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There are like pain scales when doctors ask you your pain from 0-10, and I'm trying to think of an anxiety scale? Like YMMV but something like:
0 - No anxiety.
1 - Mild anxiety. I.e. rumination, feeling uneasy. Does not affect daily life or general enjoyment of life. In fact it usually helps you make better choices and trust your intuition. I.e. 'I feel weird about this party, I don't think it will go well, but I have been working really hard lately, and I'm fatigued, I'll go for an hour and leave if I feel tired, thus reinforcing self-care boundaries.'
2 - Mild anxiety that may sometimes decrease ability to do certain things. Potentially aversive to making anxiety worse, may avoid things temporarily, but still always get to them (like phone calls, reaching out to friends etc.). Enjoy your life, and doesn't affect sleep or leisure. Anxiety often helps you make better choices and trust your intuition.
3 - Mild anxiety with some physiological affects (perhaps a 'nervous bladder' or the rare tension headache) and definite avoidance of some tasks. Get around to these items eventually, and enjoy your life. Anxiety is not constant, does not generally affect sleep or leisure.
4 - Anxiety with physiological affects including sleep impact (either too much, too little, or insomnia). Can minorly impact leisure and feel-good activities. Avoidant behaviours around things that trigger anxiety, and may not always get to those activities. Attendant guilt/shame spirals that compound the issue.
5 - Anxiety with physiological affects including sleep impact and other physiological impacts such as skin/eczema, GI issues, headaches, occasional shaky breathing or dietary imbalances. Unable to pull self out of anxiety spiral without considerable effort. Attendant guilt/shame spirals. Will reduce energy and make it harder to function normally on a bad day. Good days still happening.
6 - Moderate anxiety. Inability to easily stop thinking about things that might happen, or things that happened in the past, in a way that feels uncomfortable and distressing. Real world impact, including not wanting to engage in pleasurable things in case they have anxiety stimulus present and diminished function. Physiological impact.
7 - Moderate to severe anxiety. A lot of decision making influenced directly by stimulus and a need to remove oneself from it (whether it's people, a trigger, a thought etc.) Anxiety attacks, and lengthy recovery process from activation of the HPA axis. Difficulty feeling relaxed or pleasure even when away from anxiety stimulus.
8 - Severe anxiety. Anxiety attacks and/or panic attacks, decreased ability to function. Will remove self from stimulus asap, but *may* be able to tolerate it out of necessity (i.e. MRI machine, medical procedures, appointments that cannot be avoided). Will sometimes be able to tolerate stimulus if all other activities removed (i.e. caretaking a sick person, but no longer seeing friends / talking to people / doing pleasurable activities). Acute distress, mental and physiological. Equilibrium can be restored, though that equilibrium may now be a constant 4/5 status in general. Stimulus must be addressed and response somehow mitigated.
9 - Severe anxiety. Panic attacks and/or minimal ability to function. Likely still able to recognise need to remove yourself from stimulus (at least temporarily), but will not achieve equilibrium without removal, and function will likely decrease until it approaches 10 and intervention must occur. Acute distress, mental and physiological. Difficulty communicating. Possible suicidal ideation to escape stimulus in rare cases.
10 - Severe anxiety. Panic attacks and/or complete inability to function. Non-verbal or unable to comunicate needs. Likely not able to remove self from stimulus without a flight response. Immediate removal from stimulus required. Will take days to fully restore equilibrium. Impossible to feel relaxed or pleasure until away from stimulus for some time. Acute distress, mental and physiological. Likely needs psychological assistance. Possible suicidal ideation to escape stimulus in rare cases.
***
Idk, like obviously it's different for everyone. But it'd be cool to have a scale like 'on a 0-10, where do you think you were on this chart during X distressing thing, and where are you now?' And then you could check in all the time, or to Glen at the hospital I could be like 'I'm a 7' or whatever.
That'd be cool.
I'm going to bed now. Still catching up on sleep from yesterday's 'did too much'palooza.
0 - No anxiety.
1 - Mild anxiety. I.e. rumination, feeling uneasy. Does not affect daily life or general enjoyment of life. In fact it usually helps you make better choices and trust your intuition. I.e. 'I feel weird about this party, I don't think it will go well, but I have been working really hard lately, and I'm fatigued, I'll go for an hour and leave if I feel tired, thus reinforcing self-care boundaries.'
2 - Mild anxiety that may sometimes decrease ability to do certain things. Potentially aversive to making anxiety worse, may avoid things temporarily, but still always get to them (like phone calls, reaching out to friends etc.). Enjoy your life, and doesn't affect sleep or leisure. Anxiety often helps you make better choices and trust your intuition.
3 - Mild anxiety with some physiological affects (perhaps a 'nervous bladder' or the rare tension headache) and definite avoidance of some tasks. Get around to these items eventually, and enjoy your life. Anxiety is not constant, does not generally affect sleep or leisure.
4 - Anxiety with physiological affects including sleep impact (either too much, too little, or insomnia). Can minorly impact leisure and feel-good activities. Avoidant behaviours around things that trigger anxiety, and may not always get to those activities. Attendant guilt/shame spirals that compound the issue.
5 - Anxiety with physiological affects including sleep impact and other physiological impacts such as skin/eczema, GI issues, headaches, occasional shaky breathing or dietary imbalances. Unable to pull self out of anxiety spiral without considerable effort. Attendant guilt/shame spirals. Will reduce energy and make it harder to function normally on a bad day. Good days still happening.
6 - Moderate anxiety. Inability to easily stop thinking about things that might happen, or things that happened in the past, in a way that feels uncomfortable and distressing. Real world impact, including not wanting to engage in pleasurable things in case they have anxiety stimulus present and diminished function. Physiological impact.
7 - Moderate to severe anxiety. A lot of decision making influenced directly by stimulus and a need to remove oneself from it (whether it's people, a trigger, a thought etc.) Anxiety attacks, and lengthy recovery process from activation of the HPA axis. Difficulty feeling relaxed or pleasure even when away from anxiety stimulus.
8 - Severe anxiety. Anxiety attacks and/or panic attacks, decreased ability to function. Will remove self from stimulus asap, but *may* be able to tolerate it out of necessity (i.e. MRI machine, medical procedures, appointments that cannot be avoided). Will sometimes be able to tolerate stimulus if all other activities removed (i.e. caretaking a sick person, but no longer seeing friends / talking to people / doing pleasurable activities). Acute distress, mental and physiological. Equilibrium can be restored, though that equilibrium may now be a constant 4/5 status in general. Stimulus must be addressed and response somehow mitigated.
9 - Severe anxiety. Panic attacks and/or minimal ability to function. Likely still able to recognise need to remove yourself from stimulus (at least temporarily), but will not achieve equilibrium without removal, and function will likely decrease until it approaches 10 and intervention must occur. Acute distress, mental and physiological. Difficulty communicating. Possible suicidal ideation to escape stimulus in rare cases.
10 - Severe anxiety. Panic attacks and/or complete inability to function. Non-verbal or unable to comunicate needs. Likely not able to remove self from stimulus without a flight response. Immediate removal from stimulus required. Will take days to fully restore equilibrium. Impossible to feel relaxed or pleasure until away from stimulus for some time. Acute distress, mental and physiological. Likely needs psychological assistance. Possible suicidal ideation to escape stimulus in rare cases.
***
Idk, like obviously it's different for everyone. But it'd be cool to have a scale like 'on a 0-10, where do you think you were on this chart during X distressing thing, and where are you now?' And then you could check in all the time, or to Glen at the hospital I could be like 'I'm a 7' or whatever.
That'd be cool.
I'm going to bed now. Still catching up on sleep from yesterday's 'did too much'palooza.
