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.

担忧推迟，也称为刺激控制，是一种简单且易于实施的干预措施，通常构成担忧认知行为治疗的一部分。我们进行了一项荟萃分析，以测试推迟担忧是否能有效减少日常担忧。纳入的数据来自 7 项随机试验，共有 999 名参与者，其中 250 名参与者将担忧视为一种负担，其中大多数是女性。当将担忧推迟与仅仅记录担忧进行比较时，观察到担忧持续时间（d = 0.313）和担忧频率（d = 0.189）的影响较小。适度分析表明，在包括更多女性的研究中，干预措施产生了更大的效应。但仍缺乏长期随访研究。人们发现，将担忧推迟一周或最多一个月可以有效减少日常生活中担忧的频率和持续时间。这表明，对于那些忧虑（暂时）失控的人来说，可以采取简单的干预措施。