Anxiety Test — 21 Questions Across 3 Anxiety Types

The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) is a brief self-report screening tool developed by Robert Spitzer, Kurt Kroenke, Janet Williams, and Bernd Löwe in 2006. It was designed as a quick, validated way to screen for and measure the severity of generalized anxiety disorder in primary care, and has become one of the most widely used anxiety screening tools worldwide. The GAD-7 asks how often, over the past two weeks, the person has been bothered by seven core symptoms of GAD. Scores range from 0 to 21, with established cut-points of 5 (mild), 10 (moderate), and 15 (severe). Although designed for GAD, the GAD-7 has been shown to be a reasonable screen for panic, social anxiety, and PTSD as well.

Normal worry is a useful adaptive response — it focuses attention on real problems and naturally resolves once the situation is addressed. Anxiety becomes a disorder when worry, fear, or physical symptoms (a) are out of proportion to the actual threat, (b) persist for months rather than resolving when the situation does, (c) feel impossible to control, and (d) significantly affect work, relationships, sleep, or quality of life. The DSM-5 sets specific thresholds — for example, GAD requires excessive worry on more days than not for at least six months, accompanied by three or more specific physical or cognitive symptoms. About 19% of US adults meet criteria for any anxiety disorder in any given year, making anxiety the most common mental-health condition by a significant margin.

The DSM-5 recognises several distinct anxiety disorders. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is dominated by persistent, hard-to-control worry across multiple life domains. Panic Disorder is defined by recurrent unexpected panic attacks — discrete episodes of intense fear with strong physical symptoms — often paired with anticipatory anxiety. Social Anxiety Disorder is fear of judgment in social or performance situations. Specific Phobias are intense fears of specific objects or situations. Agoraphobia is fear of being in places where escape might be difficult — often co-occurring with panic disorder. PTSD and OCD were re-classified out of the anxiety disorders chapter in DSM-5 but share significant overlap. This screening covers the three most common adult presentations — generalized, panic, and social.

Anxiety disorders are one of the most genuinely treatable categories in mental health. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has the strongest evidence base across all anxiety disorders and typically produces meaningful improvement within 12-20 sessions. Specific protocols are matched to specific anxiety types — exposure therapy for phobias and panic, social-skills + exposure for social anxiety, worry-control techniques for GAD. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is another well-supported approach. Medication — typically SSRIs or SNRIs — is highly effective and is often added for moderate-to-severe anxiety. Combined CBT + medication produces the fastest improvement for most people.

Yes — and the physical symptoms of anxiety are often what brings people to medical care, sometimes long before the anxiety itself is recognised. The fight-or-flight system produces racing heart, shortness of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, tingling, muscle tension, headaches, GI symptoms, sleep disruption, and chronic fatigue. Many people with anxiety disorders cycle through cardiology, ENT, gastroenterology, and neurology appointments before the underlying pattern is identified. Panic attacks in particular produce symptoms that closely mimic cardiac events, which is why panic disorder is one of the most common reasons for unnecessary emergency-room visits.

No. Shyness is a normal personality trait. Social Anxiety Disorder involves intense fear of judgment in social or performance situations that is out of proportion to actual risk, accompanied by anticipatory anxiety for days or weeks beforehand, often paired with significant post-event rumination, and leads to avoidance of situations the person actually wants to participate in — including job opportunities, relationships, education, and ordinary social events. CBT with explicit social-exposure components is highly effective, often producing substantial improvement within a few months.

The standard GAD-7 is a 7-item screen focused specifically on generalized anxiety symptoms. This Mindshape anxiety screen uses 21 items across three dimensions — generalized anxiety (7 items modelled on GAD-7), panic and physical symptoms (7 items), and social anxiety (7 items) — to give a per-dimension picture rather than a single overall score. The dimension breakdown is often more clinically useful because the three anxiety types respond to different treatment protocols.

The Mindshape anxiety test takes most people 4-6 minutes to complete. It is 21 items on a 4-point scale (over the past 2 weeks). Results appear instantly with a per-dimension breakdown across the three main adult anxiety disorders.