DASS-21 Test Online - Psychological Assessment
Evidence-based screening for Depression, Anxiety and Stress
This validated self-report instrument measures emotional distress experienced over the past week. Widely used in clinical psychology and research settings worldwide.
Over the past week...
DASS-21 overview
What Is the DASS-21 Test and What Does It Measure?
The DASS-21 (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – 21 Items) is a brief self-report questionnaire that measures the severity of three related negative emotional states experienced over the past week.
Depression
The depression subscale focuses on dysphoria, hopelessness, reduced interest or involvement, anhedonia, low initiative, self-deprecation and a sense that life lacks meaning or value.
Anxiety
The anxiety subscale assesses autonomic arousal, breathing or heart-related sensations, trembling, situational anxiety and subjective feelings of fear, panic or loss of control.
Stress
The stress subscale measures persistent tension and nervous arousal, including difficulty relaxing, irritability, agitation, impatience and a tendency to over-react to everyday situations.
Important: The DASS-21 measures symptom severity on three dimensions. It is not designed to diagnose depression, an anxiety disorder or any other mental health condition.
Question breakdown
DASS-21 Questions by Subscale
The questionnaire contains 21 statements: seven for depression, seven for anxiety and seven for stress. The statements appear in mixed order during the test, but they are grouped below to explain how each subscale is constructed.
7 statements
Depression items
- I couldn't seem to experience any positive feeling at all.
- I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things.
- I felt that I had nothing to look forward to.
- I felt down-hearted and blue.
- I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything.
- I felt I wasn't worth much as a person.
- I felt that life was meaningless.
7 statements
Anxiety items
- I was aware of dryness of my mouth.
- I experienced breathing difficulty (eg, excessively rapid breathing, breathlessness in the absence of physical exertion).
- I experienced trembling (e.g., in the hands).
- I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool of myself.
- I felt I was close to panic.
- I was aware of the action of my heart in the absence of physical exertion (eg, sense of heart rate increase, heart missing a beat).
- I felt scared without any good reason.
7 statements
Stress items
- I found it hard to wind down.
- I tended to over-react to situations.
- I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy.
- I found myself getting agitated.
- I found it difficult to relax.
- I was intolerant of anything that kept me from getting on with what I was doing.
- I felt that I was rather touchy.
Scoring guide
How DASS-21 Scoring Works
Depression, anxiety and stress are scored separately. The three subscale scores should not be combined into a diagnostic label.
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Add the seven responses in each subscale
Each statement is rated from 0 to 3, so the raw score for each seven-item subscale ranges from 0 to 21.
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Multiply each raw subscale score by two
This calculator uses the traditional DASS-42-equivalent convention, which makes DASS-21 scores comparable with the full DASS scale, its norms and commonly published severity ranges.
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Interpret each result separately
Compare the final depression, anxiety and stress scores with the recommended severity bands. A higher score indicates greater self-reported symptom severity during the past week.
| DASS-21 subscale | Normal score range | Maximum reported score |
|---|---|---|
| Depression | 0–9 | 42 |
| Anxiety | 0–7 | 42 |
| Stress | 0–14 | 42 |
Some research settings report undoubled raw DASS-21 scores. When comparing results, always check which scoring convention is being used.
Test instructions
Before You Take the DASS-21 Test
Read each statement and choose the number that indicates how much it applied to you over the past week. There are no right or wrong answers. Do not spend too much time on any statement.