GAD-7 Anxiety Score Calculator

The GAD-7 is a seven-question anxiety screener published by Robert Spitzer, Kurt Kroenke, Janet Williams, and Bernd Löwe in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2006 ("A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7"). It was developed with primary care patients across 15 US clinics and was designed to be short enough to fill in while waiting for an appointment. The development work was supported by Pfizer, which made the questionnaire free to reproduce, translate, and use, so no permission is needed.

Every item asks the same question: over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by this problem? The seven problems cover the core features of generalized anxiety: feeling nervous or on edge, being unable to stop worrying, worrying about many different things, trouble relaxing, restlessness, irritability, and a sense that something awful might happen.

• Not at all scores 0 points.
• Several days scores 1 point.
• More than half the days scores 2 points.
• Nearly every day scores 3 points.

The total is simply the sum of the seven answers, so it runs from 0 to 21. No item is reverse-scored and nothing is weighted. This calculator waits until all seven items are answered before it shows a score, because a partial total would understate symptoms. The original form also includes an eighth, unscored question about how difficult these problems have made work, home life, or relationships. Clinicians use it for context about impairment, and it is worth thinking about even though it does not change the number.

Small choices about how you answer can shift the total by several points. These habits make the result more meaningful:

• Stick to the two-week window. Rate how often each problem actually bothered you in the last 14 days, not how anxious you are as a person in general.
• Count days, not intensity. The response options measure frequency. One very bad panic attack is "several days", not "nearly every day".
• Answer every item. Skipping a question you are unsure about lowers the total. Pick the closest option.
• Note physical causes. If restlessness or irritability came from pain, poor sleep, or a new medication, mention that when you discuss the score.

The GAD-7 is often paired with the PHQ-9 depression questionnaire, because anxiety and depression frequently occur together and share symptoms such as poor concentration and sleep trouble. Taking both gives a fuller picture. Among people who seek help, anxiety responds well to treatment: cognitive behavioural therapy, guided self-help, regular physical activity, and, where appropriate, medication all have good evidence behind them.

There is also an ultra-short version, the GAD-2, which uses only the first two items (feeling nervous or on edge, and not being able to stop worrying). A GAD-2 score of 3 or more is often used as a quick first filter, after which the full GAD-7 is completed. If you already know those two items are high for you, answering all seven gives much more useful detail: two people with the same total can have very different patterns, such as one driven mainly by restlessness and irritability and another by constant worry and dread. Those patterns are exactly what a clinician will want to hear about.