The Worry Trick Book Review: A Better Way to Handle Chronic Worry
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TL;DR
Rating: 8.2/10
The Worry Trick is a readable guide for people who keep trying to reason their way out of uncertain “what if?” thoughts. It teaches you to stop debating worry and return to life with the thought still present. It is less suitable if you want a worksheet-heavy CBT program.
Best for: Adults caught in chronic worry, reassurance seeking, or overthinking loops
Format: 232-page paperback and e-book
Key strength: Memorable acceptance-based tools that are easy to recall when anxious
Key weakness: More explanatory than workbook-like, with limited progress tracking
Editorial note: This review evaluates the book’s published contents, exercises, author information, and evidence context. It does not claim personal treatment results.
Medical disclaimer: This article is general information, not diagnosis or treatment. A self-help book cannot replace care from a qualified mental-health professional. Seek urgent local help if you may harm yourself or someone else.
Our verdict on The Worry Trick
This The Worry Trick book review comes down to one distinction: worry is not always a problem you can solve by thinking harder.
David A. Carbonell’s book is strongest when worry has become a second job. You notice a doubt, search for certainty, feel brief relief, then find a new doubt. Carbonell argues that attempts to suppress, disprove, or escape the thought can keep that cycle important.
His alternative is not positive thinking: notice the worry, stop treating it as an emergency, and resume a meaningful activity. That suits readers exhausted by mental arguments.
It is not our first choice for someone who wants a formal, worksheet-led course. Those readers should compare the options in our guide to the best CBT workbooks for anxiety. But as a practical bridge between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), The Worry Trick earns its place.
Book details at a glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full title | The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It |
| Author | David A. Carbonell, PhD |
| Foreword | Sally M. Winston, PsyD |
| Publisher | New Harbinger Publications |
| Publication date | February 2016 |
| Length | 232 pages |
| Paperback ISBN | 978-1-62625-318-6 |
| Main approaches | CBT- and ACT-informed strategies |
| Our rating | 8.2/10 |
These bibliographic details come from the publisher’s official product page. New Harbinger describes Carbonell as a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety disorders.
What the book actually teaches
The book is organized around a simple idea: an anxious prediction can feel like a warning even when it is only a possibility. Once the mind labels doubt as danger, common coping moves—arguing, checking, avoiding, suppressing, and seeking reassurance—can give the thought more status.
Carbonell calls that reversal the “worry trick.” Trying to force certainty gives the worry more attention.
This differs from generic “stop overthinking” advice. Rather than replace every frightening thought, the book changes your response to the process of worrying. Compare it with other self-help books for anxiety and overthinking, books to stop overthinking, and anxiety books for beginners.
The AHA method
The most useful tool is the three-part AHA method:
- Acknowledge and accept. Notice that a worry thought is present without forcing it away or declaring it true.
- Humor the thought. Treat the worry more like a familiar, overconfident character than an authoritative forecast.
- Activity. Return attention to something that matters in the world outside the worry loop.
That final step matters. The method is not passive resignation. You still act on real problems. You simply stop requiring an internal feeling of certainty before living your day.
The book develops this stance through memorable devices such as “Uncle Argument,” the Rule of Opposites, scheduled worry practice, and chapters on secrecy, sleep, and illness worries. The official table of contents and preview show a progression from understanding the trick to practicing a different response.
Humor as cognitive distance
Humor is the book’s most distinctive feature and its biggest taste test.
Carbonell uses playful exercises to reduce a worry thought’s authority. This resembles cognitive defusion: seeing a thought as a mental event rather than a command or fact.
Some readers will find this easier under stress than a multi-column thought record. Others may find it dismissive. The target is the worry process, not the seriousness of the person’s life.
That distinction needs care. Humor should never be used to ignore a current safety issue, a medical symptom needing assessment, abuse, or another concrete problem that calls for action.
What The Worry Trick does well
It explains why reassurance can fail
Reassurance may work briefly. Then the mind asks whether it was reliable, something was missed, or this case is different.
The book names that loop without shaming the reader. It also helps partners who have become unwilling participants in repeated certainty checks.
It is built for imperfect practice
The tools can be tried in short moments. You do not need a perfect morning, an empty calendar, or a calm mind before beginning.
This fits the Brain Off Switch rule that a practice should survive a real day. Missing a day does not break the method. Notice the next worry, use the steps, and begin again.
Where the book falls short
It is not a conventional workbook
The book is not built around repeated worksheets, symptom measures, or a week-by-week plan. Readers who want visible progress tracking may find it too open-ended.
Our guide to CBT and ACT anxiety workbooks explains the difference between structured cognitive work and acceptance-based practice.
The playful approach will not suit everyone
Humoring a thought can create distance. It can also feel awkward or artificial, especially at first.
Sample the author’s style before buying. Readers who prefer neutral clinical language may do better with Mind Over Mood or another structured CBT workbook.
The evidence supports the approaches, not this exact book
This is the key limitation. A 2023 systematic review and network meta-analysis in JAMA Psychiatry found CBT and third-wave CBT approaches effective for generalized anxiety disorder. CBT retained the clearest long-term support after higher-risk studies were removed.
That does not prove this book produces the same results. We found no book-specific randomized trial in the publisher materials or clinical sources reviewed. Its ideas align with evidence-based frameworks; buying it does not guarantee improvement.
It cannot sort out every kind of anxiety
Chronic worry can occur alongside panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), trauma, depression, illness anxiety, or a medical condition. A general worry book cannot reliably diagnose which process is driving your symptoms.
For a broader condition-by-condition view, start with our guide to self-help books for anxiety disorders. If symptoms are severe, worsening, or disrupting basic functioning, involve a clinician rather than asking a book to do all the work.
Evidence context: can self-help for worry work?
The answer is “sometimes, for the right reader, with limits.”
The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) includes CBT-based self-help among initial options for generalized anxiety disorder. Its public guidance describes working through a book or computer program over roughly five to 14 weeks, sometimes with brief professional support. NICE recommends stepping up care when symptoms are seriously impairing, worsening, or not improving.
Research cautions against overselling bibliotherapy. A systematic review of CBT-based guided self-help found post-treatment benefit but less conclusive results at follow-up and in routine clinical populations.
Our conclusion: The Worry Trick is a skills resource, not a treatment guarantee. It may work best as a first step for mild-to-moderate worry, a discussion aid in therapy, or a companion to a clinician-led plan.
Reading experience and practical use
This is a prose-led book with exercises. Reading in sequence helps because later practices depend on the explanation of why fighting worry can backfire.
A realistic way to use it:
- Read one short section at a time rather than racing through all 232 pages.
- Choose one recurring worry pattern and observe the response it triggers.
- Practice AHA in low-stakes moments before expecting to recall it during a high-anxiety episode.
- Record what you did after the worry appeared, not whether you made the feeling disappear.
- Bring confusing or distressing exercises to a therapist if you have one.
Do not define success as “I felt calm immediately.” A better measure is whether you returned to useful action while discomfort passed on its own schedule.
Formats and price
Prices change, so check before ordering. New Harbinger lists these formats:
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| Paperback | Readers who annotate and revisit exercises |
| PDF e-book | Fixed-layout reading and printing |
| EPUB e-book | Adjustable text and reflowable reading |
The digital editions do not meet all of the publisher’s current accessibility standards. Screen-reader users should review the accessibility details before choosing.
Prefer the paperback? Check the current Amazon price for The Worry Trick.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Clear model for recognizing the difference between worry and present-moment problem solving
- Memorable AHA framework that can be recalled without worksheets
- Integrates acceptance, cognitive distance, and return to valued activity
- Warm, humorous writing without positive-thinking promises
- Useful discussion companion for CBT- or ACT-informed therapy
Cons
- Limited worksheet structure and no formal progress dashboard
- Humor-based exercises may feel awkward or minimizing to some readers
- Not tailored to one diagnosis or to crisis-level symptoms
- Evidence supports the therapeutic approaches more directly than the book itself
Rating breakdown
| Category | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Clarity | 9/10 | One model, plain language, and memorable metaphors |
| Practicality | 8.5/10 | Exercises fit ordinary days, though tracking is light |
| Evidence alignment | 8/10 | CBT- and ACT-informed, without a cited trial of the book itself |
| Accessibility | 8.5/10 | Conversational prose; digital accessibility has limitations |
| Depth | 7.5/10 | Strong on chronic worry, less specific across diagnoses |
| Overall | 8.2/10 | A focused guide with honest scope limits |
Who should and should not read it
Best for:
- Readers whose worry begins with repeated “what if?” questions
- People who keep seeking reassurance but never feel settled for long
- Overthinkers who understand their fears intellectually yet remain stuck
- Readers who prefer examples and metaphors to clinical worksheets
- Therapy clients who want language for acceptance and cognitive defusion
Not ideal for:
- Readers seeking a rigid, session-by-session CBT workbook
- Anyone needing diagnosis, medication advice, or crisis support
- People whose main difficulty requires a specialized protocol, such as trauma-focused treatment or exposure and response prevention for OCD
- Readers who strongly dislike humor in mental-health writing
Alternatives to consider
| Alternative | Choose it when | Main difference |
|---|---|---|
| Mind Over Mood by Dennis Greenberger and Christine Padesky | You want structured CBT worksheets | More systematic cognitive restructuring and progress tracking |
| The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne | You want a broad anxiety reference | Covers more symptom areas and coping tools, with a more workbook-like format |
| Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts by Sally M. Winston and Martin N. Seif | Intrusive thoughts are the main problem | More specific attention to sticky, frightening thoughts and unhelpful responses |
Match the book to the mechanism keeping you stuck. Our guide explains how to choose an anxiety self-help book.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Worry Trick a CBT book?
It is best described as CBT- and ACT-informed. It discusses how avoidance and anxious responses maintain the cycle, but it often favors acceptance, distance from thoughts, humor, and resumed activity over debating whether each thought is true.
Is The Worry Trick a workbook?
Not in the usual worksheet-heavy sense. It includes practices and a repeatable framework, but most of the 232 pages are explanation, examples, and guided reflection. Choose a dedicated CBT workbook if you need forms and a fixed sequence.
What does AHA stand for in The Worry Trick?
AHA stands for Acknowledge and accept, Humor the worrisome thought, and Activity. The aim is to recognize worry without obeying it, loosen its seriousness, and return to something meaningful.
Is the book good for overthinking?
Yes, when overthinking takes the form of repetitive uncertainty and reassurance seeking. It is less specific for depressive rumination, trauma memories, or compulsions. Those patterns may need a different book or professional assessment.
Can this book replace therapy?
No. It can teach useful concepts and support practice, but it cannot assess risk, diagnose a condition, tailor exposure work, or monitor deterioration. NICE guidance on GAD recommends further care when initial self-help does not help or symptoms seriously affect daily life.
Final verdict
The Worry Trick is worth considering if your current strategy is to out-argue every anxious possibility. Carbonell’s central lesson—that the struggle for certainty can feed the worry loop—is specific, practical, and more useful than another list of calming tips.
Its best tool is also its simplest: acknowledge the worry, stop treating it like an urgent authority, and rejoin your life. That does not promise instant calm. It offers a practice that still works on an imperfect day.
Buy it for chronic “what if?” worry and a readable acceptance-based approach. Choose a more structured workbook if you want formal CBT records, and seek professional support when symptoms exceed what self-guided reading can safely hold.
Final rating: 8.2/10
