer starts with two survival tools. Fear teaches us fast: a car swerves at you, you jump back, and you learn to look up from your phone. Planning helps us get ready for the day, the week and the year. Mix the two, he says, and you get fear of the future, which sets off the worry.

Here's how he tells planning and worrying apart. Planning looks at the scenarios and works out what's most likely, then makes plans. "Worrying is kind of like planning on steroids minus the useful part," he says (9:07): maybe this could happen, maybe that could, maybe something else.

Then comes the reward. Each round of worry "makes us feel like we're in control, or at least we're doing something" (9:35). That feeling is enough, in his account, to teach the brain a rule: next time you feel anxious, worry, and you'll feel better. He credits the idea to the American psychologist Thomas Borkovec, who proposed in the 1980s that worry is kept going the way other relief-seeking habits are.

Here's what that looks like in practice. You lie awake running through how a meeting could go wrong. Nothing is solved, but you feel slightly more ready, so the next worry gets handled the same way.

2. Notice the beliefs that keep it going

Researchers have asked people directly why they worry. In two questionnaire studies, people said they believed worrying could stop bad things happening, soften the blow if they did, or help them find a better way of doing things and a sense of control (Freeston et al., 1994).

Those beliefs don't seem to protect people. In later questionnaire research, believing that worry has upsides went with more distress on a range of measures, not less (Davey et al., 1996). It's a link from one point in time: it can't show that the beliefs cause the distress. Borkovec and colleagues, writing about people whose worry runs very high, suggested where such beliefs may come from: the relief you feel each time the feared thing doesn't happen, which makes the worrying seem to have worked (Borkovec et al., 1999). That's their reading, not a measured result.

A worksheet from a Québec public health centre puts the test plainly. Have you ever taken the time to check whether worrying actually helps you (CISSS de l'Outaouais)?

What does worry actually deliver?

3. Give worry credit for its real job

Worry isn't useless. Kate Sweeny, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, who studies worry and waiting, told the American Psychological Association's Speaking of Psychology that "worry is actually super helpful" (3:26). It "draws our attention to something that might befall us in the future," and its unpleasantness motivates us to prevent "that future bad event." Her examples: you worry about a car accident, so you put on your seatbelt.

Ferran Padrós Blázquez, a researcher at the Universidad Michoacana in Mexico, makes the same case in a TEDx talk. Being able to picture a threat before you see it gets us thinking and acting to make it less likely (7:04). Worry can go wrong in many ways, Padrós Blázquez says, "pero es un gran mecanismo" (but it's a great mechanism, 8:03). The advice: "les recomiendo que se preocupen, pero preocúpense bien" ("I recommend that you worry, but worry well", 8:12). An example from the speaker's own life closes the talk: worried that the talk wouldn't land, Padrós Blázquez wrote a script, revised it and rehearsed (8:15 to 8:31).

That's worry doing its job. It found a risk, it ended in action, and then it was done.

4. Know where it goes wrong

The trouble starts when worry runs without ending in a step. Psychologist Joachim Stöber reviewed a series of studies in which people analyzed problems they did and didn't worry about. "Worrisome problem elaborations are less concrete than worry-free problem elaborations," Stöber wrote, and "abstract problem analyses are unlikely to lead to concrete problem solutions" (Stöber, 1998). So the worry feels like analysis, but it stays general: "it'll go wrong" in place of "I haven't booked the room."

Heavy worriers aren't short of ideas, either. In a questionnaire study, how much people worried had no link to how well they could solve everyday social problems. It went with lower confidence in their own solutions and less sense of control over the process (Davey, 1994). The author's reading: any problem lies in acting on a solution, not in finding one.

That fits what Brewer saw: each extra round adds time and tension, and the plan stays where it was.

5. Drop the myth that worry means you're clever

You may have read that worrying is a sign of high intelligence. In 2017 Stylist reported a student questionnaire study that linked worry with higher verbal test scores. One small survey can show a link at most.

Thomas Ehring, a professor of clinical psychology at LMU Munich who studies going over things, was asked on the German health podcast Ist das noch gesund? whether going over things is a sign of high intelligence. "Das ist tatsächlich ein Mythos," Ehring said ("that is actually a myth"). "Es gibt keine Daten, die darauf hindeuten" ("there's no data pointing to it", 11:56). Clever people worry, and so does everyone else. The worry isn't proof of anything about you.

How do you turn a worry into something useful?

6. Ask what the worry is giving you

Brewer's practice is one question. "As they're worrying, I ask them to ask themselves, what am I getting from this?" he told The Art of Manliness (23:55). Then you notice the honest answer: how the worrying feels, and what it has changed. What people typically report, he says, is that "worrying doesn't feel very good itself. It doesn't keep their family members safe or solve a problem" (24:07). Seen clearly a few times, the habit loses some of its pull.

Try it the next time a worry starts. Give it two or three seconds of honest attention: did the last ten minutes of worrying change anything, or only how tense you feel?

7. Test the belief, gently

The Québec worksheet goes further, with questions you can answer on paper (CISSS de l'Outaouais). What evidence makes you say worrying is useful? If you had to convince someone it isn't, what would you say? And one that turns the worry around: "Si j'avais moins peur, je ferais quoi ?" ("If I were less afraid, what would I do?").

You don't have to win the argument. The aim is to see where worry has helped you (it found a risk and you acted) and where it only kept you company.

8. End it in a step, or give it a time

This is the move that keeps the useful part. Ask: can I act on this now? The NHS calls this the worry tree: it separates problems you can solve from "hypothetical worries that are beyond your control," and asks whether to act now or schedule it for later (NHS).

• If you can act, write one step with a when: "Email Sam about the deadline, 9 a.m. tomorrow." Then do it, and let the worry be done.
• If you can't act yet, write the worry in a few words and give it a set time later in the day, away from bed. That's worry time, and the slot is where it gets your full attention.

Padrós Blázquez's script is the model. The worry was real, the step was clear, and once the rehearsing was done there was nothing left for the worry to do. If your worry is about the future and you can't act on it, see how to stop worrying about the future.

Is it more than everyday worry?

Some worry is a normal part of life, and this article is about that everyday kind. The 1h Protocol to Reduce Worry and Overthinking puts its scope this way: "This is a wellness program about everyday worry and overthinking, not health care. It doesn't give medical advice, and it doesn't diagnose or treat anything. It isn't for anxiety disorders, panic, OCD, trauma or depression."

If worry doesn't ease, or it starts causing problems at work, at home or with friends and family, see a doctor. See one too if what you're trying isn't helping.

Back to the question

Brewer's point is that worry sticks around because it pays a small reward each time: the feeling of doing something. You don't have to fight that feeling. You can check it against what the worry actually delivered, keep the part that finds a risk, and give the rest a step or a time. As Padrós Blázquez put it, worry, but worry well. For the wider habit, start with how to stop overthinking.

To build this around your own worries, try the 1h Protocol to Reduce Worry and Overthinking, a program of practical education. Its free first chapter finds which of five patterns your worry follows, shows the three things that keep the loop going (the Pull, the Open Question and the Groove) and gives you one first step. The full program takes about an hour. It follows one worry of your own from the moment it arrives, parks it in a few words with one next step, sets a short daily slot at your own time and away from bed, and plans what to do when you're awake and it won't stop. You leave with a page of your changes, a card with your slot and three questions to ask when a worry starts, a fourteen-day log, and your day-7 and day-14 reviews in your calendar. If you're signed in, one-tap check-ins follow by email on days 1, 7, 14 and 30. Start free

Frequently asked questions

Why do I worry so much?

Partly because worry feels useful. Psychiatrist Judson Brewer describes it as fear mixed with planning: each round gives a feeling of control, "or at least we're doing something" (WHOOP Podcast, 9:35), and that feeling brings you back. Beliefs that worry prevents bad outcomes keep it going too (Freeston et al., 1994).

Does worrying help you prepare?

Sometimes. Worry helps when it points you at a risk and you act on it, like rehearsing a talk or checking a deadline. It stops helping when it keeps running without a step. Worried thinking tends to be vaguer than calm thinking about the same problem, and vague analysis rarely ends in a concrete answer (Stöber, 1998).

Is worrying a sign of intelligence?

No data shows that it is. A 2017 lifestyle article reported a small student survey linking worry with verbal test scores, which is a link at most. Thomas Ehring, a professor who studies going over things, calls the idea a myth: "Es gibt keine Daten, die darauf hindeuten" ("there's no data pointing to it", Ist das noch gesund?, 11:56).

Is some worry normal?

Yes. Worry is part of life, and it does a real job when it leads to action (Speaking of Psychology, 3:26). If worry doesn't ease, or it starts causing problems at work, at home or with friends and family, see a doctor. See one too if what you're trying isn't helping.

How do I turn a worry into something useful?

Ask whether you can act on it now. If you can, write one step with a time and do it. If you can't, write the worry in a few words and give it a set time later, away from bed (NHS). See worry time for how to set up that slot.

Sources

This article draws on Dr Judson Brewer's interviews on the WHOOP Podcast and The Art of Manliness, Kate Sweeny on Speaking of Psychology, Ferran Padrós Blázquez's TEDx talk, Prof. Thomas Ehring on Ist das noch gesund?, and the studies and guidance listed below.

• Breaking the Habit Loop, with Dr Jud Brewer (podcast episode, WHOOP Podcast 204, 2023)
• Anxiety Is a Habit, with Dr Judson Brewer (podcast episode, The Art of Manliness 782, 2022)
• Waiting, worrying and dealing with uncertainty, with Kate Sweeny (podcast episode, Speaking of Psychology, APA, 2021)
• ¿Qué es y cómo funciona la preocupación?, Ferran Padrós Blázquez (TEDx talk in Spanish, 2018)
• Freeston et al, Why do people worry? (two questionnaire studies, abstract only, 1994)
• Davey, Tallis & Capuzzo, Beliefs about the consequences of worrying (two questionnaire studies, abstract only, 1996)
• Borkovec, Hazlett-Stevens & Diaz, on positive beliefs about worry (theoretical article, abstract only, 1999)
• Stöber, Worry, problem elaboration and suppression of imagery: the role of concreteness (theory paper reviewing the author's studies, 1998)
• Davey, Worrying, social problem-solving abilities, and social problem-solving confidence (questionnaire study, abstract only, 1994)
• CISSS de l'Outaouais, Questionner l'utilité de s'inquiéter (Québec public health worksheet, in French, 2024)
• Overthinking: Wenn der Kopf nicht zur Ruhe kommt, with Prof. Thomas Ehring (podcast episode in German, 2022)
• Stylist, Worrying is a sign of high intelligence, according to scientists (lifestyle article, 2017; the claim is corrected above)
• NHS Every Mind Matters, Tackling your worries (health information page, 2026)