If you encountered this problem when constructing your hierarchy, you might put all the situations that might go on your hierarchy on small pieces of paper and then rank order them. In other words, take two situations and between them, think about which would cause you more anxiety or distress, even if it’s just by a fraction. Then with the next situation, determine if it would cause more anxiety then the one you ranked first, more than the one you ranked second, or less then the previous two you ranked, and so on.
So, for example, if some of the items on your hierarchy included the following items that you presently rate a 100:
- Going to the grocery store on the weekend
- Going to the mall on a weekend
- Going to a movie on the weekend
Then, between #1 and #2, which of those would cause more anxiety or do you think would be harder to do?
This might result in a ranking of:
Going to the mall on a weekend
Going to the grocery store on the weekend
Once you decide that, take #3 (Going to a movie on the weekend) and consider, would that be harder than going to the mall, harder than going to the grocery store, or the easiest one? Then carry on with the remaining situations in a similar manner.