How does it feel to feel shitty?
As we found in our interviews, it is very difficult for people to talk about their feelings, especially bad ones. So to gain more insight, we designed a short online survey that would allow people to share their thoughts with us anonymously. The goal was to get people reflecting on their emotional condition and collect descriptions that could help us make it understandable.
We asked two questions:
- When was the last time you felt really really shitty?
2. How would you describe how it felt physically?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DNCMYGY
Results
The responses to the first question were reassuring. Most people admitted to feeling shitty within the last week. Proof: Bad feelings exist, people have them alot. We intentionally left it open to interpretation how bad “really really shitty” could be, because it depends on the person, but we gave some directions to make clear that we mean shitty in an emotional way.
Common Themes
In the answers to the second question, there were some recurring motifs:
- numb, blurry, brain fog, muffled sounds
- heavy, aching shoulders/back
- slow, paralyzed, disoriented
- sweaty, itchy, restless, uneasy, tense
- pressure on chest, lump in throat, difficulty breathing
- weak, fragile, small