CHAPTER 9

WORKING OUT THE PATTERN

Know your enemy

Is there a pattern to your anxiety?  Are you worse at certain times, in certain places, with certain people? What things make it better, how does if affect your body?  Getting the answers to these questions is an important step in knowing how to deal with the anxiety.  Two forms will help:

a) Describing your anxiety

At the end of this book you will find a questionnaire called 'describing your anxiety'.  Fill this in now and study it.  By writing down the factors involved in your anxiety it will help you to get a clearer picture of the what, how, where and when of anxiety.  Writing also helps you to think more clearly.  This works by showing your thoughts and making you put them in a logical sequence.  People often find that this alone helps them to feel more in control and sometimes helps them see patterns they had missed before.

b) Daily diary

Keeping a diary every day will be very useful.  You will find these diary sheets at the end of the book. From today you should begin keeping this diary every day.  You should complete it about 12am, 6pm and at bedtime.  You have to do 3 things:

1)  You rate your anxiety level by choosing a number between 1 and 10.  The higher the number, the higher your anxiety level.

2)  Try to explain why you were anxious or relaxed - was it affected by what was going on around you?  Was it affected by what you were thinking about?  Think hard about these questions and don't be afraid of guessing.  You may not be all that good at first but, with practice, you will get better.

3)  At the end of the 7 days, write down what you have learned over the week about what affects your anxiety.

Keep this diary going until you have conquered your anxiety.  You will have to discipline yourself to filling out the diary at the right times.  Don't let anything interfere with this task.  It is a very important part of controlling anxiety.

Learn the lessons contained in your forms - they are helping you to pinpoint anxiety.  This makes it much easier to attack. They also get you started on the road to controlling anxiety.