Screening tool

GAD-7 — the anxiety screening questionnaire

The GAD-7 is a seven-question screen for anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks, part of the PRIME-MD family and validated in primary care. It takes about two minutes, produces a total from 0 to 21, and is meant to help you describe anxiety to a clinician — not to diagnose it. It is the same questionnaire many clinicians hand you at a visit, so completing it here shows you what your provider measures and helps you prepare for that conversation.

Developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. No permission required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute.

Who is this for?

Adults 18 and older who have felt nervous, on edge, or unable to stop worrying over the past two weeks and want a structured way to bring it to a clinician. It is a screen, not a diagnosis, and a low or high total is a starting point for a conversation.

This page is educational. It reproduces the published questionnaire and its published scoring so you can see what it asks and how clinicians read it. It does not diagnose any condition, recommend treatment, or replace a clinician’s evaluation. If you complete it here, your answers stay on your device and are not stored unless you choose to save the result to your own Gale record.

Before you begin

A validated screening questionnaire — not a diagnosis. Only a licensed clinician can diagnose. It is the same questionnaire a provider may use at a visit — completing it here is for your own understanding and preparation. Validated for adults 18 and older. Your answers stay on this device unless you choose to save them. 7 questions · about 2 minutes.

7 questions · about 2 minutes

How the GAD-7 is scored

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems?

Question	Several days	More than half the days	Nearly every day
1. Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge	1	2	3
2. Not being able to stop or control worrying	1	2	3
3. Worrying too much about different things	1	2	3
4. Trouble relaxing	1	2	3
5. Being so restless that it is hard to sit still	1	2	3
6. Becoming easily annoyed or irritable	1	2	3
7. Feeling afraid, as if something awful might happen	1	2	3

The total is the sum of all answers, from 0 to 21.

What your score means

These are the instrument's published interpretation ranges — the GAD-7's reading of the total, not a statement about you. A total of 10 or higher is the usual screening cut point.

Total	Published interpretation
0–4	minimal
5–9	mild
10–14	moderate
15–21	severe

How accurate is it?

A total of 10 or higher is the established screening cut point for a fuller conversation about anxiety.

In the primary-care sample where the GAD-7 was validated, about 89 of every 100 people who had generalized anxiety disorder scored 10 or higher, and about 18 of every 100 people who did not have it also scored that high — a false positive. 1Ref 1Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Lowe B (2006).A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7.Validation of the GAD-7 anxiety measure; at a cut point of 10 sensitivity was 89% and specificity 82% for generalized anxiety disorder, with published ranges of 0-4 minimal, 5-9 mild, 10-14 moderate, 15-21 severe.

A per-band number-needed-to-evaluate could not be sourced for this instrument, so the personal result is shown as a score with the published ranges below rather than a single band label.

Bringing your results to your provider

A screening result is most useful in a conversation with a clinician who knows you. It is not a verdict and it does not decide a diagnosis or a treatment — only a licensed clinician can do that, after a fuller evaluation. What a result can do is give you a concrete, structured way to describe what you have been noticing.

When you complete the GAD-7 above, Gale drafts a short set of talking points from your answers — the number, the published interpretation, how long the symptoms have been present, and a few questions to ask. You can read them out at a visit, or save the result and bring it along. The point is not the label; it is that you walk in able to advocate for yourself with something specific to say.

Common questions

Is the GAD-7 a diagnosis of anxiety?

No. The GAD-7 is a screening questionnaire. It describes how often you have noticed anxiety symptoms; only a licensed clinician can diagnose an anxiety disorder, after a fuller evaluation.

What does a GAD-7 score mean?

The total runs from 0 to 21. The published interpretation ranges — minimal, mild, moderate, and severe — are shown in the scoring table on this page, and a total of 10 or higher is the usual cut point for discussing anxiety with a clinician.

What if it feels like an emergency?

If it could be an emergency, call 911; for a mental-health crisis, call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741. The GAD-7 is for a routine conversation, not a crisis.

Is this the questionnaire my provider will use?

It may be. The GAD-7 is one of the most widely used anxiety screens in primary care, so your provider may use this exact questionnaire or a different one. Completing it here shows you what it measures, and bringing your total can start the conversation.

Sources

1.Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Lowe B (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10): 1092-1097. doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092 ✓Validation of the GAD-7 anxiety measure; at a cut point of 10 sensitivity was 89% and specificity 82% for generalized anxiety disorder, with published ranges of 0-4 minimal, 5-9 mild, 10-14 moderate, 15-21 severe.

1 sources, numbered by first appearance. Every entry verified 2026-06-11 against PubMed / PMC / publisher pages (214 in the full bibliography).