Methodology note

Methodology of the Anxiety test questionnaire

Self-observation
20 items
4 axes
3 references

This page describes where the items come from, how the score is computed and the limits of this questionnaire. It is public and asks for no sign-up.

1Where the items come from

The items are written for Brain Quiz from the published literature in the field.

The 20 items in this questionnaire were written for Brain Quiz, drawing on the research literature about anxiety. No published scale is reproduced, in whole or in part. We explored the ground covered by well-documented short scales, including the GAD-7 published by Spitzer and colleagues in 2006, but we reuse none of their items: a faithful reproduction would mean seven items and a single dimension, which would remove the per-dimension profile we wanted to offer. Our guide on self-assessment scales sets out what those instruments measure and what their licence status is.

Sources. 20 items in total.^1,2,3

2How the score is computed

Each answer is worth 0 to 4 points. Each question carries a weight of 1 to 3 depending on its place in its dimension. Two questions per dimension are worded positively and then scored in reverse, to limit answers given out of habit. The total is rescaled to 100 and placed in one of four bands. Each dimension also gets its own percentage, computed on its own questions only. The weights and the thresholds were set by the Brain Quiz editorial team: they come from no population calibration and no threshold has statistical value.

2.1The reading axes

Each item feeds a single axis. Each axis is computed as a percentage of the maximum reachable on its own items.

Table 1. The 4 reading axes and the number of items feeding each one.
Reading axis	Items
Worry and rumination	5
Physical tension and sleep	5
Avoidance and reassurance-seeking	5
Impact on daily life	5

2.2The reading bands

The score brought back to 100 falls into one of these bands. The bounds are set by the editorial team, and shown here.

Table 2. The reading bands of the score out of 100, and the guidance attached to each one.
Band	Range out of 100	Guidance
Few signs identified	0 to 24	none^a
Signs present at times	25 to 49	conversation suggested^b
Frequent signs	50 to 69	conversation suggested^b
Numerous signs, with an impact on daily life	70 to 100	reinforced guidance^c

No guidance message comes with this band.
The result mentions that a conversation with a professional can help.
The result shows a guidance message towards a health professional.

3Limits of the result

This questionnaire does not tell you whether you have an anxiety disorder. It does not separate passing anxiety, tied to a specific situation and easing with it, from a lasting difficulty. It does not look for possible physical causes, a thyroid problem or the effect of a current treatment for instance, which only a medical examination can rule out. Nor does it tell the forms of anxiety apart: social anxiety, generalised worry and episodes of intense fear follow different patterns that four dimensions do not separate. This questionnaire can neither confirm nor rule out a disorder.

4References

Each entry carries its authors, year, title, journal and identifier.

Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B. W., & Lowe, B. (2006). A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092. doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092 opens in a new tab ↑
Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L., & Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28(6), 487-495. doi:10.1016/0005-7967(90)90135-6 opens in a new tab ↑
Organisation mondiale de la sante (2025). Anxiety disorders (fact sheet, updated 8 September 2025). who.int. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/anxiety-disorders opens in a new tab ↑

Take the questionnaire Back to the questionnaire page