Reality Testing's Effects on Anxiety

"Reality testing" is a phrase more commonly used by psychology, but sometimes approaches from multiple angles at once can be most effective in reducing one's anxiety.

So what is "reality testing" and where does it come from? As a concept, it stems from the idea that there is some sort of way to determine what is really happening in a given situation. An example will help to clear this concept up in a hurry. Consider the fact that there are many schizophrenics living in the United States at any given moment. Consider, for a moment, that one manages to overhear a schizophrenic who is in a very delusional (delusions are false beliefs) state. Say this extremely delusional schizophrenic looks across the street and notices a person talking and pointing in his or her direction. Then this schizophrenic later walks into an electronics store and notices that there is also someone on a commercial who seems to be talking and pointing again in his or her direction. The extremely delusional schizophrenic may come to the conclusion that the person seen earlier was a member of an elaborate international scheme to kill the schizophrenic and that the person on TV was talking to him her and trying to warn him or her of what actions to take to ensure his or her safety (scenarios similar to this hypothetical example have happened many times in real life).

Does this connection between people pointing in the schizophrenic's direction and talking have anything to do with an international plot to kill the schizophrenic? Of course not, this interpretation of neutral events has no foundation in reality! The connections are made in the schizophrenic's head, but do not exist in the real world. The concept of "reality testing" refers to the fact that there is some sort of most probably explanation for a particular set of actions that is obvious to most people.

Those suffering from anxiety are dealing with a very similar situation, although not as extreme. For example, a person affected by social anxiety may see the people across the street talking and pointing in his or her direction and think that these people are making fun of the anxious person. This has some basis in reality, as it could be absolutely true. However, more than likely, it is not true at all. This is how the anxious population separated itself from reality through the lens of anxiety. All kinds of wild anxious scenarios exist in a person's mind, while most people have a much more realistic interpretation of a particular situation.

The skill to take away from this article is, when something comes up and one is not sure how to interpret the situation, one should ask a friend and see if what he or she is thinking is in fact a fairly rational thing to believe. Many situations exist where those that are anxious have beliefs that seem routine and realistic to them, but occur as utter nonsense to other people. The point of this article is not to make anxiety sufferers feel bad for being so far out of reality (indeed, many anxious scenarios and beliefs are downright hilarious), but rather to help them to realize that they, like everyone else, can benefit from the help of others. In this case, they can benefit from people who are able to think without anxiety's interference in their lives.

In sum, reality testing is yet another technique one can use to perceive the world around him or her. While it is difficult to challenge one's own assumptions and test and see whether or not one's thoughts are grounded in reality, it can be very beneficial to talk to friends or other trusted sources who are not at the moment being bothered by anxiety, as they can offer a much healthier interpretation of a situation, which in turn leads to a higher level of relaxation for the anxiety sufferer. Good luck to those affected by anxiety as they try out this technique!

References

Roussillion, R. Reality Testing. Psychoanalysis. Retrieved April 10, 2009 from http://www.answers.com/topic/reality-testing