Summary of Chapter One in The End of Worry: Why We Worry and How to Stop by Will Van der Hart and Rob Waller. Will is a  pastor working in London and Rob is a Christian psychiatrist. Both are recovering worriers.


1. Worriers think worrying is eventually productive. Most worriers will admit that although worrying about things does not actually help, they think it does. They think that ultimately it will produce something valuable and useful.

2. Understanding the processes and patterns of worry is the first step to overcoming worry.

3. Worry can be genetic. The fact that most worriers can trace their worries back to childhood and even to their parents indicates that it sometimes has a genetic component. Cautious kids and deep thinkers tend to be adult worriers.

4. Worry is a normal human emotion in a fallen world. There are situations such as having a child in hospital with a serious illness where worry is appropriate. But this can also mutate into cycles of worry.

5. Worry can protect us by ensuring that we prepare for danger.  It may be better to call this acute concern, but without it we’d be dead.

6. People with generalized anxiety disorder worry about 60% of the day. They are never really panicking but never really relaxing, draining their days of joy through living in the future.

7. Worriers tend not to share their worries and therefore slip into isolation.

8. Worriers give themselves a hard time for worrying often ending up in depression.

9. Worry can be changed. Part of the cure is undermining beliefs that are at the root of worry. There may be some truth in them but they need to be broken.

“This book focuses on the techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), the approach for severe worry recommended by the latest scientific studies…Even more importantly, we have an amazing God who loves us and loves to help us. And finally we believe in the healing power of prayer and the community of the local church, and would encourage you all to get as much of these as possible.” (19-20).

10. God can make dealing with worry work for our good. It can actually make us more mature people, better appraisers of situations, and more compassionate friends.


The End of Worry: Why We Worry and How to Stop by Will Van der Hart and Rob Waller.