Your original discussion should answer the following questions and thoroughly discuss your work on the questionnaire(s) you selected. The discussion must be between 150 to 200 words. This

Chapter 14 Psychological Disorders EXERCISE 14.1 Self-Assessment: Manifest Anxiety Scale

Instructions The statements below inquire about your behavior and emotions. Consider each statement carefully. Then indicate whether the statement is generally true or false for you. Record your responses (T or F) in the spaces provided.

The Scale 1. I do not tire quickly. 2. I believe I am no more nervous than most others. 3. I have very few headaches. 4. I work under a great deal of tension. 5. I frequently notice my hand shakes when I try to do

something. 6. I blush no more often than others. 7. I have diarrhea once a month or more. 8. I worry quite a bit over possible misfortunes. 9. I practically never blush.

jO. I am often afraid that I am going to blush. ___11. My hands and feet are usually warm enough.

12. I sweat very easily even on cool days. 13. Sometimes when embarrassed, I break out in a sweat

that annoys me greatly. 14. I hardly ever notice my heart pounding, and I am sel-

dom short of breath. 15. I feel hungry almost all the time. 16. I am very seldom troubled by constipation. 17. I have a great deal of stomach trouble. 18. I have had periods in which I lost sleep over worry. 19. I am easily embarrassed.

__….20. I am more sensitive than most other people. 21. I frequently find myself worrying about something. 22. I wish I could be as happy as others seem to be. 23. I am usually calm and not easily upset. 24. I feel anxiety about something or someone almost all

the time. 25. I am happy most of the time. 26. It makes me nervous to have to wait. 27. Sometimes I become so excited that I find it hard to get

to sleep. 28. I have sometimes felt that difficulties were piling up so

high that I could not overcome them. 29. I must admit that I have at times been worried beyond

reason over something that really did not matter. ___30. I have very few fears compared to my friends.

31. I certainly feel useless at times. 32. I find it hard to keep my mind on a task or job.

___33. I am unusually self-conscious. 34. I am inclined to take things hard. 35. At times I think I am no good at all.

.__..36. I am certainly lacking in self-confidence. _……._37. I sometimes feel that I am about to go to pieces.

38. I am entirely self-confident.

Scoring the Scale The scoring key is reproduced below. You should circle each of your true or false responses that correspond to the keyed responses. Add up the number of responses you circle, and this total is your score on the Manifest Anxiety Scale.

1. False 2. False 3. False 4. True 5. True 6. False 7. True 8. True 9. False 10. True 11. False 12. True

13. True 14. False 15. True 16. False 17. True 18. True 19. True 20. True 21. True 22. True 23. False 24. True 25. False 26. True 27. True 28. True 29. True 30. False 31. True 32. True 33. True 34. True 35. True 36. True 37. True 38. False

My Score

What the Scale Measures You just took a form of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (1953), as revised by Richard Suinn (1968). Suinn took the original 50-item scale and identified all items for which there was a social desirability bias (11) or a response set (1). He eliminated these 12 items and found that the scale's reliability and validity were not ap- preciably decreased. Essentially, the scale measures trait anxiety- that is, the tendency to experience anxiety in a wide variety of situations.

Hundreds of studies have been done on the various versions of the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. The validity of the scale has been supported by demonstrations that various groups of psychiatric patients score higher than unselected groups of "normals" and by demonstrations that the scale correlates well with other measures of anxiety. Although the Manifest Anxiety Scale is no longer a "state of the art" measure of anxiety, it is an old classic that is relatively easy to score.

Interpreting Your Score Our norms are based on data collected by Suinn (1968) on 89 undergraduates who responded to the scale anonymously.

Norms High score: 16-38 Intermediate score: 6-15 Low score: 0-5

PERSONAL EXPLORATIONS WORKBOOK W-43