DASS-21 Calculator: Depression, Anxiety & Stress

Score the DASS-21 questionnaire.

Each 7-item subscale is summed and doubled, then matched to the Lovibond severity bands for depression, anxiety, and stress.

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How DASS-21 scores are calculated

The DASS-21 has 21 statements rated from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me very much, or most of the time) for the past week. Seven items feed each of three subscales:

  • Depression: items 3, 5, 10, 13, 16, 17, 21 (low positive feeling, lack of initiative, hopelessness, low self-worth).
  • Anxiety: items 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, 19, 20 (dry mouth, breathing difficulty, trembling, fear of panic, awareness of heartbeat).
  • Stress: items 1, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 18 (trouble winding down, over-reacting, nervous energy, agitation, irritability).

Each subscale adds to 0-21. You then multiply by 2, giving 0-42, because the severity bands were built for the original 42-item DASS. For example, a raw depression sum of 7 becomes 14, which is in the moderate band. There is no meaningful combined total.

Reading the severity bands

Lovibond and Lovibond's manual labels doubled scores against population norms:

  • Depression: normal 0-9, mild 10-13, moderate 14-20, severe 21-27, extremely severe 28+.
  • Anxiety: normal 0-7, mild 8-9, moderate 10-14, severe 15-19, extremely severe 20+.
  • Stress: normal 0-14, mild 15-18, moderate 19-25, severe 26-33, extremely severe 34+.

Notice that anxiety reaches “severe” at a much lower number than stress. The bands reflect how unusual a score is in the general population, not a clinical diagnosis. Roughly, mild means above the population average, while severe and extremely severe mean well above it.

The value of the DASS-21 is the profile. High stress with normal depression points in a different direction than high depression with normal stress, and Henry and Crawford's 2005 study in a UK adult sample supported scoring the three scales separately.

Common mistakes with the DASS-21

Forgetting to double. Comparing raw sums of 0-21 against the 0-42 bands makes everyone look fine. A raw anxiety sum of 5 is actually 10, the moderate band.

Adding all 21 items together. The DASS was designed to separate three related states, so a single total hides the information that matters.

Treating “extremely severe” as a diagnosis. The DASS measures symptom intensity over one week. It cannot tell depression from grief, or anxiety from a thyroid problem or caffeine. A clinician puts the scores in context.

Answering about the past month. The instructions ask about the past week. Scores naturally rise and fall, so repeating it every week or two gives a more reliable picture than a single snapshot.

About the DASS-21 and its licensing

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales were developed by Syd Lovibond and Peter Lovibond at the University of New South Wales and published in 1995. The DASS-21 is the short form, using 7 of the 14 items from each original subscale. It is widely used in research and clinics because it takes only a few minutes.

The UNSW DASS website states that the questionnaire is in the public domain and may be downloaded and used without permission. The item wording on this page follows the official DASS21 form. Please cite: Lovibond, S.H. and Lovibond, P.F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (2nd ed.). Sydney: Psychology Foundation.

Your answers stay in your browser and are never sent anywhere. If items 10 or 21 (nothing to look forward to, life is meaningless) apply to you a good part of the time, this page shows crisis resources, including 988 in the US and findahelpline.com internationally.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about the DASS-21 Calculator: Depression, Anxiety & Stress

The severity bands were created for the original 42-item DASS, where each subscale has 14 items. The DASS-21 uses half as many items, so doubling each subscale sum puts it on the same 0-42 scale and lets you use the published bands.

Sources & References

Lovibond SH, Lovibond PF (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (2nd ed.). Psychology Foundation. DASS website, UNSW.

Official DASS-21 form, item-to-subscale mapping, severity bands, public-domain status
→Source: University of New South Wales

Lovibond PF, Lovibond SH (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the DASS with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy.

Development and factor structure of the DASS depression, anxiety, and stress scales
→Source: Behaviour Research and Therapy

Henry JD, Crawford JR (2005). The short-form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology.

DASS-21 construct validity and normative data supporting separate subscale scoring
→Source: British Journal of Clinical Psychology

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