GAD-7 accuracy Anxiety test
How accurate is the GAD-7?
Short answer: the GAD-7 is a well-validated screening tool — good at flagging who should have a fuller evaluation, not at handing out a diagnosis. It was developed by Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams & Löwe in 2006 and has been tested against clinical interviews in independent studies. A brief, well-validated screen that also performs reasonably for panic, social anxiety, and PTSD.
Measured for generalized anxiety disorder at a cutoff of 10 or higher.
What the numbers mean
Sensitivity is how often the test correctly flags people who do have the condition; specificity is how often it correctly clears those who don't. High figures on both mean the GAD-7 misses few real cases while raising few false alarms — which is exactly what you want from a first-pass screen.
The honest limits
No screening tool is perfect, and self-administration online adds its own caveats:
- It targets generalized anxiety; other anxiety disorders may need different tools.
- Physical anxiety symptoms can overlap with medical conditions worth ruling out.
- It is a screen, not a diagnosis.
Does taking it online change the accuracy?
The questions and scoring here are identical to the clinical version, so the instrument itself is unchanged. What differs is context: a clinician also weighs your history, rules out other causes, and interprets borderline scores. That's why every result here points you toward a professional rather than standing in for one. Reproducing the instrument faithfully is our job; diagnosing is theirs.