Anxiety logging device - looking for advice.

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Hi,

I'm a design student at the Royal College of Art in London, UK. We are working on a device / system to allow people with AS / autism to monitor and track their anxiety. We've been looking at sensing heart rate, galvanic skin response, breathing rate, etc, to detect stress. Our hope is that users could use use the device to identify triggers of anxiety, spot trends, and use the data to make lifestyle changes. The device could also possibly help autistic people to explain / communicate their anxiety to family, friends, carers, etc.

We want to create something that is genuinely useful and relevant to people with AS or autism. If we create something really good, it may become a real product, and improve some people's lives in a small way.

We are looking for advice from people with AS or Autism. It would be great if you could answer any of these questions for us:

1) Do you think an anxiety tracker could help you?
2) Do you know your own triggers of anxiety/stress?
3) Do you find it difficult to explain your anxiety to others? Would you like to be able to tell others when you are feeling anxious? If so, who?
4) When you are feeling anxious, do you want to tell other people or keep it secret?
5) Perhaps we could make a wearable device, like a wristwatch. Do you like to wear things like that, or do you find them uncomfortable? What form would you prefer it to take?
6) Do you have any other advice for us?
7) If you live near London, would you like to try out some of our prototypes / be involved in the design process / share your ideas and opinions with us?

If you'd prefer to contact me in private, you can email me at jeffrey.gough @ network.rca.ac.uk [<< Mod edited to foil email spam (remove spaces)]

Many thanks,
Jeff

1) Do you think an anxiety tracker could help you? Yes
2) Do you know your own triggers of anxiety/stress? It has taken 30 years to discover some of them. I know quite a few.
3) Do you find it difficult to explain your anxiety to others? Would you like to be able to tell others when you are feeling anxious? If so, who? Yes, very difficult. I would like to tell myself and my family and my therapist and dr so they could help me more.
4) When you are feeling anxious, do you want to tell other people or keep it secret? if I am at a class or in a store, I do not want to tell. If I am in a relationship I do want to tell.
5) Perhaps we could make a wearable device, like a wristwatch. Do you like to wear things like that, or do you find them uncomfortable? What form would you prefer it to take? I dont like wearing watches, too big, too heavy. I like necklaces.

6) Do you have any other advice for us? no beeping or ticking or other noises, or I wouldnt like it
7) If you live near London, would you like to try out some of our prototypes / be involved in the design process / share your ideas and opinions with us?
I do not live in the UK.

hope that helps.

Thanks glasstoria!

1) Do you think an anxiety tracker could help you? Yes.
2) Do you know your own triggers of anxiety/stress? I've figured out some of them.
3) Do you find it difficult to explain your anxiety to others? Would you like to be able to tell others when you are feeling anxious? If so, who? I'd like to be able to explain to family and friends. The real difficulty, in my opinion, is that many people have a hard time accepting something that wouldn't make them anxious is a "legitimate" reason for me to be anxious. Perhaps if there were an "objective" measure of this, they'd feel differently - or perhaps they'd still assume it was "all in your (my) head". It sounds as though it's certainly worth a try.
4) When you are feeling anxious, do you want to tell other people or keep it secret? The answer to that very much depends on who the other person is. People I trust, I'd want to tell. People I might be willing to trust, maybe. People I don't trust, or strangers, I don't want knowing anything about me I can keep from them. Which raises an important point. I think this should be something subtle enough it neither identifies you to everyone who sees it as autistic, nor provides obvious cues to the wearer's state, unless the wearer has an option to conceal those external cues. I've been bullied enough in the past that the desire to keep from revealing anything to the "wrong" people (anyone I don't choose to trust, in practice) is too ingrained to overcome. I would never use such a device unless it allowed me, in one way or another, to keep those I didn't want to know from figuring anything out.
5) Perhaps we could make a wearable device, like a wristwatch. Do you like to wear things like that, or do you find them uncomfortable? What form would you prefer it to take? There are watches I will wear, and watches I will not. It very much depends on size, weight, balance, feeling of the band, etc. And every one of us are different in this type of thing. Either there should be multiple options, or it should take a form that won't trigger unpleasant reactions in any of us (in other words, nothing we have to feel...) - and I agree with the previous poster who said no sound - or perhaps allow sounds as an option the user must choose. And give them a good selection of sounds to choose from, because, again, every one of us is different. Tactile sensations, sounds, I think are a lot like musical tastes among NTs - what one person loves, another loathes.
6) Do you have any other advice for us? I think I've covered it above.
7) If you live near London, would you like to try out some of our prototypes / be involved in the design process / share your ideas and opinions with us? I don't live in the UK at all, sorry.

Thanks very much for your detailed reply!

1) Do you think an anxiety tracker could help you?
Yes. It would bring awareness, to which I could then apply anxiety-reducing techniques.

2) Do you know your own triggers of anxiety/stress?
Yes. They are mostly social, or having to do with being tested/judged/countered/criticized.

3) Do you find it difficult to explain your anxiety to others? Would you like to be able to tell others when you are feeling anxious? If so, who?
Yes, I find it difficult because I also find it embarrassing. I would not want to tell others because I prefer to handle personal issues on my own.

4) When you are feeling anxious, do you want to tell other people or keep it secret?
I would prefer to keep it secret.

5) Perhaps we could make a wearable device, like a wristwatch. Do you like to wear things like that, or do you find them uncomfortable? What form would you prefer it to take?
I don't wear a wristwatch, but I would if I thought it would help me. If you design one, make sure there are lots of options (size, weight, band material, colors, etc.) so that
sensory issues can be avoided.

6) Do you have any other advice for us?
No, but I think you have an interesting idea. I am working on breathing techniques at the moment, and they seem to help. However, I often forget to perform them. Having
a reminder would be great.

7) If you live near London, would you like to try out some of our prototypes / be involved in the design process / share your ideas and opinions with us?
Not applicable.

That's interesting; so sometimes you are feeling anxious, but you don't know that you're anxious, or don't know why you're anxious? What kinds of anxiety-reducing techniques do you use? Do you try to get out of the situation that's stressing you out, or do you prefer to use your breathing techniques, etc?

1) Do you think an anxiety tracker could help you? Wouldn't know until I tried it.
2) Do you know your own triggers of anxiety/stress? I believe so, however being anxious seems to be inbuilt into me generally as well so I probably spend most of the time anxious to a degree.
3) Do you find it difficult to explain your anxiety to others? Would you like to be able to tell others when you are feeling anxious? If so, who? Difficult question to answer. I could physically tell people why I was anxious. However, their level of understanding and empathy is another matter so it might be hard to get across why I felt anxious if it was an alien cause to them. I would probably only feel comfortable telling family and even then it would be with great reticence.
4) When you are feeling anxious, do you want to tell other people or keep it secret? Neither. I just want to remove myself from the situation.
5) Perhaps we could make a wearable device, like a wristwatch. Do you like to wear things like that, or do you find them uncomfortable? What form would you prefer it to take? I would wear a watch. I don't wear a watch indoors ever, only when going out, but for a helpful device I would wear it indoors. I would need to remove it for washing hands though.
6) Do you have any other advice for us? To remember that for some people, anxiety is almost ever-present, it might not be possible to identify separate causes (even though certain situations will cause deeper anxiety) and resolve them.
7) If you live near London, would you like to try out some of our prototypes / be involved in the design process / share your ideas and opinions with us? I live 52 or so miles away from London. Might be difficult to get there due to childcare issues but I would be happy to receive by post.

Last edited by whirlingmind on 14 Nov 2012, 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

1) Do you think an anxiety tracker could help you?

Frankly, I think a tracker, as you've described it, would cause me even more anxiety than I already have. All that input would just add to everything else I already have to filter through every day. A tracker like that would cause overload for sure.


2) Do you know your own triggers of anxiety/stress?


In retrospect, yes. Most of the time. Usually I have to rethink what happened before I became anxious in order to figure out what really caused it. Triggers are only a small part of the problem though. Though managing triggers during critical time periods can be helpful, what is far more helpful is getting to the underlying causes of the anxiety. Once those are dealt with, the triggers don't do much.

3) Do you find it difficult to explain your anxiety to others? Would you like to be able to tell others when you are feeling anxious? If so, who?


Once I understand them myself, I have no problem explaining them to others. If there is a problem with this, I would have to say it's that I tend to tell too many people. Most importantly, sometimes the wrong people. People who can't really do anything useful with the information. But, I must say that in spite of that, the "right" people always hear about it, and can then help.

4) When you are feeling anxious, do you want to tell other people or keep it secret?


Seems like a redundant question considering the last one.

5) Perhaps we could make a wearable device, like a wristwatch. Do you like to wear things like that, or do you find them uncomfortable? What form would you prefer it to take?


Hate them, and don't wear them. I've had many throughout life, all have been broken. And they are uncomfortable. I would not wear such a thing anymore.

6) Do you have any other advice for us?


Not really, but do have a question. I'm wondering why you came up with this idea. Do you feel that people with AS don't know when they are feeling anxious? I can't think of any other reason for using such a device unless I had no clue I was becoming anxious when I am. But I don't have any trouble sensing my own anxieties, so it's kind of hard for me to imagine what use this could be.

7) If you live near London, would you like to try out some of our prototypes / be involved in the design process / share your ideas and opinions with us?


I don't, but suppose that doesn't really matter considering my previous answers.

Sorry. Don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I really can't imagine any usefulness for such a product.

But that is just me.

That's correct. I often don't associate my feelings with the word "anxiety," so I have difficulty looking at them objectively. If I know that what I'm feeling is caused by anxiety, then it seems easier to deal with, because anxiety seems like an entity rather than an internal flaw (though I know that anxiety is internal). To reduce anxiety, I use deep-breathing and breathing awareness. In my head, I run through a particular calming song that helps focus on my breathing. I haven't figured out any other techniques that work yet. Most of the time it's not possible to get out of the anxiety-inducing situation, so I have to deal with it.

Maybe. At the very least, I'd find it really interesting.


Mostly, yes. Occasionally I don't notice I'm anxious until a meltdown occurs, but usually I see it coming and can't calm down.


Telling them I'm anxious? No, that's easy. Ensuring that they know what to do to help me calm down? Now that's really hard.


Tell others. I have very little ability to calm myself down without help.


Uncomfortable, but I could probably get used to it.


How will you distinguish anxiety from other high arousal emotions?


I'd love to, but I'm Canadian.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to put up some concepts once the WP forum will let me post URLs! It would be great if everyone who has contributed to this thread had a look at our ideas and gave us some feedback.