What is the General Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7) and how does it work?

The GAD-7 is a measure of general anxiety symptoms. It is commonly used in many healthcare and research contexts where anxiety can be involved in a diagnosis or as a key outcome measure. The GAD-7 was developed to overcome issues with traditional anxiety measures, such as taking too long and requiring in-person administration, by streamlining the process with a 7-item self-administered assessment that is quick and easy to complete.

Questions on the GAD-7 ask about how often patients have been bothered by symptoms over the last 2 weeks. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, and a total score is indicative of anxiety severity.

Research has shown the GAD-7 is small but mighty. It has strong psychometric properties, despite taking very little time. In a recent paper, Johnson et al. (2019) administered the GAD-7 to a variety of psychiatric patients, and found that it has excellent reliability and validity. When used with a cutoff score of 8 for the purposes of screening or diagnosis of anxiety disorders, it also has good sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, scores were responsive to changes due to treatments, even in this study's diverse sample.

Note: The purpose of the GAD-7 is to assist the clinician in quantifying anxiety symptoms and monitoring the severity of these symptoms over time. Any conclusions drawn from the GAD-7 should be paired with clinical interviews and observations, other mental health examinations or assessments administered, and evaluations of the patient’s level of distress, functional impairment, and/or family history. Please refer to the GAD-7 instruction manual for additional details.