The Anxiety Test
I was having a conversation with someone the other day about anxiety, I only brought up the subject because clearly, they were suffering from severe anxiety. However, to my surprise they said they were fine and didn't have a problem with anxiety. Well, you can imagine my surprise to this response from this particular person. This got me thinking… and of course, if a person's been suffering from a mental health problem or condition for a long period of time, probably from as long as they can remember, then that behaviour may appear normal to them. And so, as this person said to me, “there's nothing wrong with me”. This prompted me to write an anxiety checklist which someone could read through to see if indeed, they do suffer from anxiety.
So before exploring the checklist, let's have a look at what anxiety really is and how it might present itself.
Anxiety usually comes from some form of emotion which the subconscious mind has repressed because at the time it was experienced, the person was unable to process the emotion due to their age and or intensity of the negative emotion. The type of symptom produced may be determined by the personality type of the person concerned.
Most people who consult me are either doing something they don’t want to do or, are not doing something they do want to do. Another way of putting it would be to say that they are suffering from something inside of them self but outside of their control.
So, you are likely to be suffering from something inside of yourself but outside of your control. This definition covers a multitude of psychological and emotional disorders. This typically includes feelings of anxiety, panic attacks, phobia’s, depression and mood disorders, neurotic and psychotic behaviour and compulsive out of control behaviour.
The two parts of your mind
There are two parts to our mind. Namely, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Your conscious mind is the part that you think is you! This part holds your thoughts and reasoning abilities. However, you are unable to undertake more than one activity at the same time. Like reading a book and having a conversation. Your subconscious mind on the other hand, is responsible for running all your bodies processes all at the same time. For example, whilst you are reading this, your subconscious mind is looking after all your bodily functions at the same time. Therefore, your subconscious mind controls and runs a large number of processes at the same time. It is therefore much more powerful than the conscious mind which can only really focus on one task at a time!
Accepting that if your problem was in your conscious mind that you would have rationalised and dealt with it by now, then it would be safe to assume that whatever the problem is, it resides in the subconscious part of your mind. And as your subconscious mind has control over your body, including its emotions, if something is causing it a problem, it has a vast array of symptoms to choose from to give you! These can include physical symptoms like a nervous twitch or worse! Let us look at the symptoms which can be experienced in an anxiety attack. If you were suffering from an anxiety attack you would not necessary experience all the symptoms listed below:
1. The heart beats alarmingly quickly
2. Increase in breathing rate as if not getting enough air (air hunger)
3. Cramped feeling across the lower part of the diaphragm
4. Tingling sensation
5. Hot or cold flush in unexpected parts of the body, usually the extremities
6. Feeling that unconsciousness may be coming
7. Rooted to the spot as if you had seen a ghost
8. Dumbstruck or immobilised
9. Panic struck at what is taken place
10. A return to normal
What causes my subconscious mind to give me these symptoms?
Your subconscious mind is there to protect you, and only you. This is because it is your subconscious mind! So, what is going on in your subconscious mind? Well, it is trying to protect you from something. Something inside of you! let me explain. It has the ability to repress an unpalatable emotion from the conscious mind if the conscious mind cannot deal with it. A person’s subconscious will repress it in order to protect the conscious mind.
A person’s mind will repress with convenient amnesia something very unpalatable to that person. If the incident had generated an emotion too intense for the conscious mind to process, the subconscious mind will block the memory along with the emotion from conscious recall. Although sometimes the memory can remain, but the emotion has been repressed.
Another way of putting it, is that normally your conscious mind will process emotions as they arise or afterwards. However, if they are of a very intense nature the subconscious mind will repress them from conscious recall to protect your conscious mind. You then have repressed memories and emotions. Or put more simply, you have unprocessed emotions. Because your subconscious mind has kept these emotions from conscious recall, it experiences anxiety. You can experience this anxiety directly as an anxious feeling within you. Or, by the way of symptom substitution.
An example of this would be someone who is involved in a road accident who truthfully tells the police “I remember backing my car out of the drive and remember waking up in hospital. However, I cannot remember the drive to the scene of the accident, or of the accident itself”. In order to protect this person’s mind from the horror of the accident, this person’s subconscious mind has also repressed the memory of the rest of the journey and the journey in the ambulance.
This free-floating anxiety is a problem to the human mind because there is nothing more disconcerting than feeling anxiety and not knowing why. Jung described anxiety as fear spread thinly. Again, there is nothing more disconcerting to the human mind than feeling fear and not knowing why.
What symptoms are possible?
This anxiety will need to find an outlet. There are different ways this can happen. This is often determined by the personality type of the person concerned. Personality types are determined in our formative years.
Take the anxiety test below to see if you are suffering from anxiety:
Anxiety Test
Please tick the statement below that applies to you, even if only part of a statement applies to you. Take your time, but please be totally honest with your answers.
I suffer from addictive behaviour i.e. gambling, compulsive shopping, or alcoholism. There are many more possible examples of addictive behaviour, but you get the idea.
I frequently suffer from apprehension and fear.
I suffer from an eating disorder.
I have a bodily symptom that has no medical reason to manifest.
I have a general apprehensiveness; I have a pessimistic outlook on life and often see the worst in all possibilities.
I bite my nails.
I often feel nervous for no apparent logical reason.
I have a phobia. For example, fear of spider’s fear of flying, fear of being sick, fear of open spaces or closed spaces, fear of hights, fear of germs. There are many more possible examples.
I need constant reassurance.
I suffer from a compulsive bodily movement such as tapping my feet on the floor or tapping my hands on the table. There are many other examples.
I procrastinate and often put off things that I should be doing.
I smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day.
I have obsessive and compulsive thoughts or repetitive thoughts that are out of my control.
I suffer from social anxiety & shyness.
I feel insecure and worry a lot.
I feel that I am suffering from something inside of me but outside of my control.
I suffer from bodily twitches, nervous twitches, facial twitches or compulsive blinking of my eyes.
I perform obsessive actions and have compulsions. Examples would be obsessive handwashing, repeatably checking things such as door locks, and electric switches or, following a particular ceremony such as having to tap the door handle 3 times before entering. There are many more possible examples.
I frequently suffer from nightmares.
I suffer from a speech symptom such as stammering.
Sometimes, for no apparent logical reason, close friendships or personal relationships cause me to feel nervous, anxious or apprehensive.
I ask questions even when I already know the answer.
I suffer from the symptom/s of a panic attack. Answer yes if you have had any of the following symptoms: Increase in heart rate, increase in breathing as if not getting enough air, cramped feeling across the lower part of the diaphragm, tingling sensation, hot or cold flush, a feeling that unconsciousness maybe coming, feeling rooted to the spot, feeling immobilised.
I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Answer yes if you have an anxious feeling plus any of the following symptoms: excessive vigilance, exaggerated tendency to startle, nightmares, flashbacks to a traumatic event, insomnia, outburst of anger, social withdrawal.
Whilst the above is not a complete list of all possible anxiety indicators, it will help you to determine if you may need help. Therefore, if you have ticked any of the above, I would suggest that you visit www.mindtherapyclinic.org for more information.
Paul Craddock DHP, MIAEBP. www.mindtherapyclinic.org Tel: 01202 462762
Email: paul@healthyandwise.co.uk