Anxiety Test: Score Your Symptoms with the Validated GAD-7 Screening

The Anxiety Test measures recent anxiety symptom frequency, giving you a starting point for deciding whether to seek support. Screening questions land differently when you know how many other people are answering them the same way. Our anxiety statistics page collects the current numbers on anxiety in the United States, each one with its source and the year it was measured next to it.

None of those figures say anything about your own result. They are context for it, and a reminder that whatever the score, this is common ground rather than rare territory.

The GAD-7 measures generalized worry: a diffuse, hard-to-control anxiety about several areas of life at once, which is why it asks about worrying too much about different things rather than any one specific fear. Anxiety shows up in several other patterns too, and the treatment approach can differ depending on which one fits. Panic disorder centers on sudden, intense panic attacks and the fear of having another one. Social anxiety centers on fear of judgment in specific social or performance situations. Health anxiety centers on fear about having or developing a serious illness. For a plain-language primer on how anxiety works together in the body and mind, see our What Is Anxiety guide.

If your worry felt broad and spread across many parts of life, the GAD-7 result above is likely capturing the right pattern. If it felt more tied to a specific trigger, our Panic Disorder Test, Social Anxiety Test, or Health Anxiety Test may describe your experience more precisely. And because chronic anxiety and chronic stress often travel together and can be hard to tell apart day to day, our Stress Level Test looks at that overlapping territory from a different angle.

A GAD-7 score is one data point, not the whole picture. It is generally worth talking with a doctor or therapist when worry is hard to switch off, when it shows up most days rather than only around a known stressor, or when it is starting to affect sleep, concentration, appetite, or how you show up at work or with people you care about. Physical signs count too: a racing heart, muscle tension, or stomach trouble that flares with worry can accompany anxiety, but a clinician should assess new or concerning physical symptoms rather than assume anxiety explains them.

You do not need to wait for a crisis, or to already have a diagnosis in mind, before reaching out. Many people start with a primary care doctor, who can rule out physical contributors and refer onward, or go straight to a therapist who specializes in anxiety. The Psychology.com therapist directory lists licensed therapists you can filter by specialty, including anxiety, and browsing the Psychology.com tests hub can help you narrow down which pattern of anxiety fits before that first conversation.

Before an appointment, write down what worry interrupts, what you avoid, and when symptoms began. Bring the result together with information about sleep, medications, caffeine, and physical symptoms. These details help a clinician interpret the screening in context. You can use Worry Journal to organize examples without needing to reach a particular score first.

State vs Trait Anxiety Test distinguishes current and usual self-reported anxiety, while Intolerance of Uncertainty Test explores reactions to not knowing. If the fear centers on being watched or judged by other people, the social anxiety test uses the 17-item SPIN. If the body side of anxiety is the louder part, a system that stays revved up or takes a long time to settle, the nervous system dysregulation test scores hyperarousal, hypoarousal, and recovery separately. If much of your worry is about outcomes not being settled rather than any single problem, the intolerance of uncertainty test scores the pattern underneath it. To see whether your worry is a reaction to this moment or a long-standing pattern, the state vs trait anxiety test scores both separately. If worry, low mood, and stress feel tangled together, the DASS test gives a separate score for each. If worry feels more like a lifelong temperament than a recent episode, the neuroticism test looks at the personality trait underneath. When anxiety silences you in some settings but not others, the selective mutism test maps where speech fails. For new or expecting parents, the postpartum depression test screens for worry and panic alongside low mood. If the worry shows up mainly before exams or evaluations, the test anxiety test separates worried thoughts from physical stress. If what you are feeling is tied to specific demands rather than persistent worry, the stress level test may be the closer fit. If the worry is specifically about illness, the health anxiety test looks at that pattern on its own.

An anxiety self test like this one is a questionnaire you score yourself: seven GAD-7 items about how often, over the past two weeks, you have felt nervous, unable to stop worrying, restless, or on edge, each rated from not at all to nearly every day, for a total from 0 to 21. A clinical assessment is different. The GAD-7 was built as a screening and severity tool, not a diagnostic test, and a high score does not by itself confirm an anxiety disorder; only a licensed clinician can make that assessment, ideally by talking with you about your history and context. Treat this anxiety questionnaire, written for adults, as a prompt to reach out rather than a label.