A Self-Test for Anxiety Disorders

·        These questions are not meant to be diagnostic.  If you think you may have a problem with anxiety, contact your family physician.

·        The severity of anxiety occurs on a continuum.  For the problem to be considered a disorder, it must impair your functioning.

Panic attacks

1.      Do you experience any of the following physical sensations that are accompanied by intense fear:  palpitations/increased heart rate, sweating, trembling/shaking, shortness of breath, choking, chest pain, nausea, dizziness/lightheadedness, an unreal feeling, fear of losing control/going crazy, fear of dying, numbness/tingling, chills or hot flushes?

2.      Do you have at least four of these symptoms at once?

3.      Do they reach their peak within 10 minutes?

If you answered yes to all of the above, you have likely experienced a panic attack.  People have panic attacks for all kinds of reasons.  Please continue to determine if you may have an anxiety disorder.

Panic disorder with or without agoraphobia

1.      Do you experience repeated unexpected panic attacks?

2.      As a result of these attacks have you been worried about having more attacks, worried about the consequences of these attacks (e.g., I may embarrass myself, have a tumor, die), or have you changed your daily routine as a result of the attacks (e.g., stopped exercising, stopped drinking caffeine, avoiding excessive stress)?

If you answered yes to the above two questions, and it is significantly impairing your life, you might have panic disorder without agoraphobia *.

3.      Do you avoid places or situations because of the fear of having a panic attack and being unable to get help, being unable to leave, or embarrassing yourself (e.g., crowds, waiting in lines, being away from home alone)?

If you answered yes to the above three questions, and it is significantly impairing your life, you might have panic disorder with agoraphobia *.

Specific phobia

1.      Do you have unrealistic or excessive fears of objects or situations such as flying, heights, animals, water, enclosed spaces, storms, needles, and/or blood?

2.      Do you always experience anxiety when confronted with the feared object or situation or know that you will be confronted by it?  You may get so anxious, you might have a panic attack.

3.      Do you try to avoid the feared object or situation at all costs?

4.      Does the fear and/or avoidance significantly interfere with your life?

If you answered yes to the above 4 questions, and it is significantly impairing your life, you may have a specific phobia *.

Social phobia

1.      When you are in social situations are you unusually worried about being embarrassed or being evaluated negatively by other people?

2.      Do you experience anxiety nearly every time you are in a social situation or know that you will be in a social situation?  You may get so anxious you may experience a panic attack.

3.      Do you know that your fear is unreasonably high?

4.      Do avoid social situations or if impossible to avoid it, do you tolerate them with severe amounts of anxiety?

5.      Does your fear and/or avoidance of social situations significantly interfere with your life?  Are you quite distressed about having this fear of social situations?

If you answered yes to the above 5 questions, and it is impairing your life, you may have social phobia *.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

1.      Do you have frequent unwanted thoughts, images, or impulses that are difficult, if not impossible to get rid of and cause extensive anxiety (e.g., thoughts of harming someone, blasphemous thoughts/images, urge to drive car into oncoming traffic)?

2.      Do you try to ignore, fight, or control the thoughts, images, or impulses?

If you answered yes to the above 2 questions, and it is significantly interfering with your life, you might be experiencing obsessions.

3.      Do you repeat behaviors (e.g., hand washing, checking) or mental acts (e.g., counting, praying) in response to the obsessions?

4.      Do you do these behaviors to prevent a feared consequence?

If you answered yes to question 4 and 5, you might be experiencing compulsions.

5.      Do you recognize that your obsessions and/or compulsions are unreasonable and/or excessive?

6.      Do the obsessions and/or compulsions cause great distress, are they time-consuming (at least one hour each day) or significantly interfere with your life?

If you have obsessions and/or compulsions and you answered yes to questions 5 and 6, you might have obsessive-compulsive disorder.*

Post-traumatic stress disorder

1.      Have you experience or witnessed an event where you or others were threatened with death or severe injury?

2.      If you answered yes to number 1, did you respond with fear, helplessness, or horror?

3.      Do you relive the event in any of the following ways:

(a)                recurrent flashbacks while awake (as if you are experiencing the event again)

(b)               frequent nightmares of the event

(c)                intrusive recollections of the event – focusing on a particular image or perception

(d)               extreme distress when you come across things that remind you of the event

(e)                panic-like symptoms when experience reminders of the event

4.   Do you experience any of the following: 

(a)                avoid thinking, feeling, or talking about the event

(b)               avoid people, activities, or places that remind you about the event

(c)                can recall important parts of the event

(d)               significantly decreased interest in activities or participating in activities

(e)                feeling detached from others

(f)                 inability to experience strong emotion (except fear and anger)

(g)                inability to see yourself in the future

5.   Do you experience any of the following since you experienced the traumatic event:

(a)                sleep problems

(b)               anger/irritability

(c)                problems concentrating

(d)               on guard or on edge

(e)                easily startled

If you answered yes to questions 1-5, and it is significantly impairing your life, you might be experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder *.

Acute stress disorder

1.      Have you experienced or witnessed an event where you or someone else thought they might die or experience serious injury?

2.      If you answered yes to #1, did you respond with extreme fear, helplessness, or horror?

3.      During or after the event did you experience any of the following:

(a)                numbness or detachment

(b)               feeling as if you were in a daze and unaware of your surroundings

(c)                feeling as if you had stepped out of your body or that you were separated from others

(d)               inability to recall aspects of the event

4.   Do you re-experience the event in any of the following ways:  frequent dreams, thoughts, images, and/or flashbacks?

5.   Do you try to avoid being reminded of the event?

6.   Are you experiencing difficulty sleeping, irritability, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, and/or easily startled?

7.   Have the above problems significantly interfered with your life or stopped you from pursuing help for yourself?

8.   Has the event occurred less than one month ago?

If you answered yes to questions 1-8, and it is significantly impairing your life, you might be experiencing acute stress disorder.*  If you answered yes to questions 1-7 but no to questions 8, please refer to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder

1.      For the past 6 months (at least) do you worry about a number of daily activities (e.g., work, home repairs, getting to appointments on time)?

2.      Do you find the worry difficult to control?

3.      When you are worrying do you experience any of the following:

(a)                restlessness/being on edge

(b)               fatigue

(c)                difficulty concentrating

(d)               irritability

(e)                muscle tension

(f)                 sleep problems

4.   Does the worry significantly interfere with your life?

If you answered yes to the above 4 questions AND you are not exclusively worried about having a panic attack (see panic disorder), social ridicule (see social phobia), contamination/theft) (see obsessive-compulsive disorder), you may have generalized anxiety disorder.*

·        *source – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 4^th Ed.  American Psychiatric Association, 1997.

This Article has been submitted by the Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com team for informational and educational purposes. Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com is a website dedicated to telling the story of Jeremy Jacobs, a character in the novel, Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com.