Official Review: The Worrywart's Companion:

[PashaRu]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Worrywart's Companion:" by Dr. Beverly Potter [Ronin Publishing edition].]

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3 out of 4 stars

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What do you do to alleviate worry? Listen to soothing music? Go for a walk? Think happy thoughts? Take a warm bath with soft music and lighting? Count your blessings? Well, then, author and psychologist Beverly A. Potter is here to tell you to keep doing those things. And she has a Ph.D., so she should know. Her book The Worrywart’s Companion: Twenty-One Ways to Soothe Yourself & Worry Smart contains such sage advice. The guide has a 2014 copyright and is published by Ronin Publishing, but was published twice previously, first in 1997. The editions are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, in both paperback and e-format. Potter has at least twenty self-help books under her belt.

I don’t usually read self-help books. They seem to come in three categories: 1) Flavor-of-the-month pop psychology, replete with all the latest buzzwords and fancy-sounding psychobabble, 2) far-out, strange ideas from an unbalanced mind, and 3) simple common sense, for which I don’t really need a book. Thankfully, this book falls into the third category. I say “thankfully” because that’s the least offensive and annoying kind, in this reviewer’s opinion.

The book is divided into three sections. The first thirty pages are devoted to defining “worrywarting” (yes, a full thirty pages to define worry), the next section tells you how to “worry smarter,” and the third section – approximately the last third of the book – gets to those “twenty-one ways” mentioned in the title. There are a total of 36 chapters over 160 pages, followed by a bibliography and index.

So the common-sense things that your mother always told you to do when you were worried or stressed are now codified, explained, repeated, and confirmed by someone with a Ph.D. While I didn’t find any part of the book strange or unorthodox, I also didn’t see anything terribly insightful or original. There are sprinkles of the pop-psychology lexicon, with such phrases as “self-talk,” “compassionate self-talk,” “friendly talk,” “fuddy talk,” and “worry place” occurring semi-frequently. A piece of advice that shows up more than once: when you find yourself thinking negatively (“fuddy talk”), say “STOP!” loudly inside your head and imagine seeing a stop sign in your mind. Then switch to “friendly self talk.” There are other similar ideas along the lines of thinking more positively and telling yourself it’s not all that bad, etc. Another one of the twenty-one ways is to “change shoulds to preferences.” For example, instead of thinking “I should exercise more,” the worrywart should think “I would like to exercise more.”

Hmmm. The cynic in me really wants to roll his eyes and call this “playing mental games with yourself.” Just multitudinous ways to convince yourself that things aren’t so bad after all. Change your outlook. It’s not that I completely disagree, it’s just that most of the ideas in the book seem so basic or platitudinous that I don’t feel the need to put ten dollars in anyone’s pocket to read about them. Take a few deep breaths. Smile. Go for a walk. Watch a funny movie. Do I really need a book written by someone with a degree to tell me to do these things? Oh, there are details about how to take deep breaths, how to go for a walk, how to smile, etc. But I think I can figure most of that out on my own.

There are all kinds of recommendations to self analyze: rate your worries, test your worries, make lists, keep journals, etc. If I did all these exercises, I wouldn’t have much time for anything else.

The book is generally well-written; it's a conversational style and easy to read. The chapters are short, not more than eight or ten pages. However, some of the ideas are repeated multiple times, and very simple concepts tend to be overexplained. I think the book would benefit by paring it down to, at most, two-thirds its current length. It could do with another edit to clean up some extraneous typos, although these are not so frequent or egregious as to be too terribly distracting.

I’m not sure who the audience is for this book. In Dr. Potter’s years of experience, she has probably dealt with people who worried to such a degree that it became crippling for them, impairing their ability to function. Maybe this book is for such people. But the ideas and suggestions presented are neither revolutionary nor very insightful. It’s just plain old common sense. The kind you heard from your mother, who didn’t have a degree. Oh, there is a little bit of science and some references to various studies to prove that your mom was right after all. But the average person who worries an average amount won’t find anything here terribly enlightening. I would recommend this to those who excessively worry to the point where they are unable to cope and have lost objectivity of both themselves and their life circumstances. However, for someone who has gotten to that point, I would hazard a guess that he/she already needs more than a self-help book.

As for the rating, I would give the book 2.5 stars if I could. It’s well-written and organized and doesn’t do a bad job fulfilling its intended purpose. But the advice is not new, insightful, or noteworthy. Just general concepts and common sense, overexplained and couched in a context that wants to sound educated. But because I can’t be overly critical of the advice itself – it’s generally sound – I rate The Worrywart’s Companion: Twenty-One Ways to Soothe Yourself & Worry Smart three out of four stars.

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The Worrywart's Companion:
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Like PashaRu's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Gravy]

All very good points, PashaRu

[PashaRu]

Thanks, Gravy!

[Tanaya]

Great review! Your cynicism is well-founded. I do like the purpose of the book. Hopefully it can be of some help to those who need it.

[PashaRu]

Thank you! I agree, the book has a noble purpose; my main criticism is that, distilled down, the advice contained therein is nothing more than your garden-variety, rather trite suggestions that could be just as easily offered by a friend or relative. Nothing too original.

[gali]

Great and insightful review! Not my cup of tea though.

[PashaRu]

Thank you!

[bookowlie]

I always enjoy reading your reviews. Interesting, insightful, informative, and detailed without being boring. You made an excellent point about people who can't cope needing much more than a self-help book. Well done.

[PashaRu]

Thank you bookowlie!

Or should I say thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

[bookowlie]

I contacted the moderators to get the excess posts deleted, unless you would like me to leave them for the extra oomph.

[PashaRu]

I contacted the moderators to get the excess posts deleted, unless you would like me to leave them for the extra oomph.

It's okay. No one has ever complained about my oomph before.

[bookowlie]

Thankfully, the duplicate posts are now gone. I hope my one comment had enough oomph to get my point across. You bring the cool to long reviews.

[PashaRu]

Thankfully, the duplicate posts are now gone. I hope my one comment had enough oomph to get my point across. You bring the cool to long reviews.

Thank you, that's very kind. I'm just long-winded. Some people have already learned to tune me out.

[bookowlie]

Or....tune you in. You are like one of those radio and TV commentators that has a lot to say, but it's also interesting stuff. Hey, the Speaker of the House job is vacant at the moment - time to throw your hat in the ring.

[PashaRu]

Haha, no thanks! They have a lot to say, and it's not worth listening to, not for even one minute. Ugh. If I ever start to sound like that, just shoot me.