WHY WORRY?
By George Lincoln Walton, M.D.
Consulting Neurologist To The Massachusetts General Hospital
The legs of the stork are long, the legs of the duck are short; you cannot make the legs of the stork short, neither can you make the legs of the duck long. Why worry?—Chwang Tsze.
TO MY LONG-SUFFERING FAMILY AND CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, WHOSE PATIENCE HAS BEEN TRIED BY MY EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE WORRY, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
CONTENTS
II. EPICURUS AS A MENTAL HEALER
XII. THE WORRIER ON HIS TRAVELS
XIII. THE WORRIER AT THE TABLE
XIV. THE FEAR OF BECOMING INSANE
XIX. HOME TREATMENT (CONTINUED)
PREFACE.
No apology is needed for adding another to the treatises on a subject whose importance is evidenced by the number already offered the public.
The habit of worry is not to be overcome by unaided resolution. It is hoped that the victim of this unfortunate tendency may find, among the homely illustrations and commonplace suggestions here offered, something to turn his mind into more healthy channels. It is not the aim of the writer to transform the busy man into a philosopher of the indolent and contemplative type, but rather to enable him to do his work more effectively by eliminating undue solicitude. This elimination is consistent even with the "strenuous life."
One writer has distinguished between normal and abnormal worry, and directed his efforts against the latter. Webster's definition of worry (A state of undue solicitude) obviates the necessity of deciding what degree