Check Your Anxiety Level with Beck Anxiety Inventory

All of us have had times of stress and anxiety. When the symptoms of anxiety get out of hand, and affects our every day life continuously, we may need to take steps to improve our mental state. Sometimes, prolonged symptoms of extreme anxiety may be an indicator or precursor of other mental health issues such as depression. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is a commonly used psychometric tool to test the level of anxiety of an individual. The Beck Anxiety Inventory scoring can be used as a basis for further tests as well.

If you know someone who seems to worry all the time, or are yourself prone to restlessness and fear, read on to know what constitutes common symptoms of anxiety, features of the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and how the Inventory is used in assessing anxiety disorders.

Common Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), US, approximately 40 million American adults suffered from anxiety disorders. While stress in life is normal, excessive worry and fear, impacting a person's life in a major way, is an indicator of anxiety disorders.

Some common symptoms include:

• Worrying continuously, resulting in disturbed sleep patterns,
• Fear without any rational cause and a sense of foreboding,
• Difficulty in ability to concentrate,
• Shortness of breath and trembling.

Checking for the presence of symptoms, as well as their severity, may help mental health professionals to start appropriate treatments or interventions.

What is the Beck Anxiety Inventory?

The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is a psychometric assessment scale used in the field of psychiatry to check the anxiety levels of a person. It consists of a set of 21 questions, which must be answered by a person who may have symptoms of anxiety disorders. The result of the Inventory gives an indication of the severity of anxiety in the person who took the assessment test.

The assessment tool was developed by Dr.Aaron T.Beck, emeritus Professor, Department of Psychiatry in the University of Pennsylvania, United States (US). Dr. Beck is considered the Father of Cognitive Therapy.

Dr.Beck wanted to develop a tool, which would enable psychiatrists to differentiate between patients who have anxiety disorders and those who have depression. He felt that the results of other assessment tools such as State -Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) did not sufficiently show the difference between depression and anxiety, as the questions on symptoms asked were also common to depression. The Beck Anxiety Inventory aimed to end the confusion by specifically indicating levels of anxiety.

This assessment tool is a self-report Inventory. This means that a person can answer the questions in the assessment test himself or herself, without the assistance of a psychiatric professional. While health assistants or paraprofessionals can supervise the test, only trained psychiatric doctors can use it for diagnostic and treatment purposes.

Beck Anxiety Inventory Sample

Dr.Aaron Beck conducted the development of the assessment tool at the Centre for Cognitive Therapy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. The Beck Anxiety Inventory sample consisted of outpatients who came for psychiatric treatment. The test was conducted from 1980 to 1986.

All the patients in the sample had anxiety disorders of various types. Some of the disorders included generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. The total Beck Anxiety Inventory sample consisted of 1086 patients. The test was administered to them and its validity was confirmed.

Beck Anxiety Inventory Questions

There are twenty-one multiple-choice Beck Anxiety Inventory questions. The questions deal with the symptoms associated with anxiety disorders, and require the person who is answering to respond how applicable each symptom is to them, in the past one week. Some symptoms included could be numbness, fear of worst happening etc.

Beck Anxiety Inventory Questions have multiple-choice answers. People answering the questions can choose among four answers to each question. The four standard choices for each question are:

1. Not at all
2. Mildly - It did not bother me much.
3. Moderately - It was very unpleasant, but I could stand it.
4. Severely - I could barely stand it.

For example, if you have a final exam is the next few days, and you have been a little nervous for the past week, you may choose the second option, that is "Mildly - It did not bother me much" for a question based on nervousness.

The Beck Anxiety Inventory can be completed in 5 to 10 minutes by a person, without the help of a professional.

Beck Anxiety Inventory Scoring

The answer choices have scores ranging from 0 for "Not at all", to 3 for "Severely - I could barely stand it". So if you have chosen "Mildly - It did not bother me much" as your option, the Beck Anxiety Inventory scoring for the question-answer would be 1.

The total score indicates the level of anxiety. Here's the general interpretation of the Beck Anxiety Inventory scoring results.

• Score 0 - 7: Minimal
• Score 8 - 15: Mild
• Score 16 - 25: Moderate
• Score 26 - 63: Severe

These score interpretations can be used by psychiatric professionals to start planning treatment methods. They can use the results of the Beck Anxiety Inventory to pursue further tests to be taken by the respondent. The same test can be used again after treatment to see if the anxiety levels of the patient have normalised. The test can be taken online at sites such as www.pearsonassessments.com by paying the required amount.

The assessment test can be given to people of various age groups. Some hospitals such as the Massachusetts General Hospital use it to assess anxiety disorders in school children as well. There is also a specific Beck Anxiety Inventory for Youth (BYI) that is used for school children aged 7 to 14.

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