If you’ve ever been in the hospital recovering from a surgery, you know the health care providers will ask you to “rate” your pain on a scale of 1 to 10, so they can administer pain relief if you need it. But assessing mental-health distress doesn’t have a simple 1-10 scale, because mental health isn’t as straightforward as physical pain. But nonetheless, people suffering from depression, anxiety, or other disorders might find it helpful to take a look at this “mental health pain scale” to assess how they’re feeling from day to day.
Rori, the blogger behind The Graceful Patient, created one for herself when she felt like patients needed a shorthand to communicate the state of their mental health, from Level 1 ( “Everything is a-okay!”) to Level 10 (“Contact a crisis line immediately.”)
The tipping point into contacting a medical professional is level 5: “Your mental health is starting to impact on your everyday life. Easy things are becoming difficult. You should talk to your doctor.”
It’s important to note that Rori isn’t a medical professional herself—her blog is about her struggles with chronic illness. And there are, as she points out, other mental-health assessment tools, like the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, which can help you and your health care provider determine how worrisome your symptoms are. But for a shorter, to-the-point communiqué, it might be easier to say “I’m at a Level 8.”
Now obviously this scale isn’t in widespread use, but I think of it as especially helpful in articulating to yourself where you are in terms of distress. Is this a day when you’re just a little frustrated, or is it a day when usually easy things are becoming difficult? Is this a day when you should reach out to your therapist or call a friend? Mental-health issues can have a “frog in boiling water” aspect to them—sometimes you don’t know how bad things have gotten, and a clear assessment can help. So if it helps you, keep the chart bookmarked for quick check-ins. And here’s hoping for a good long stretch of Level 1.
More on mental health and online therapy from G/O Media’s partner.
Lifehacker is not involved in creating these articles but may receive a commission from purchases through its content:
BetterHelp Online Therapy Reviews, Prices, Features and More
Talkspace Online Therapy Provides Mental Health Expertise
Most Affordable Online Therapy Programs Compared
Online Counseling Costs, Reviews and Features