LUNA (Learning to Understand and Navigate Anxiety)

  1. Baylor College of Medicine
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  3. Faculty Labs
  4. LUNA (Learning to Understand and Navigate Anxiety)
  5. Teen Modules
  6. Module 2: Identifying Anxiety and Staying Motivated
  7. Introducing the anxiety intensity scale

Introducing the anxiety intensity scale

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Anxiety isn’t an all-or-nothing feeling and can have different levels of intensity. Sometimes you might feel just a little anxious, other times you might feel extremely anxious.

It can be hard to describe how intense our anxiety is when we are feeling it. It can also be hard to remember how anxious we felt in past situations. Because of this, it is helpful to have a tool to communicate to others how anxious we feel. This tool may also help us understand our own anxiety levels better. The tool we like to use is the anxiety intensity scale:

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Anxiety Scale
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When you are not feeling anxious at all, your rating on the anxiety intensity scale would be 0. When you are feeling extremely anxious, it would be 10. If you are feeling anxious, but it isn’t extreme or intense enough to be a 10, you would choose a number somewhere in between.

Let’s look at some examples. Sophia feels anxious whenever she talks in front of others. However, her anxiety levels can be higher or lower depending on the situation. For example, she feels less anxious when she is talking to a small group of friends, and more anxious when giving a presentation in class.

Let’s look at her ratings:

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An animated Sophia on a bean bag chair speaking to her parents
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Anxiety scale at level 2 out of 10
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When Sophia is talking in front of her parents, her anxiety scale is at 2.
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An animated Sophia talking to two friends in a school hallway
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Anxiety scale at level 4 out of 10
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When Sophia is talking in front of her two classmates in the hallway, her anxiety scale is at 4.
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An animated Sophia with a worried expression as she speaks in front of a class of other students
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Anxiety scale at level 8 out of 10
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When Sophia is talking in front of her class, her anxiety intensity scale is at 8.
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Now, think of three different situations that make you feel anxious or worried and write them down on this worksheet: Using the anxiety intensity scale. Then, mark what your anxiety intensity level would be for each situation using the scale.

You can also make your own worksheet. Write down three situations that make you feel anxious in boxes. Then, mark how intense your anxiety would be for each situation using the scale. 

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As mentioned earlier, you can use the anxiety intensity scale to help you identify, understand, and express your anxiety to others (like your parents). The scale is also helpful because it can show us that just because something gives you a lot of anxiety right now, doesn’t mean that it will forever. 

You are going to use the anxiety intensity scale throughout LUNA, so start practicing using the scale to see how strong your anxiety and fear are in different situations. 

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