01

About the DASS-21

What the DASS-21 reflects, how to read it, and important limits.

About the DASS-21

The DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) is a short questionnaire used to reflect on current mood states over the past week. It looks at three areas – depression, anxiety and stress.

Each subscale is scored by adding its items and multiplying by two. The bands below are a general guide clinicians use:

SubscaleNormalMildModerateSevereExtremely severe
Depression0–910–1314–2021–2728+
Anxiety0–78–910–1415–1920+
Stress0–1415–1819–2526–3334+

The DASS was developed by Lovibond & Lovibond (1995) and is freely available for non-commercial use.

02

The questionnaire

The 21-item DASS as a printable worksheet.

The questionnaire

Read each statement and pick the response that indicates how much it applied to you over the past week. There are no right or wrong answers, and you should not spend too much time on any statement.

Practice worksheet

DASS-21

How much did each statement apply to you over the past week? 0 = Did not apply to me at all · 1 = Applied to some degree / some of the time · 2 = Applied to a considerable degree / a good part of the time · 3 = Applied very much / most of the time.

No personal data collected via the platform. Practice on your own device.

I found it hard to wind down
Did not applyApplied very much
I was aware of dryness of my mouth
Did not applyApplied very much
I couldn’t seem to experience any positive feeling at all
Did not applyApplied very much
I experienced breathing difficulty (e.g. excessively rapid breathing, breathlessness in the absence of physical exertion)
Did not applyApplied very much
I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things
Did not applyApplied very much
I tended to over-react to situations
Did not applyApplied very much
I experienced trembling (e.g. in the hands)
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy
Did not applyApplied very much
I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool of myself
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt that I had nothing to look forward to
Did not applyApplied very much
I found myself getting agitated
Did not applyApplied very much
I found it difficult to relax
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt down-hearted and blue
Did not applyApplied very much
I was intolerant of anything that kept me from getting on with what I was doing
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt I was close to panic
Did not applyApplied very much
I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt I wasn’t worth much as a person
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt that I was rather touchy
Did not applyApplied very much
I was aware of the action of my heart in the absence of physical exertion (e.g. sense of heart rate increase, heart missing a beat)
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt scared without any good reason
Did not applyApplied very much
I felt that life was meaningless
Did not applyApplied very much

And that's a wrap. Well done.

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