Anxiety and worry are a serious problem for modern people living at a fast pace and experiencing frequent stressful situations.
Psychologist Yulia Vatutina explained how to determine the level of anxiety.
Should you worry about anxiety? To settle this question once and for all, it is recommended to learn how to determine the degree of anxiety.
The degree of anxiety can be determined by a number of signs and symptoms that have both physical and psychological manifestations.
- Physical symptoms of anxiety can come in a variety of forms, degrees of intensity, and vary depending on a person's individual response to stress and anxiety.
Some of these may include: increased heart rate, high blood pressure, breathing problems, sweating and shaking, digestive problems, dizziness and feeling weak, insomnia, headache, problems concentrating, etc. - Psychological symptoms most often include: unpleasant thoughts and experiences, fear of communicating with people, avoidance of certain places, increased irritability, panic attacks, forgetfulness and decreased concentration.
The described symptoms can appear either separately or in combination.
Why it's important to understand your anxiety level
The presence of these symptoms in itself does not indicate an increased or even critical level of anxiety, since its manifestation can be caused by situations in which the feeling of anxiety is a normal reaction of the body.
Anxiety without a reason is unhealthy, especially if it becomes constant and obsessive. There are special psychological tests to determine the nature of anxiety and its degree most accurately. Here are some of them.
- The Hamilton Test is a scale developed to assess the degree of anxiety in patients with various mental illnesses.
- The Spielberger test is the most famous and widely used test for determining the level of anxiety. It consists of two parts: the first is for determining the current level of anxiety ("state of anxiety"), the second is for determining the level of anxiety as a personality trait ("anxiety as a personality trait").
- The Beck test is a scale that allows one to determine the level of anxiety based on the patient’s subjective assessment of his/her anxiety symptoms.
- The Derogatis Test is a widely used test to assess a wide range of psychological symptoms, including anxiety.
- The Taylor test is a scale that allows one to determine the level of anxiety using the patient’s subjective assessment of his or her somatic condition.
The Covey scale is worth mentioning separately. It includes 20 questions that the patient is asked to rate on a five-point scale.
Each question has four answer options, which correspond to different levels of intensity of anxiety symptoms.
Examples of questions to determine the level of anxiety according to the Covey scale:
- How often do you feel worried, anxious or tense?
- How often do you experience anxiety that prevents you from sleeping?
- How often do you feel nervousness that affects your ability to concentrate at work or school?
Evaluation of the answers to the questions allows us to determine the patient's anxiety level, which can be assessed as low, moderate, high or very high.
This scale can be used both in the primary diagnosis of anxiety disorders and in assessing the effectiveness of therapy and predicting the risk of relapse.
Some of the tests presented are publicly available online. But it is important to remember that the test results are not definitive diagnoses and should only be used as tools to identify the suspected level of concern.
It is better to contact a qualified specialist for a professional assessment of the test results and recommendations for further action.
Experts determine the degree of anxiety using the following methods:
- Questionnaire. This is one of the most common methods. When questioning, a person is asked to fill out a special questionnaire, which specifies various factors characterizing his emotional state.
For example, the frequency and severity of anxiety, physical symptoms, the degree of sleep disturbance, etc. - Clinical conversation. During a clinical conversation, the doctor asks questions that help determine the level of anxiety and identify associated symptoms.
- Observation. The doctor may also observe the patient's behavior and emotional state to determine the degree of anxiety. This may include observing physical symptoms such as trembling, sweating, etc.
- Biological Methods: This approach to measuring anxiety involves using medical methods such as measuring levels of stress hormones in the blood, such as cortisol.
Neurophysiological methods such as electroencephalography of the brain can also be used.
Determining the level of anxiety is a complex process of assessing the level of anxiety in a person, which requires the participation of a specialist.
The results of such an assessment can help you choose the best strategies for managing anxiety and getting back to normal.
