Preface The idea for this book emerged from an experience I had with a very anx- ious person where I was frustrated because it seemed that there was always something that kept them in a state of anxiety. If one problem was solved, another one quickly took its place, and I had to hear about every one of them. In addition, I was trying to work with another person on a project and this person wasn’t ever satisfied that I could do what was needed without them constantly checking on my progress, telling me what to do and how to do it, and just interrupting me with their con- cerns. I was always having to stop what I was doing to answer them about something that was not important, but they just had to have me available at that moment. I described the idea of writing a book titled Your Anxiety Is Driving Me Crazy, to my daughter and to several colleagues, and every one of them said that they knew what I was talking about. My daughter, who teaches advanced courses in a high school, described some of her students who were extremely bright but were constantly anxious about almost every- thing and every day there was something new to be anxious about, so they looked to her for answers and relief. My colleagues described family members, friends, and other colleagues with whom they had similar experiences. It was at that point that I realized that many of us did not know how to understand this kind of anxiety, that it was different from the debilitating anxiety that needs medication and treatment, and that there were times when we did not want to see that person or hear about what was making them anxious. There did seem to be a need for under- standing and coping with the common everyday variety of the overly anx- iousness of some people, and so the book was developed. What I am trying to do in the book is to characterize the worlds of the four identified categories of anxious people—the Worrier, the Complainer,
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