The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21)
The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) is a brief 21-item questionnaire used to measure symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress over the past week. Complete the interactive DASS-21 below to receive separate depression, anxiety, and stress scores along with their severity ranges instantly.
Please read each statement and select the response that indicates how much the statement applied to you over the past week. There are no right or wrong answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the DASS-21?
The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) is a 21-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. It contains three separate seven-item scales, producing individual scores for each of these areas.
What does the DASS-21 measure?
The DASS-21 measures three related areas of emotional distress. The depression scale includes experiences such as low mood, hopelessness, loss of interest and difficulty experiencing positive feelings. The anxiety scale includes anxious feelings and physical signs of arousal, while the stress scale includes difficulty relaxing, nervous tension, irritability, agitation and impatience.
How is the DASS-21 scored?
Each question is scored from 0 to 3. The seven items belonging to each scale are added together, and because this is the shortened 21-item version of the DASS, each subscale score is multiplied by two. This produces separate depression, anxiety and stress scores.
What do my DASS-21 scores mean?
DASS-21 scores are commonly grouped into Normal, Mild, Moderate, Severe and Extremely Severe ranges. Depression, anxiety and stress each have their own scoring ranges, so you may fall into different ranges on each scale. These severity labels describe questionnaire scores and should not be interpreted as mental health diagnoses.
What time period does the DASS-21 measure?
The questions ask how much each statement applied to you over the past week.
Can the DASS-21 diagnose depression or an anxiety disorder?
No. The DASS-21 measures the degree of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms rather than assigning a psychiatric diagnosis. The developers describe it as based on a dimensional rather than categorical understanding of psychological distress, and the questionnaire should not replace a clinical assessment.
Can I take the DASS-21 more than once?
Because the questionnaire asks about experiences during the previous week, repeating it at different points can provide a way of comparing how your responses change over time. However, changes in scores should be interpreted in the context of what is happening in your life rather than treated as a diagnosis.
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