Fear Assessment Questionnaire

Why: to determine if acute or chronic.

Why: would suggest a phobic disorder.

Why: e.g. heights, open spaces, spiders, water, flying, bacteria, closed spaces, death, darkness, crowds, fire, strangers or animals.

Why: e.g. ranging from 0-10 with 0 being "hardly at all" to 10 being "very severely troubled".

Why: would suggest phobic disorder.

Why: e.g. people who suffer from social phobia are often shy and self-conscious even before the fears first started.

Why: questions specifically about relationship, family, children, social support, occupation, general physical health and financial stresses. Stress related to lifestyle, especially marital and family disharmony may be associated with phobia (fears).

Why: Phobias (fears) may be associated with drug or alcohol abuse.

Why: e.g. depressed mood, crying spells, anhedonia (loss of interest or pleasure), increase or decrease in appetite (usually decreased), weight loss or gain, insomnia or increased sleeping (usually early morning waking), fatigue, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of excessive guilt, poor concentration, difficulty making decisions, low libido, thoughts of death or suicide attempt. Phobias (fears) are commonly associated with depression.

Why: e.g. persistent, intrusive, unwanted thoughts that you find difficult to control; persistent and uncontrollable compulsions or urges to perform certain behaviors. Phobias (fears) are commonly associated with OCD.

Why: e.g. symptoms follow exposure to an unusual stress such as a battle, being attacked or raped or a natural disaster. Symptoms include recurrent and intrusive recollections of the stress, recurrent distressing dreams of the event, acting or feeling as if the event was recurring, intense distress on exposure to resembling events, persistent avoidance of events that symbolize or resemble the trauma, increased arousal symptoms such as insomnia, exaggerated startle response, poor concentration and moodiness.

Why: e.g. sudden, unexpected, short-lived episodes of intense anxiety, shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations, trembling, sweating, choking, nausea and fear of dying. May be followed by at least one month of persistent fear of having another attack, fear of going crazy or of doing something uncontrolled.

Why: e.g. excessive anxiety, fearful anticipation and worry about various life circumstances not related to a specific activity, time or event such as trauma, obsessions or phobias.