Anxiety does not always fit neatly into one label.
Two people can avoid the same situation for completely different reasons. One person may avoid travelling because they fear panic sensations. Another may worry about being too far from home. Someone else may be concerned about toilet access, being judged, losing control, or not being able to leave easily.
The Anxiety Pattern Finder is designed to help you see the pattern underneath your anxiety.
It asks about where anxiety shows up, what you are most afraid might happen, and what you do to feel safer. Your answers are then used to create a short anxiety pattern summary on screen.
The tool is most useful when anxiety affects everyday life in more than one way, such as travel, social situations, work, appointments, performance, toilet access, health worries, overthinking, distance from safety, or the need to feel in control.
It is not designed to assess every possible fear or phobia. If you have a very specific fear, such as spiders, dogs, needles, heights or flying, the tool may still show some of the anxiety processes involved, but a specific phobia often needs a more targeted approach.
This is not a diagnosis and it is not a formal psychological assessment. It is a guide to help you understand what your anxiety may be organised around, what may be keeping it active, and where change may usefully begin.
The questionnaire is completely free and usually takes a few minutes to complete. There is no time limit, but it is best to complete it in one sitting so your answers are not lost if the page is refreshed or closed. It is intentionally detailed because anxiety often has several overlapping patterns. You may recognise more than one part of yourself in the questions, and that is completely normal.
Your result may show:
- Your main anxiety pattern
- Any secondary patterns that appear to be involved
- The safety behaviours that may be keeping the anxiety active
- A suggested starting point for understanding the loop
After seeing your short result on screen, you can choose to have a fuller Anxiety Pattern Report emailed to you. This is also free.
If you choose to receive the full report, your email address is stored separately from your answers. Your full answer set is stored anonymously so The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy can better understand anxiety patterns and improve its resources.