Tracking anxiety- how would you use data about your anxiety?

[kkmb]

To help with my anxiety, I'm working on a project creating a system where every time I trigger a sensor (for me it would be by rubbing my necklace that has a sensor on it, for others it could be clicking a pen, twirling something in your hands, whatever you would want your "secret gesture" to be) data such as location, time, temperature, a sound clip, etc would be captured. Then you could add notes to it later and really get a sense of why you were anxious, and automatically share that data with your support system so that they know you need a little extra help without you bringing it up.

When I am anxious, I often am so cloudy headed that I can't recognize the source or trigger. Essentially I am looking to monitor my anxiety as you would your steps. I feel like this record would be so helpful for me and my support system to better understand my anxiety and take control.

I am wondering what you all would use this kind of data for. What kind of information would you want to see? What would you use it for? To track for yourself in order to change a behaviour? To share with your support system? To bring up conversations with your support system? What would your "secret gesture" be?

I would love your help!

[Yorkshirewife]

I think I would use the information to look back at my good days when I'm having a bad day? x sometimes you can forget that when you feel really down.

[kkmb]

I think I would use the information to look back at my good days when I'm having a bad day? x sometimes you can forget that when you feel really down.

Absolutely, it's so important to remember that good days exist. Would you want to see why those were good days? Or what exterior data makes a bad day bad? I think if I saw graphed out where I get anxious, I would be able to do something in response. For example, I might find that I get more anxious when I work in one space than I do at a desk on the other side of the room. I could just slightly modify my behaviour. Or maybe finding that I am more anxious in a room that is really busy and messy and realize that in order to improve my anxiety, I need to minimalize / declutter that space.

[Sunflower2]

This is something that I did while having cbt. I can't quite remember now but I think it was to identify the trigger for the anxiety and work out how you can get past it. I think it can also let you see how you can overcome situations which scare you with repeated exposure to it. I also used it for how I reacted at the time, and how you should react in the future to be more positive.

[apm]

I am really now making good use of my diary from last time to plot my journey this time, and know why I'm feeling bad at particular times (ie when the meds are kicking in etc).