GAD-7 scoring calculator
Score the GAD-7 and compare two administrations, with severity bands and reliable change explained.
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Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems?
0 of 7 items answered
PHQ-9 and GAD-7 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.
Using the GAD-7 well
The GAD-7 comes from the same team as the PHQ-9, Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams and colleagues, published in 2006, and the two are usually administered together in UK services. Seven items scored 0 to 3 over the last two weeks give a total from 0 to 21, with bands at minimal, mild, moderate and severe.
The number is a severity dial, not a formulation. The measure cannot tell generalised worry from a panic disorder, social anxiety, or an entirely proportionate response to a frightening situation; a client mid divorce or awaiting biopsy results can score 15 without any disorder at all. What it does well is show movement, and movement is what clients and services both want to see.
In NHS Talking Therapies, 8 or more counts as above caseness and a change of 4 or more counts as reliable. Those thresholds are useful shared language in private practice too: when a GP referral letter says a client scored 16, you know what the service meant by it, and when you discharge with a 5, the letter back carries weight.
Anxiety scores vary with caffeine, sleep and other circumstances. Use repeated readings and the reliable change threshold to interpret changes. A falling score while someone restricts their life is not necessarily recovery. The measure informs clinical judgement and never replaces it.
Frequently asked questions
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