Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Most of the time
- A lot of the time
- From time to time, occasionally
- Not at all
- Definitely as much
- Not quite so much
- Only a little
- Hardly at all
- Definitely
- Sometimes
- Not much
- Not at all
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Test - Description and methodology of the test
People seeking a focused picture of recent emotional strain can use Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Test to examine anxiety and depressive symptoms separately. This HADS self-report is intended for people reflecting on the past week, especially when worry, tension, low mood, reduced enjoyment, or loss of interest are difficult to distinguish. The result provides two complementary dimensions rather than one overall label.
What This Assessment Measures
Rather than treating distress as a single experience, the assessment separates anxious arousal from depressive symptoms. Its questions cover tension, fear, panic-like sensations, worrying thoughts, relaxation, enjoyment, cheerfulness, slowed feelings, interest in appearance, and expectations about the future. As an anxiety and depression screening tool, it offers a structured snapshot of recent emotional changes without reducing them to one total score.
The two displayed scales describe what each part of the result means:
- Anxiety (0–21) assesses the level of anxiety over the past week; Normal is 0–7, Borderline is 8–10, and Elevated is 11–21.
- Depression (0–21) assesses the level of depressive symptoms over the past week; Normal is 0–7, Borderline is 8–10, and Elevated is 11–21.
Together, the bands show the pattern captured by the answers across the two symptom dimensions.
Methodology and Evidence Base
Four ordered options describe frequency, intensity, or how fully each statement applies; the respondent chooses the one that best fits the past week. This online questionnaire is modified: it repeats the tension item and omits the original restlessness item, so it does not match standard HADS. The displayed HADS scoring approach reports separate subscale results, but its item-level calculation is not documented. Standard HADS scoring uses 0–3 values, reverse-keyed items, and seven items per subscale; those rules do not standardize the modified form.
The questionnaire is consistent with HADS's two-subscale structure (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983), but this modified online form is not the standardized original. The original HADS has published evidence on validity, factor structure, item performance, and internal consistency, including Bjelland et al. (2002) and Mykletun et al. (2001). That evidence supports interpretation of the source instrument, not independent validation of this modified online form.
Because this is self-report, current circumstances, self-awareness, and response bias can affect scores for the past week; the results describe this form and do not establish new norms.
- Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67(6), 361–370. 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1983.tb09716.x
- Bjelland, I., Dahl, A. A., Haug, T. T., & Neckelmann, D. (2002). The validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: An updated literature review. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 52(2), 69–77. 10.1016/S0022-3999(01)00296-3
- Mykletun, A., Stordal, E., & Dahl, A. A. (2001). Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale: Factor structure, item analyses and internal consistency in a large population. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 179(6), 540–544. 10.1192/bjp.179.6.540
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