I’ve Started Believing My Worries

Reader’s Question

I’m a lady 31 years old, married for 10 years, and I have two children. I love my family so much. My problem may have started years back but now it’s becoming very obvious to me. It’s that I doubt in everything around me. I always have a very pessimistic view about all that’s going on around me. For example, two days back I went to a checkup at a clinic. One day after my check, I started to doubt whether the doctor’s equipment was clean and now worry that I’m infected with AIDS. It was a small doubt, but then it became bigger in my mind and I started to believe it so much. Many things like that are happening to me always: an illogical doubt comes to my mind, and then I start to believe it.

I would like to understand if this is normal or not and how to control myself and stop thinking so much nonsense.

Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Everyone has a certain level of worry and doubt. Everyone has insecure thoughts that pass through their consciousness as you describe. Many of our worry and doubts are very helpful and productive. When worrying about an upcoming trip, we tend to make extra preparations. Worrying about germs and our health can help keep us healthy. Some people seem to worry more than others however, often being classified by friends as worriers or worry-worts. Worry and doubt can become overwhelming — to the point that we become preoccupied with inappropriate or unlikely worries. When outdoors, it’s appropriate to worry about the harmful effects of the sun, prompting us to use a sunscreen product. It’s inappropriate to worry about being hit by a stray meteorite.

Your type of worry and doubt is often found in depression and anxiety disorders. You may have always worried and felt insecure in your environment. As your stress level increases, you worry more to the point that the brain now invents issues to worry about — such as the equipment at the physician’s office.

When depressed, anxious, or experiencing obsessive-compulsive symptoms — we have “catastrophic worry”. When you think of the physician’s office equipment, you’re not worrying about what is most likely (which is nothing) or even rare such as an infection of some kind. Your worries move directly to the most catastrophic possibility — a deadly illness. Depression, anxiety, and OCD torment and torture us with catastrophic expectations in even routine situations. Depressed individuals rarely have a headache — they think it’s a brain tumor!

It’s very likely that you are experiencing an increase in your normal stress level. If this is true, you will be exhibiting additional symptoms such as poor sleep, low energy, poor concentration, loss of sexual interest, crying spells, social withdrawal, etc. If you have these additional symptoms, I’d review the articles and tests for depression on this website. If depression is present, first consult your family physician who may be able to guide you toward proper treatment which may include a combination of counseling/therapy and an antidepressant medication. When your head is full of nonsense, it tells us something is not only wrong, but that our neurochemistry has changed. Effective treatment is available when this happens.