Anxiety screening assessment

Generalised Anxiety Disorder is more than just feeling stressed every now and then. It is a real and common mental health condition that causes persistent and excessive worry about everyday things like work, health, or relationships. People with GAD often find it hard to control their worry, and it can affect their sleep, focus, and overall wellbeing. GAD is an important condition and needs the intervention of a health professional for final diagnosis, psychotherapy and/or medication.

It's important to know: you're not alone, and it is okay to talk about it. Generalised Anxiety Disorder is both common and treatable.

The GAD-7 is a short, 7-question validated screening tool used by healthcare professionals to assess anxiety levels. It was developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. It asks how often you've experienced symptoms like:

• Feeling nervous or on edge
• Trouble relaxing
• Worrying too much
• Feeling afraid something awful might happen

Answer the questions as honestly as you can, choosing from the frequency scale how often you experience the described feelings or behaviours.

Each question is scored from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day), giving a maximum total score out of 21. Your score will then fall within a range indicating minimal to severe anxiety.

Anxiety is normal — but when it starts to interfere with your daily life, it's worth paying attention to. The GAD-7 screening helps you determine the presence of and, if so, severity of your anxiety ranging from 'minimal' to 'severe'.