shifting attention away. Most worriers, however, can’t seem to do this. The reason, Borkovec believes, has to do with a partial payoff from worrying that is highly reinforcing to the habit. There is, it seems, something positive in worries: worries are ways to deal with potential threats, with dangers that may come one’s way. The work of worrying—when it succeeds—is to rehearse what those dangers are, and to reflect on ways to deal with them.
