Worry and low-mood self-checks, not a diagnosis

Anxiety self-checks that name patterns, not verdicts

Two original adult self-checks, for social situations and for low mood and worry, plus a guide to the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. No cut-off, no diagnosis, no advertising.

What these tests can and cannot tell you

An anxiety self-check on this site is a set of original everyday-situation statements written from NIMH, NHS and WHO definitions. There are two of them. The Social Situations Self-Check reports four patterns: the build-up before an event, what happens while you are in it, avoidance and escape, and the replay afterwards. The Low Mood and Worry Self-Check reports five: interest and pleasure, your energy and sleep pattern, worry that will not switch off, body tension and restlessness, and how it costs the day. Neither can tell you whether you have depression or an anxiety disorder, because neither has a cut-off, a total or a diagnostic rule. Beside them sits one guide, How doctors screen for depression and anxiety, which prints the nine PHQ-9 questions and the seven GAD-7 questions in full and unscored, so you can read the forms a doctor is likely to hand you before you are sitting in front of one. Nothing in this category carries advertising. If you feel unsafe, use the crisis numbers below before you take any test: in the US and Canada call or text 988, in the UK and Ireland call Samaritans free on 116 123, and anywhere else findahelpline.com lists verified lines by country.

What a professional evaluation adds

A professional evaluation does what no self-check can. It asks how long this has run and what changed at the start of it, and it weighs the things that produce these same answers: broken or short sleep, thyroid function and other blood results, grief and bereavement, alcohol and other substances, prescribed medication including anything started shortly before the change, ADHD, and any history of stretches of unusually high energy, which changes what treatment is safe. In practice it is a conversation about the last few weeks and the years around them, commonly a physical check and blood tests, in many services a questionnaire the clinician scores and goes through with you, and a plan you agree together. This self-check has no cut-off and no total, so it cannot weigh any of that. Bring your dated examples to that conversation instead.

Start here

3 complete routes

Anxiety · 7 min

Low Mood and Worry Self-Check

Twenty original statements about interest, energy and sleep, worry, body tension and what the last two weeks cost you. Free, no sign-up, 7 minutes, five pattern cards.

reflection20 items

Anxiety · 6 min

Social Situations Self-Check

Seventeen original statements about the build-up before, during, avoidance, and the replay after. Free, no sign-up, 6 minutes, four pattern cards, no score.

reflection17 items

Anxiety · 6 min

Intrusive Thoughts and Checking Self-Check

Twenty original statements about unwanted thoughts, checking, order, contact and cost. Free, no sign-up, 6 minutes, five pattern cards, no score and no cut-off.

reflection20 items

Read first

2 guides that explain the numbers

Anxiety explained · 8 min read

How doctors screen for depression and anxiety: the PHQ-9 and GAD-7, explained

The two questionnaires a doctor is most likely to hand you, printed here in full and unscored, with how their authors read the numbers and what happens next.

Anxiety explained · 8 min read

What an OCD assessment involves, and why a quiz cannot do it

What a clinician asks, what the named instruments are actually for, the things that look the same from outside, the treatment routes guidelines name, and what to bring.

How to use these results

Look for a pattern worth testing in real life. Do not use a result to diagnose yourself, prove intelligence, or make a hiring decision. Each route links its source and scoring method.