Anxiety
Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Specific Worry
The client accepts a specific worry as necessary without examining its actual utility or harm.
Some clients hold onto a specific worry because they believe it is productive or protective. Direct challenges to this belief can be met with resistance, as the client may feel the need to defend the worry’s function. This is especially common when the anxiety has become fused with their sense of responsibility or safety, making it difficult for them to see it objectively.
This directive gives the client a structured way to inventory the real-world effects of their worry. By weighing its tangible costs against its perceived benefits, they can begin to assess its true utility for themselves. The client leaves the exercise with a concrete, self-generated conclusion about whether the worry is actually working for them.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Specific Worry
Identify one specific, recurring worry. Write it on the line below. Then complete the four boxes of the grid. Write down all the actual and imagined consequences you can think of for each box.
My worry is:
| Advantages (What are the benefits or positive outcomes?) | Disadvantages (What are the costs or negative outcomes?) | |
|---|---|---|
| If I continue to worry about this | ||
| If I stop worrying about this |
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