The scale question comes in many forms, but it always confuses me. Am I being asked based on my personal scale of pain for example? Right now I have spasms in my back that hurt quite a bit. So when I do make it in to the chiropractor and massage therapist I'm sure I will be asked the scale question. Do I compare pain in general or this type of muscle pain? Because if its just pain, then I've felt a lot worse. I'm walking crooked, but I can still walk. It's less pain than burns I've had. More pain than having my knee out of socket, a whole lot less than having wisdom teeth removed, but then again childbirth hurt less than that.
The idea of putting triggers, flashbacks, dissociation, depression, anxiety or how I relate to God on a scale of 1 to 10 totally befuddles me. What do I compare everything to? What is the baseline? Lets say 1 is the bad end and 10 is the completely awesome end. If 1 is the point just before a suicide attempt and 10 is a joyful and peaceful life where you deal with all problems in a perfect manner; then the jumps between numbers is too great. A different scale is needed.
Overall, I'd vote for no scale. My scale would be warped my way, like so. Just pick a common pain or experience that people have and say whether it is greater or lesser than that pain or experience. Here are some common pains or experiences that could be used. Childbirth(medicated or natural), oven burn, hammering your finger, suicide of a friend, death of a close family member, sunburn up to sun poisoning, stubbed toe, cuts requiring stitches or crutches...See what I mean about my scale being weird for most people? Surely there's some grant money floating around out there and someone can come up with a decent scale for this oft asked question? Keep in mind, numbers just don't cut it.
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