THE WALKING-AROUND ANXIETY TEST

Hi Gatherers,

I'm looking forward to answering all your questions during a live-chat Today Tuesday, September 11th from 1-2pm ET. In the meantime check out this anxiety test to see where your anxiety level is:

THE WALKING-AROUND ANXIETY TEST

Answer yes or no to each of the following questions. Try to answer each question based on your feelings and behavior this week.

1.   When you sit still for a while, do you tend to have a “nervous habit”: tapping your foot, or fidgeting with your hands (doodling, nail-biting, pencil-tapping, hair-twirling, etc.)?

2.   Within the last week, have you had a dream you would describe as a nightmare?

3.   Does your mind tend to “go blank” temporarily, or wander away from conversations?

4.   Are you jumpy?

5.   Within the last week, have you noticed a time when your breathing was shallow, or when you “forgot” to breathe for a moment?

6.   Within the last week, have you noticed a time when your heart was racing, even without exercise?

7.   Right now, are your palms sweaty?

8.   Do you frequently notice that your muscles have gotten tense, particularly around your eyes, or in your neck or back?

9.   Within the last week, has anyone told you to calm down, or to “stop worrying,” or the like?

10. Is it hard for you to stop worrying?

11. Would you say that your mind is filled with worries more often than it is not?

12. At night, is your mind crowded with thoughts, making it difficult for you to fall asleep?

13. If you had not read or heard the news for a day (newspaper, radio, TV), would you feel uneasy?

14. Within the last week, has anyone said that you were being tense or irritable?

15. Within the last week, has there been any occasion when you worried you might lose control of yourself, or embarrass yourself?

16. When you are around a lot of other people, do you tend to feel trapped?

17. Does you mind tend to dwell on bad things that happened in the past?

18. Within the past week, has there been any occasion when you felt uneasy about leaving home?

19. Does there tend to be an unwanted thought or picture in your mind that you have trouble getting rid of?

20. This week, have you been going back to check on things more than once (locks on doors, burners on stoves, etc.)?

21. Do you often feel restless, or as if you are supposed to be doing something else?

Now count the number of your yes answers. If you answered yes to 7 or fewer of the questions, it is likely that your general anxiety level is not causing you much discomfort. If you gave a yes answer to between 8 and 14 of the questions, your anxiety level may be somewhat elevated. Perhaps you experience this as mild to moderate discomfort in your day-to-day life. This level of anxiety is not alarming; still, it may be placing unnecessary limits on your happiness. If you answered yes to 15 or more of the questions, your anxiety level is likely to be making you very uncomfortable, and in view of this preliminary information, you may want to allow yourself to seek professional help with your anxious feelings.