Think about a person so disabled by worry that he can no longer function comfortably in the world. Every decision must be measured against the probability that it will increase or decrease anxiety. To the degree that one’s choices become constrained by a need for anxiety avoidance, one’s life shrinks. As this happens, the anxiety is reinforced and soon the sufferer becomes fearful, not of anything external, but of anxiety itself. People become afraid to drive, to shop, sometimes even to leave their houses. At this point some patients feel their choices in life have become so constricted that
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