Effects of Worry Postponement on Daily Worry: a Meta-Analysis.

Worry postponement, also called stimulus control, is a simple and easy to administer intervention that often forms part of cognitive-behavioural treatments for worry. We conducted a meta-analysis to test if worry postponement is effective in reducing daily worry. Data from 7 randomized trials were included providing a total of 999 participants, of which 250 experienced worry as a burden and of which the majority was women. When comparing worry postponement to the mere registration of worries small effect sizes were observed for worry duration (d = 0.313) and for worry frequency (d = 0.189). Moderation analyses showed that the intervention yielded larger effect sizes in studies including more women. However, long-term follow-up studies are still lacking. Worry postponement, practiced between a week or a maximum of a month, was found to effectively reduce the frequency and duration of worry in daily life. This suggests that a simple intervention is available for people whose worries (temporarily) spiral out of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]