Emotional Needs


HOW WELL ARE YOUR INNATE EMOTIONAL NEEDS BEING MET?

Nature has programmed all of us with physical and emotional needs that can not be avoided.

How stressed we are depends on how well those needs are being met now, and how well we deal with the situation when they are not being met.

Rate, in your judgement, how well the following emotional needs are being met in your life today, on a scale of 1 to 7 (where 1 means not met at all and 7 means being very well met)

• Do you feel secure in all major areas of your life (such as home, work, environment)?
• Do you feel you receive enough attention?
• Do you think you give other people enough attention?
• Do you feel in control of your life most of the time?
• Do you feel part of the wider community?
• Can you obtain privacy when you need to?
• Do you have an intimate relationship in your life (one where you are totally physically and emotionally
   accepted for who you are by at least one person, this could be a close friend)?
• Do you feel an emotional connection to others?
• Do you feel you have status that is acknowledged?
• Are you achieving things and competent in at least one major area of your life?
• Are you mentally and/or physically stretched in ways which give you a sense of meaning and purpose?

If your scores are mostly low, you are more likely to be suffering stress symptoms.

If any need is scored 3 or less this is likely to be a major stressor for you.

Even if only one need is marked very low it can be enough of a problem to seriously affect your mental and emotional stability.

Stress, anxiety, anger, depression and addiction are the result of our innate needs not being met, either due to environmental factors, harmful conditioning or misuse of imagination, (worrying).

People should not have mental health problems when their innate needs are being met in balanced, healthy ways.

By highlighting areas in your life where your essential needs are not being met as well as they could be, you can use this questionnaire to help you think constructively about how your life could be improved.