The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) score is a simple tool used to assess anxiety levels based on seven key questions about common symptoms. Each question pertains to how often specific feelings or behaviors have been experienced recently, ranging from being nervous to feeling afraid that something awful might happen.

For each of these seven questions, the following answers are possible, each with an associated score that reflects symptom frequency:

| Response Option              | Score |
|------------------------------|-------|
| Not at all                   | 0     |
| Several days                 | 1     |
| More than half the days      | 2     |
| Nearly every day             | 3     |

The questions focus on:

- Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge
- Inability to stop or control worrying
- Excessive worrying about various things
- Trouble relaxing
- Restlessness that makes it difficult to sit still
- Irritability or annoyance
- Feeling afraid that something bad might happen

By converting each response to its numerical score, the results are then summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 21. This score allows individuals and healthcare providers to identify the severity of anxiety in a standardized manner.

The total score is interpreted as follows:
- Scores of 0 to 4 suggest "No anxiety disorder," indicating minimal anxiety symptoms.
- Scores of 5 to 9 indicate "Mild anxiety disorder," reflecting a low level of anxiety that might warrant attention.
- Scores of 10 to 14 denote "Moderate anxiety disorder," suggesting a noticeable impact that could benefit from further evaluation or intervention.
- Scores of 15 or more are categorized as "Severe anxiety disorder," pointing to significant anxiety that likely requires professional help or intervention.

The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 score, commonly abbreviated as GAD-7, is a clinical tool used to measure the severity of generalized anxiety disorder in adults. It is a self-reported questionnaire that consists of seven items, each scored from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day), providing a 0-21 severity scale. The GAD-7 score is used to screen for and assess the severity of generalized anxiety disorder, and it can also be used to monitor treatment response in patients with this disorder. It is not recommended for use in children or adolescents, or for diagnosing other types of anxiety disorders.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7)