The Experiment

It began with a simple psychology experiment for a class project. In fact, you can even try this at home, but I don’t recommend it. I had to measure one emotion for three weeks on a graph (fun, right?!). Each time I felt that emotion, I was to record its strength between one and five.

I vaguely remember the professor saying, “Be careful which emotion you choose.” I didn’t put much thought into his warning, because I was only thinking about my grades. I could have chosen happiness, surprise, anger, but I went with anxiety (cause I’m a genius).

The experiment began very slow, and my anxiety was low. I had a lot of ones and sometimes two. I discovered my anxiety became higher during exam days (I still hate tests!). I completed the experiment and received my A, and along with my perfect score, I also had a new awareness of anxiety.

Ever heard the saying, “ignorance is bliss”? Well, in my case, it was. Life was going according to plan, but having a heightened awareness of anxiety complicated matters.

The anxiety began to spread to other parts of my life. I couldn’t even sit in class without becoming anxious; not to mention plane trips, car rides and talking to people were also new areas of anxiety.

Fortunately, (and I say that very loosely) I had memorized every disorder listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM, along with five criteria to classify an individual with a particular disorder (another A).

I classified myself and began working to reverse the anxiety. I tried several techniques that took weeks of training and discipline that I learned in class. Eventually, I started seeing progress. I was happy again, and the anxiety began to retreat. My life was nearly back on track when things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

I hope their experiment is better than mine!