The big idea: is it time to stop worrying about stress?

Our beliefs about difficult feelings may do more damage than the feelings themselves

In the late 19th-century America, a somewhat bizarre form of abstinence emerged. The vice was not alcohol but anxiety. Citizens of New York began to attend regular Don't Worry Clubs" in which they encouraged each other to look on the bright side of life. Their founder, Theodore Seward, argued that Americans were slaves to the worrying habit", which was the enemy which destroys happiness". It needed to be attacked" with resolute and persevering effort".

By the early 20th century, the psychologist William James described how people had developed a kind of religion of healthy-mindedness" with the aim of turning the mind away from all negative thoughts and feelings.