European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To temper anxiety new York times he worry group has been worrying for lha last five years about what else worry the group of is psychologists and graduate students at Pennsylvania state University has come up with a Way to Ireal people who worry too much by restricting when and where Hoy worry. Thomas 0. Borkovec. A psychology professor at the University began the worry group in 1981 alter a decade of researching insomnia. Most of his subjects he said cited worry As is reason they could not sleep. Treating insomnia became a matter of treating worry according to Borkovec. The worry group has defined worry As a Chain of negative and relatively uncontrollable thoughts and images. Although nol All psychologists interviewed said hey were satisfied with this definition most agreed that worry is the thinking part of anxiety while a racing heart nervous stomach or tense Muscles constitute the physical component. Anxiety do Tontor Are the most commonly reported menial health problems in the United slates according to a Survey conducted by the National Institute of menial health in Bethesda. My. The Survey conducted through Telephone interviews Between 1980 and 1sc2, included 9.000 adults in three cities. It concluded that More than 13 million americans 18 years old and older surfer from anxiety disorders. Non worriers according to the group Are those who worry less than so minutes a Day. Worry becomes a disorder when a person wants to Slop worrying but cannot. Some people associate worry with problem solving and in thai Way. If in motivates in can be Good Borkovec said. But Iii spend most of my time worrying and never get anything accomplished then worry in t heal  the group defines chronic cases As people who say they spend More than half of their waking hours worrying nearly 15 percent of the population. The group he Deli Gid a technique to treat chronic worrying. By associating worrisome thoughts with particular pieces and times worriers isolate worries and May spend the real of their Day productively. The technique consists of five Steps establish a 30-minute worry period that occurs at the same time and in the same place every Day. Learn to identity the Early signs of worry such As the inability to concentrate sinking feeling in the stomach or sweaty Palms. Record the worries in a journal to read later. Immediately replace worrisome thoughts by focusing alter Ion on some Lhing else completing a Job or taking a walk. Do not look at the list of worries until the worry period. During the worry period pull out the journal and think through the worries on the list. Try to come up with solutions. In two Experiment groups of University students classified As chronic worriers followed the technique. At fio end at Lour weeks they reported on the average spending 35 percent less Lime worrying than they had previously. The technique however is not without critics. Some psychologist believe that while it can Benefit some people it is nol a realistic option Lor others it is really Lor those who have a High determination to Slop worry and the ability to set aside a specific time period every Day said Herbert j. Freudenberge a new York psychologist who specializes in treating the anxiety disorders of professionals. Chronic worriers according to the worry group report being most worried about feeling self conscious making mistakes meeting someone for the first time being criticized and failing tests. Helping procrastinators change their ways by Kathleen Clute United press International Patrick Grecco says in is almost As difficult to Stop procrastinating As it is to give up cigarettes or  was a doctoral candidate to clinical psychology when he realized he was pulling off work on his dissertation. So he decided to write about procrastination figuring the research also would give him insight into his own behaviour. Procrastinating his Way through two years of research and writing the psychologist found out he was obsessive and a perfectionist. Those Are two characteristics typical of people who avoid or delay tasks that have to be done. While procrastinating May is a Handy trait Al tax Lime it really is a self control Issue like smoking like alcohol like overeating Greece said in a recent interview. But there is help. Grecco and colleague Fred Wright have set up weekend sessions Al tha University of Pennsylvania s Center for cognitive therapy to help procrastinate change their ways. The workshops which Cost about $100 Lor two saturdays focus on teaching mental tricks to help procrastinators keep their dilatory tendencies in Check. Procrastinators just have Lite cabinets in their head full of negative thoughts said Grecco. Their thinking often immobilized them much like a Driver who tries to make his car run by pushing the Gas and Brake pedals at the same time he said. We want them to think in a More objective and a More realistic Way he said noting the achievers Don t allow themselves to Wallow in the negative thoughts. They solve the  people who to  lend to be influenced by a desire to be perfect a ear of failure a ear of Success High anxiety depression hostility or Low sell esteem Grecco said. While there Are no firm statistics studies estimate that 5 to 20 percent of americans procrastinate All the Lime he said. He said the workshops stress planning Selling realistic goals breaking tasks Down into manageable chunks of work and persistence. Planning is the most effective anti  technique there is he said. Hie also recommends that procrastinators Force themselves o do Al least five minutes of a dreaded chore when they Are tempted to avoid it. The Standard query which is harder to do it now and take the consequences or do ii later and take the consequences later the people who get better Don t Wallow in the negative thoughts Grecco said. That s the message Grecco and Wing he Harp on during the workshops their clients say. They just Leach you there Are about 10 negative thoughts that impede any kind of Success said Sharon a 42-year-old divorced housewife who had not been Able to obtain a College degree during 24 years of trying. I always thought i was kind of a failure a loser. It was t that at All. It was a twisted Way of thinking she said. Sharon said aha went Back to school after the workshop and finished All her courses Lor the first time Ever. Mary Ann 30, attended the workshop because she All overloaded Al her Job As a University research specialist. She said she wanted to get organized to see ii others were having the same problem and to find some strategies or coping ii sort of forced a to break things Down into maybe smaller units to Cope with things As they  the said. George 39, was a controller for a company in Florida when he turned Down a Transfer and moved Back to Philadelphia. He said he Lound it difficult to Start Job Hunting after taking a Lew months off. I was still gelling a paycheck from my Severance  he said. And i was putting off knocking on  he said the workshop helped him set priorities and use his time better. Now. Equipped with an appointment Book that Breaks each Day Down into 15 minute segments he said he is doing belter and has several Job leads. Bombeck if i had in to do All Over again i would have married Aman who could fix my  this garbage about mothers wanting their daughters to marry doctors is just a myth. As i told my daughter being married to a Man who drops two aspirin into a bubbling commode and Ells you to Call his office in the morning can Lake the passion out of any  i guess for a while it was a act that doctors enjoyed a position of status in the country they drove big cars. Had a membership at the club took Winter cruises and had full grown Trees in front of their houses. But that was before malpractice insurance and St. Elsewhere. Today it s plumbers who Are the Darlings of anxious mothers everywhere. They re probably tha last of the Independent entrepreneurs who have unlisted Home phone numbers no beepers no office and no idea of when they la show up to unclog your Drain. They re the Only men i know who can arrive three Days late and still enter the suburbs under a canopy of Palms and Hosanna. They make $30 Tor telling you not to put silverware Down your disposer. We All learn the lesson too late to one of the Early houses we bought we had one plumbing disaster alter another. The Bathtub backed up. The water pressure was Low in the Shower one of the pipes broke and flooded a room. The Utility room sink would t Drain. He was like a surgeon. I came to care for him in a special Way. I saw rum More than my husband. One Day i called and said do you suppose Malcolm could make a House Call we have boiling water All Over the House. Our Lawn is being sauteed and every Lime we flush. The steam rises and it is a religious  then in is not an emergency she said. I could t saturday August 9, 1986 believe it. After All we had meant to one another. I fantasized what it would be like to be married to a Man who knew How to take the top off the toilet tank recently i attended a function in a Large ballroom in Washington . Just before we were to gather to eat and have our program a leak occurred in the ceiling sending water everywhere common in Washington. Everyone in the room was helpless. Including seven physicists Lour of them Nobel prize winners leading actor a renowned actress seven beat Selling authors three of them pulitzer prize Winner three legendary sports figures a leading doctor a senator 10 scientists six of them winners of he Nobel prize two generals a boxing Champion of the Workman olympic Gold medallist four astronauts a country Western sing an opera alar a former ambassador one of the All time filmmakers in Hollywood and a Man who had walked on the Moon. We would have traded them All. Lor a plumber is isl Al lot and i Tumi synd Ciu the stars and stripes Page 17