Generalized anxiety disorder and online intelligence: A phenomenological account of why worrying is unhelpful

Worrying is the core feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) [1-4]. Many people worry from time to time, but in GAD the worrying is prolonged and difficult to control. Worrying is a way of coping with perceived threats. Yet, usually, it is not considered to be a helpful strategy for dealing with future situations [5], and the phenomenological account developed in this paper aims to show why.There are various ways to explain the prolonged and uncontrollable worrying that occurs in GAD [2]. The present paper, however, is restricted to an explanation in phenomenological terms. Central to this account is to conceive of the human being as 'being-in-the-world' in the sense of an agent in continuous, embedded interaction with the environment. More specifically, my account is informed by Michael Wheeler's application of phenomenological (mainly Heideggerian) notions to artificial intelligence (AI) and the cognitive sciences. His approach - in which the concept of 'online intelligence' is central - enables us to articulate an unhelpful 'metacognition' in GAD (see next section), and, moreover, to explain why treating this condition requires cognitive as well as behavioral interventions. I suggest that the overall picture derived from this phenomenological perspective can also be communicated to GAD patients, hopefully providing them with additional motivation to find more helpful coping strategies than worrying.The outline of the paper is as follows. First, I introduce GAD and the concept of worrying which is central in theorizing about GAD. Next, I present and discuss a phenomenological account of 'being in the world'. I start out explaining some central Heideggerian notions and then proceed to Wheeler's radical interpretation of these notions, articulated by the concept of 'online intelligence'. Then, I show how both accounts - theorizing about worrying in GAD on the one hand and online intelligence on the other - can be linked in order to explain why worrying in GAD