Questions Your Doctor May Ask - and Why!
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Fear.
These may include a physical examination or other medical tests.
Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing
your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information
you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
- How long have you had fears?
Why: to determine if acute or chronic.
- Are the fears related to specific situations or objects?
Why: would suggest a phobic disorder.
- What specific situation or objects do you fear?
Why: e.g. heights, open spaces, spiders, water, flying, bacteria, closed spaces, death, darkness, crowds, fire, strangers or animals.
- How much are you troubled by the fear?
Why: e.g. ranging from 0-10 with 0 being "hardly at all" to 10 being "very severely troubled".
- Do you avoid the situation that causes fear and become anxious when you anticipate confronting the situation?
Why: would suggest phobic disorder.
- How would you explain your personality?
Why: e.g. people who suffer from social phobia are often shy and self-conscious even before the fears first started.
- What are your stressors at the moment?
Why: questions specifically about relationship, family, children, social support, occupation, general physical health and financial stresses. Stress related to lifestyle, especially marital and family disharmony may be associated with phobia (fears).
- Drug or alcohol abuse?
Why: Phobias (fears) may be associated with drug or alcohol abuse.
Questions your doctor may ask about related symptoms:
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse
your condition. These may include:
- Symptoms of depression?
Why: e.g. depressed mood, crying spells, anhedonia (loss of interest or pleasure), increase or decrease in appetite (usually decreased), weight loss or gain, insomnia or increased sleeping (usually early morning waking), fatigue, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of excessive guilt, poor concentration, difficulty making decisions, low libido, thoughts of death or suicide attempt. Phobias (fears) are commonly associated with depression.
- Symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD)?
Why: e.g. persistent, intrusive, unwanted thoughts that you find difficult to control; persistent and uncontrollable compulsions or urges to perform certain behaviors. Phobias (fears) are commonly associated with OCD.
- Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder?
Why: e.g. symptoms follow exposure to an unusual stress such as a battle, being attacked or raped or a natural disaster. Symptoms include recurrent and intrusive recollections of the stress, recurrent distressing dreams of the event, acting or feeling as if the event was recurring, intense distress on exposure to resembling events, persistent avoidance of events that symbolize or resemble the trauma, increased arousal symptoms such as insomnia, exaggerated startle response, poor concentration and moodiness.
- Symptoms of panic attacks or panic disorder?
Why: e.g. sudden, unexpected, short-lived episodes of intense anxiety, shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations, trembling, sweating, choking, nausea and fear of dying. May be followed by at least one month of persistent fear of having another attack, fear of going crazy or of doing something uncontrolled.
- Symptoms of anxiety disorder?
Why: e.g. excessive anxiety, fearful anticipation and worry about various life circumstances not related to a specific activity, time or event such as trauma, obsessions or phobias.
» Next page: Types of Fear
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