Nervousness and anxiety are natural parts of our body’s means of responding and preparing ourselves for the complex and challenging situations we will all face in our lives. At times, our body’s means of processing and dealing with the events that life throws at us are not sufficient, either due to our own difficult histories or because simply the current events in our lives have become overwhelming and traumatic. Issues with anxiety can take many forms, from perfectionism to panic attacks, and there are many different methods and means for treating any particular presentation. What is also important is having an understanding of why anxiety is effecting us to the extent it is.

The NHS measure issues with anxiety using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder questionnaire to measure the severity of anxiety. You can try this for yourself below – take time and answer each question as honestly as possible:

 

How often you have felt each of these statements over the last two weeks ?
Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge
Not being able to stop or control worrying
Worrying too much about different things
Trouble relaxing
Being so restless that it is hard to sit still
Becoming easily annoyed or irritable
Feeling afraid as if something awful
might happen

No score

 

Disclaimer: This test is a faithful reproduction of the GAD-7 available from www.phqscreeners.com. Test scoring is provided for information purposes and any level of anxiety reported would need to be confirmed by an appropriate mental health professional.

Anxiety workbooks

If you feel you have particularly high anxiety, and want some further help, these workbooks from the Centre for Clinical Interventions in Australia are excellent resources to help you understand anxiety further and help bring it under control.

Disclaimer: These workbooks are copyright of the Centre for Clinical Interventions and are intended for information purposes only. Diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues requires the attention of a mental health professional and this information is not a substitute for such.
  • Module 1: What is Anxiety?
    This module provides a general description of anxiety and looks at the symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder.
  • Module 6: Behavioural Experiments
    This module explores encourages you to identify, challenge and experiment with the beliefs you have that could be contributing to your anxious states.
  • Module 7: Situational Exposure
    The final module looks at methods and techniques for safely exposing your self to your fears in a way that could help you reduce your anxious reactions.

 

Other useful resources are as follows:

Anxiety UK

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (NHS)

Tuck (Anxiety and Sleep)