Browse by category

Anxiety Tests and Free Screening Tools

This category covers generalized anxiety, social anxiety, worry, health anxiety, child anxiety, and clinician-rated anxiety severity. Scores can help identify patterns worth discussing, especially when fear, avoidance, or worry interferes with daily life.

Choosing a tool

Choose by the focus of the experience. GAD-7 covers recent general anxiety; Penn State concentrates on worry; SPIN and Liebowitz examine social situations; the Health Anxiety Inventory focuses on illness-related concerns.

The format also matters. Liebowitz separates fear from avoidance in each situation. Zung includes bodily experiences. Taylor uses yes-or-no statements about anxiety tendencies. HAM-A is clinician-rated, while Spence is a child-focused questionnaire.

For a useful comparison, consider topic, respondent and time frame together. Repeating several scales in one sitting does not make their totals interchangeable. Concrete examples of avoided activities, persistent thoughts or physical tension help explain why a particular tool fits your concern.

Compare tools in this category

Use administration method, audience, and purpose to choose an appropriate educational or screening resource.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 Item Scale (GAD-7)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 7
Intended audience: Adults and older adolescents reviewing anxiety symptoms experienced during the past two weeks
Primary purpose: GAD-7 brings together seven experiences related to anxiety, including persistent worry, difficulty relaxing, restlessness and irritability.

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A)

Administration: Clinician-rated
Items: 14
Intended audience: Trained clinicians recording anxiety severity after a clinical interview and observation; not intended for unaided self-rating
Primary purpose: HAM-A is a clinician-rated framework for describing anxiety through psychological and physical symptoms.

Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale

Administration: Self-report
Items: 48
Intended audience: Adults and older adolescents reviewing fear and avoidance across social interaction and performance situations
Primary purpose: The Liebowitz scale examines fear and avoidance separately across 24 social or performance situations.

Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 16
Intended audience: Adults and older adolescents examining persistent, excessive, and difficult-to-control worry as a general tendency
Primary purpose: The Penn State Worry Questionnaire concentrates on the experience of worrying: how persistent it feels, how difficult it is to set aside and how widely it spreads across situations.

Short Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 18
Intended audience: Adults reviewing health-related worry, bodily monitoring, reassurance seeking, and fear of serious illness
Primary purpose: The Health Anxiety Inventory examines thoughts about illness, attention to bodily sensations and expectations about becoming unwell.

Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 17
Intended audience: Adults and older adolescents reviewing social fear, avoidance, and physical discomfort in social situations
Primary purpose: SPIN explores social anxiety through 17 statements about fear, avoidance and physical reactions.

Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 45
Intended audience: School-age children and adolescents, commonly ages 8-15, reporting their own anxiety symptoms with adult help only when clarification is needed
Primary purpose: The Spence questionnaire asks children about fears, worries and situations that feel uncomfortable.

Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 38
Intended audience: Adults examining relatively stable patterns of manifest or trait anxiety rather than a brief momentary stress reaction
Primary purpose: The Taylor questionnaire approaches anxiety through everyday statements about nervousness, tension and physical discomfort.

Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS)

Administration: Self-report
Items: 20
Intended audience: Adults reviewing cognitive, emotional, and physical anxiety symptoms over their recent experience
Primary purpose: The Zung anxiety questionnaire brings emotional and physical experiences together in 20 statements.

Tool	Administration	Intended audience	Items	Primary purpose
Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 Item Scale (GAD-7)	Self-report	Adults and older adolescents reviewing anxiety symptoms experienced during the past two weeks	7	GAD-7 brings together seven experiences related to anxiety, including persistent worry, difficulty relaxing, restlessness and irritability.
Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A)	Clinician-rated	Trained clinicians recording anxiety severity after a clinical interview and observation; not intended for unaided self-rating	14	HAM-A is a clinician-rated framework for describing anxiety through psychological and physical symptoms.
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale	Self-report	Adults and older adolescents reviewing fear and avoidance across social interaction and performance situations	48	The Liebowitz scale examines fear and avoidance separately across 24 social or performance situations.
Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ)	Self-report	Adults and older adolescents examining persistent, excessive, and difficult-to-control worry as a general tendency	16	The Penn State Worry Questionnaire concentrates on the experience of worrying: how persistent it feels, how difficult it is to set aside and how widely it spreads across situations.
Short Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18)	Self-report	Adults reviewing health-related worry, bodily monitoring, reassurance seeking, and fear of serious illness	18	The Health Anxiety Inventory examines thoughts about illness, attention to bodily sensations and expectations about becoming unwell.
Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)	Self-report	Adults and older adolescents reviewing social fear, avoidance, and physical discomfort in social situations	17	SPIN explores social anxiety through 17 statements about fear, avoidance and physical reactions.
Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS)	Self-report	School-age children and adolescents, commonly ages 8-15, reporting their own anxiety symptoms with adult help only when clarification is needed	45	The Spence questionnaire asks children about fears, worries and situations that feel uncomfortable.
Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS)	Self-report	Adults examining relatively stable patterns of manifest or trait anxiety rather than a brief momentary stress reaction	38	The Taylor questionnaire approaches anxiety through everyday statements about nervousness, tension and physical discomfort.
Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS)	Self-report	Adults reviewing cognitive, emotional, and physical anxiety symptoms over their recent experience	20	The Zung anxiety questionnaire brings emotional and physical experiences together in 20 statements.

Available anxiety screening tools

AnxietyDepression

Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 Item Scale (GAD-7)

GAD-7 brings together seven experiences related to anxiety, including persistent worry, difficulty relaxing, restlessness and irritability.

7 questions

Anxiety

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A)

HAM-A is a clinician-rated framework for describing anxiety through psychological and physical symptoms.

Clinician-rated worksheet

Anxiety

Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale

The Liebowitz scale examines fear and avoidance separately across 24 social or performance situations.

48 questions

Anxiety

Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ)

The Penn State Worry Questionnaire concentrates on the experience of worrying: how persistent it feels, how difficult it is to set aside and how widely it spreads across situations.

16 questions

Anxiety

Short Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18)

The Health Anxiety Inventory examines thoughts about illness, attention to bodily sensations and expectations about becoming unwell.

18 questions

Anxiety

Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)

SPIN explores social anxiety through 17 statements about fear, avoidance and physical reactions.

17 questions

AnxietyAutism spectrum

Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS)

The Spence questionnaire asks children about fears, worries and situations that feel uncomfortable.

45 questions

Anxiety

Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TMAS)

The Taylor questionnaire approaches anxiety through everyday statements about nervousness, tension and physical discomfort.

38 questions

Anxiety

Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS)

The Zung anxiety questionnaire brings emotional and physical experiences together in 20 statements.

20 questions