🌊 GAD-7 Anxiety Test

About This Test

Our Mission

GAD-7 Anxiety Test exists to give anyone — free of charge — a validated, science-grounded starting point for understanding their anxiety. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in the United States, yet many people go years without recognizing what they are dealing with or knowing that effective treatment exists. We believe self-awareness is the first step toward meaningful change, and that access to evidence-based screening tools should not depend on the ability to pay.

The Science Behind This Test

This assessment uses the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Kurt Kroenke, Janet B. W. Williams, and Bernd Löwe and published in 2006. The GAD-7 is one of the most widely used and clinically validated brief screeners for anxiety in primary care, mental health, and research settings worldwide.

The GAD-7 asks about seven core anxiety symptoms experienced over the past two weeks, including:

  • Excessive worry that is hard to control
  • Trouble relaxing and physical restlessness
  • Irritability and feeling on edge
  • A sense of dread that something bad will happen

Each item is scored from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"), for a total score of 0 to 21. The standard interpretive cut-points are: 0–4 minimal anxiety, 5–9 mild, 10–14 moderate, and 15–21 severe anxiety. In the original validation study (Spitzer et al., 2006), a cut-off score of 10 or greater identified generalized anxiety disorder with a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 82%.

What This Test Is — and Is Not

This tool is designed as an educational self-screening, not a clinical diagnostic instrument. The GAD-7 is a screening questionnaire — it identifies people likely to benefit from a fuller evaluation, but it cannot, by itself, diagnose any mental health condition. Your results can help you reflect on your symptoms, but they are not a substitute for evaluation by a qualified clinician.

If you are experiencing severe anxiety, panic, hopelessness, or any thoughts of self-harm, please reach out for help immediately. You can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US) or contact a mental health professional in your area.

Privacy by Design

Your quiz answers are processed entirely within your browser using client-side JavaScript. No responses are transmitted to our servers or stored anywhere. Once you close the browser tab, your data is gone. We do not collect any health information that could be used to identify you.

How We Are Funded

This site is free to use and is supported by two revenue streams: Google AdSense (contextual display advertising) and affiliate partnerships with licensed online therapy providers. When you click an affiliate link and sign up for a service, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. These relationships do not influence the content of the assessment or its results — the GAD-7 cut-points and language follow the published clinical instrument as faithfully as possible.

References

  • Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B. W., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: The GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
  • Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. W., Monahan, P. O., & Löwe, B. (2007). Anxiety disorders in primary care: Prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and detection. Annals of Internal Medicine, 146(5), 317–325. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-146-5-200703060-00004
  • Löwe, B., Decker, O., Müller, S., Brähler, E., Schellberg, D., Herzog, W., & Herzberg, P. Y. (2008). Validation and standardization of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7) in the general population. Medical Care, 46(3), 266–274. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0b013e318160d093
  • Plummer, F., Manea, L., Trepel, D., & McMillan, D. (2016). Screening for anxiety disorders with the GAD-7 and GAD-2: A systematic review and diagnostic metaanalysis. General Hospital Psychiatry, 39, 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2015.11.005
  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596

Contact

Questions, feedback, or media inquiries? Reach us at hello@gad7test.com