Compliance and documentation
How to use the GAD-7 for anxiety assessment
The GAD-7 can help you narrow down a diagnosis if your client is experiencing anxiety symptoms, along with allowing you to track their progress over time.
December 21, 2023 • Updated on August 29, 2025
9 min read
If a client presents with symptoms such as persistent worrying or restlessness, you may wonder if they’re suffering from an anxiety disorder.
A self-administered questionnaire, the GAD-7 can help you narrow down a diagnosis if your client is experiencing anxiety symptoms, along with allowing you to track their progress over time (and update their treatment plan accordingly). Below, learn more about the GAD-7 assessment, and how you can use it to better help your clients with anxiety.
What is GAD-7?
The GAD-7 is a seven-question screening tool that assesses for generalized anxiety disorder. Each of the seven questions on the assessment highlights one of the specific diagnostic criteria for GAD. Along with providing a tool for diagnosing GAD, it also assesses the severity of anxiety symptoms.
It’s a self-report questionnaire, which means a client fills out the questions based on their own experience, and then a medical provider scores it. The questionnaire provides a quick and reliable way for healthcare professionals to assess the presence and severity of anxiety symptoms, facilitating appropriate interventions and treatment planning.
Research has consistently shown the GAD-7 to be a valid and efficient reporting tool in primary care and therapeutic settings. Keep in mind that the GAD-7 is not a diagnostic tool on its own, and a comprehensive clinical evaluation is typically necessary for a formal diagnosis.
GAD-7 assessment
The GAD-7 questionnaire includes the following questions, and prompts clients to mark “not at all,” “several days,” “more than half the days,” or “nearly every day.”
Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems?
- Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge
- Not being able to stop or control worrying
- Worrying too much about different things
- Trouble relaxing
- Being so restless that it is hard to sit still
- Becoming easily annoyed or irritable
- Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen
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GAD-7 scoring
Each of the seven questions on the GAD-7 has a four-point scoring scale, on which clients report and rate their symptoms on a scale of 0-3.
Nearly every day: 3 points
More than half the days: 2 points
Several days: 1 point
Not at all: 0 points
When each answer is assigned a point value, the total score for the GAD-7 assessment can range from 0–21, with higher scores generally indicating more severe anxiety symptoms. The scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as cut off points for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety.
Score 0-4: Minimal Anxiety
Score 5-9: Mild Anxiety
Score 10-14:: Moderate Anxiety
Score 15 or greater: Severe Anxiety
Monitoring changes in GAD-7
While the GAD-7 is especially helpful in screening for and diagnosing anxiety, it’s also a useful tool for monitoring a client’s progress. For example, if you diagnosed a client with GAD six months ago, you can re-issue the GAD-7 to determine the current severity of symptoms and adjust your treatment plan as needed.
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This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.
© 2025 Therapymatch, Inc. dba Headway. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
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