Process - Physician - Fraser Health Authority

Costs and Benefits of AnxietyCheck below to see what benefits anxiety has brought you and what it has cost you.BENEFITSYou are anxious about doing a good enoughjob so you work harder than others.Your employer lets you know how much youare valued, which makes you feel good.You are anxious that people won’t like you soyou do everything you can to please them.People talk about how kind, helpful andgenerous you are.You are afraid that things will go wrong so youalways plan very carefully.You are very vigilant and often catch thingswhen they start to go wrong so that you canhead off bigger problems.You are afraid to make mistakes so you do athorough job of any tasks you take on.People know they can rely on you to doeverything well.You are afraid that if your life gets out of controlthere will be total chaos so you are veryorganized and orderly.People perceive your orderliness as a valuabletrait at work or at home.COSTSWhen you are not at work you still think about work,worrying if you did things correctly.You may take work home.Your stress affects your family because you are toobusy and irritable to spend time with them.People get used to you being helpful and start to takeadvantage of you.People stop appreciating your efforts so you have totry harder to please them.No one seems to think your needs are importantand you feel resentful.You over plan everything and get stressed if the leastlittle thing goes wrong.Your over planning takes fun and spontaneity out ofevents.You are constantly on guard and can’t relax.You are so afraid of a mistake that you do things overand over, which takes an excessive amount of timeand makes you less productive.You procrastinate because you don’t think you can dothe task perfectly.You spend so much time organizing and trying tokeep things under control that you feel constantlystressed and overwhelmed.You are tough to live with because you requireeveryone else to be as organized as you.• The goal is to balance the benefits and costs so that you keep some of the benefits and don’tpay such a heavy price. This is hard to do because anxiety tries to push you to do more: morechecking, more planning, more working, more organizing, more worrying, and more avoiding.• What are the benefits of limiting anxiety? Feeling more relaxed and comfortable; being able toplay and have fun; other people being more comfortable around you; getting some of your ownneeds met; being appreciated even if you are not perfect; feeling better about yourself; sleepingbetter…and so on.• Your first task in limiting anxiety is to recognize what it costs you and others in your life. As youbegin to apply anxiety management strategies, you will often be tempted to go back to your oldanxious habits because your anxiety may increase temporarily. It will be helpful to come backto this page to re-affirm for yourself that you are already paying too much because of youranxiety. It is worth your effort to limit anxiety and not let it run (and ruin) your life.Patient Empowerment Anxiety Manual VIHA.March.2010 91