An Existential Phenomenological Inquiry into the Subjective Experience of Persistent Worry and Its Treatment in Existential Psychotherapy
Sometimes, worry begins with a simple question:
“What if this happens?”
But the real problem starts when one question turns into dozens of other questions. The answer to one worry creates a new worry. The person tries to think more about the future, perhaps to prevent something unwanted from happening; however, the more they think, the future not only becomes no clearer—it seems more ambiguous and more threatening.
They may tell themselves:
“I shouldn’t think about this anymore.”
But a few minutes later, the same thought returns.
Then they try to examine it logically.
They weigh the possibilities.
They run different scenarios through their mind.
They seek reassurance from others.
They search online.
They find a solution.
But lasting peace does not come.
In this situation, the problem is not only “thinking too much.”
Gradually, the person starts to feel that they have lost control of their mind.
When the mind is no longer a place to dwell for thinking
In the experience of chronic worry, the mind can turn from a place to think into a place for constant watchfulness.
When the person wakes up in the morning, before they have fully settled into the present moment, their mind has already gone to the future:
“What will happen today?”
“What if I can’t handle my work?”
“What if I get sick?”
“What if my relationship falls apart?”
“What if I don’t have enough money?”
“What if something happens to my family?”
Here, worry is not necessarily a specific thought; it is more like a psychological space in which the person lives.
Even when nothing dangerous is happening, the body and mind remain prepared for a possible threat.
It’s as if life hasn’t happened yet, but the person must be ready from now for all the possible events.
Why can’t worry be stopped?
One of the important paradoxes of anxiety is this:
To be freed from worry, the person thinks more; and this very attempt to be freed keeps the worry going.
They assume that if they can examine the issue enough, they will finally reach a point of certainty where worry is no longer needed.
But life never guarantees such certainty.
There is always the possibility.
There is always another “what if.”
There is always something that cannot be predicted.
So the anxious mind enters a cycle:
Uncertainty ← Worry ← Attempts to control ← More checking ← Discovering new possibilities ← More worry
The person appears to be busy solving a problem, but underneath their experience, another issue is present:
Inability to tolerate not knowing.
Worry; an attempt to escape uncertainty
From an existential perspective, one of the important dimensions of chronic worry is the relationship between human beings and uncertainty.
People cannot fully know the future.
They cannot predict all the consequences of their decisions.
They cannot guarantee that their loved ones will always be healthy.
They cannot be certain that a relationship will always remain.
They cannot protect themselves from failure, loss, illness, change, and death.
But the anxious mind sometimes tries to change this fundamental condition by generating worry.
As if it says:
“If I think enough, I can control the future.”
In this sense, worry can be an attempt to create security in a world that is inherently not completely predictable.
“What if…” anxiety
In chronic worry, the future often enters the person’s experience through a small but powerful word:
What if…
What if something bad happens?
What if I make a mistake?
What if I can’t?
What if I can’t live up to my responsibilities?
What if I lose someone?
What if the future goes wrong?
“What if…” separates the person from the present and takes them to a future that does not yet exist.
The person is sitting in the room, but their mind is in an incident that may never happen.
The body is present in the now;
but awareness lives in a possible future.
The body caught in the future
Worry doesn’t happen only in the mind.
The body also enters this state.
Muscles may remain tense constantly.
The heart may beat faster.
Breathing may become shallow.
The person may feel restless.
Sleep may be disrupted.
Concentration decreases.
Chronic fatigue may develop.
Sometimes the person doesn’t even know exactly what they’re afraid of; they simply feel:
“Something bad is on the way.”
This is one of the important phenomenological aspects of anxiety.
The threat may not yet have a specific target, but the world takes on a threatening color for the person.
Trying to control worry can sometimes become the problem itself
The person may spend hours trying to control their thoughts:
“Don’t think about it.”
“Think positively.”
“Stop.”
“This thought isn’t logical.”
“I shouldn’t worry.”
But the mind cannot be turned off with a direct command.
Even the sentence “I shouldn’t think about this” can keep the person constantly focused on the same topic.
That’s why, in the treatment of anxiety, the goal is not necessarily to ensure that the person never worries.
A deeper goal may be to change the person’s relationship with worry.
That is, instead of treating every worry as an emergency command, they can observe it, tolerate it, and choose how to respond to it.
Existential psychotherapy and treating inability to control worry
In existential psychotherapy, treatment is not solely looking to eliminate the symptom.
The therapist tries to understand the experience of anxiety as part of the person’s way of being in the world.
The question is not only:
“How do we stop worry?”
More profound questions are also raised:
What am I afraid of?
If I can’t control everything, what about life becomes unbearable for me?
Why do I need to be certain about the future?
If I don’t know what will happen, what feeling does that create in me?
What responsibility have I taken upon myself beyond human capacity?
How much of my life have I devoted to predicting possible dangers?
In my effort to guarantee the future, how am I losing my present?
Moving from control to acceptance
One important therapeutic path is moving from absolute control toward a limited acceptance of the limits of control.
This acceptance does not mean surrender or indifference.
It means that the person can distinguish between two domains:
What they can influence,
and what is fundamentally outside their control.
Human beings can decide.
Plan.
Be cautious.
Act responsibly.
But they cannot guarantee all of the future.
Treatment helps the person accept this reality—not just as a rational statement, but as a lived experience.
Learning to live with “I don’t know”
Sometimes one of the most important outcomes of therapy is for the person to be able to tolerate a simple sentence:
“I don’t know what will happen.”
For the anxious mind, this sentence may initially feel very threatening.
But along the path of treatment, “I don’t know” can turn from a threat into a possibility.
I don’t know what the future will bring;
but I can live in the present.
I don’t know what will happen;
but I can face what I have available right now.
I can’t control everything;
but I can choose how to meet life.
Returning from the future to the present
Chronic worry takes people out of the present moment.
So part of therapy is bringing the person back to experiencing the present.
This return is not merely a calming technique.
The more important question is:
“While my mind is busy with the future, what is actually happening in my life right now?”
Sometimes the person becomes so preoccupied with preventing a possible future that they lose the opportunity to experience current life.
Therapy helps the gap between “real life in the present” and “a possible future life” be seen again.
Anxiety as an invitation to meet freedom
From an existential perspective, freedom can also be anxiety-provoking.
When there are no absolute guarantees, people are forced to choose.
Choosing means accepting that no one can guarantee the entire future for us.
So sometimes, beneath worry, a deeper issue is hidden:
“What if I am responsible for choosing the life I live?”
Existential therapy tries to move the person from merely living to avoid danger toward living based on their values and personal choices.
Ending the cycle of worry
Freedom from worry does not necessarily mean reaching a world without risk.
Such a world does not exist.
Freedom can mean reaching a point where the person no longer has to live through all of the future a thousand times in their mind to feel secure.
They can say:
“Something may happen.”
“Maybe I won’t be able to control everything.”
“Maybe the future won’t go the way I want.”
And at the same time:
“But right now, I can live.”
This may be one of the most important therapeutic changes in chronic anxiety:
From the effort to guarantee the future,
to the ability to be present in life.
And perhaps anxiety becomes a little calmer when a person no longer wants to predict their entire life before living it.