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 yourselfâor 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 oppositeâbeing 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.
Hereâs what your score means:
0 to 4âyou appear to have minimal depression
5 to 9âyou appear to have mild depression
10 to 14âyou appear to have moderate depression
15 to 19âyou appear to have moderately severe depression
20 to 27âyou appear to have severe depression
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If you got a high score on this quiz or youâve 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, letâs 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. Thatâs because if youâre living your life on autopilot rather than controlling your choices, youâre going to drift toward eating and shopping habits that feel good but arenât 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 surveyâespecially the first fourâare 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 todayâs society, and you certainly donât have to have ADHD for them to affect you.
ADULT ADHD SELF-REPORT SCALEâV1.1 (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.
© World Health Organization, 2003.
MEASURING YOUR EMOTIONAL EATING
Finally, Iâd like you to test one more area in which your emotions influence your health.
Whenever youâre 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 youâre 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, thatâs because itâs common for people to reach for food when theyâre feeling an unpleasant emotion, says Edie Goldbacher, PhD, an assistant