Free Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight by Peter Walsh Page B

weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems? Circle a number for each answer.
0
1
2
3
Not at all
Several days
More than half the days
Nearly every day
1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much
4. Feeling tired or having little energy
5. Poor appetite or overeating
6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or you have let yourself or your family down
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way
    Scoring: Add up all your zeroes, ones, twos, and threes at the bottom of each column. Now add all your columns together. This gives you your total score.
    Here’s what your score means:
    0 to 4—you appear to have minimal depression
    5 to 9—you appear to have mild depression
    10 to 14—you appear to have moderate depression
    15 to 19—you appear to have moderately severe depression
    20 to 27—you appear to have severe depression
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    If you got a high score on this quiz or you’ve been struggling with symptoms of depression, consider talking to your doctor or a mental health professional.
    Also, as you go through the program, remember that feelings of depression can influence how you collect new possessions, hang on to old ones, and maintain your home. Improving your home environment will likely require you to address these feelings.
    MEASURING YOUR FOCUS
    Moving on, let’s focus on your
focu
s. If you have ADHD-like symptoms, such as trouble paying attention or controlling your impulses, these can play a role in your weight and the orderliness of your home. That’s because if you’re living your life on autopilot rather than controlling your choices, you’re going to drift toward eating and shopping habits that feel good but aren’t necessarily good for your health or your home.
    The following tool, called the ASRS, can quickly shed light on whether ADHD or its symptoms are likely to be a problem for you. This questionnaire was developed by the World Health Organization, with the help of experts on adult ADHD.
    The symptoms in this survey—especially the first four—are likely to impact how well you can create and stick with a plan to address your weight and your household clutter. These issues are all fairly common in today’s society, and you certainly don’t have to have ADHD for them to affect you.
    ADULT ADHD SELF-REPORT SCALE—V1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) SYMPTOM CHECKLIST
    Check the circle that best describes how you have felt and conducted yourself over the past 6 months.

    Scoring: Place a check mark in the appropriate circle for each answer. Add the number of check marks that appear in the shaded area. Having 4 or more check marks in the shaded area suggests that your symptoms might point to adult ADHD. You may want to ask your health care provider if you should be evaluated for the condition.
    Â© World Health Organization, 2003.
    MEASURING YOUR EMOTIONAL EATING
    Finally, I’d like you to test one more area in which your emotions influence your health.
    Whenever you’re making decisions, the emotions you feel during those moments affect the choice you wind up making. This is true for decisions about buying or picking up free items (Do I take this home or not?) and how you’re going to eat (salmon steak or regular steak?).
    In the last chapter, we learned that anxiety, depression, and lack of attention can make you more likely to grow overweight. In part, that’s because it’s common for people to reach for food when they’re feeling an unpleasant emotion, says Edie Goldbacher, PhD, an assistant