How Are You Coping? Take An Anxiety, Depression, Or Stress Test

It can be hard to know how well you manage mental health challenges. You may know how your symptoms are progressing, but you may need help tracking their severity and frequency—and the extent to which they affect your life. 

Experts have created measurement tools to assess common mental health challenges, such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Experts often administer and interpret these assessments, but individuals can also use them to determine how well they cope with their symptoms. In most cases, working on these tests with a mental health professional is recommended.

This article will discuss how you can use tests for anxiety, depression, and stress to understand your mental health state better.  

What are screening tests?

Mental health screening tests are tools, usually questionnaires, that help professionals determine whether an individual is living with a mental health concern and allow them to evaluate the severity, frequency, and impacts of symptoms. Often, mental health providers use these assessments to make an initial diagnosis of conditions like anxiety and depression. They can then periodically re-administer the tests to determine how well the individual responds to treatments. 

You can complete multiple screeners independently to assess your mental health. However, an accurate diagnosis requires a professional's interpretation and guidance. While you cannot self-diagnose, experiencing symptoms may suggest a potential mental health condition. You can seek professional care for a more detailed test interpretation, additional screening, and further evaluation.

Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)

The DASS serves as a psychological assessment tool that measures three distinct yet related emotional states: depression, anxiety, and stress. It achieves this by using self-report scales that individuals complete based on their experience of various emotional states over the past week. 

Two primary versions of the tool are in use: the DASS-42 and the DASS-21. The longer version, DASS-42, consists of forty-two items and offers a more comprehensive assessment. The DASS-21 is a shorter version with twenty-one items, optimized for quicker assessment without significantly compromising the test's accuracy.

• Depression: screens for symptoms such as hopelessness and low self-esteem 
• Anxiety: identifies autonomic arousal and situational anxiety 
• Stress: detects chronic non-specific arousal such as difficulty relaxing 

The DASS-42 and DASS-21 scales include subsets of questions specifically targeting each of the three states. Both versions calculate severity scores that can help to understand the extent of each emotional state within an individual, supporting both clinical diagnostics and research contexts.

DASS structure

The structure of DASS revolves around a series of statements to which individuals respond based on the frequency or severity of their experiences. Responses are categorized as "Never," "Sometimes," "Often," or "Almost Always." Each category correlates with a score that reflects the intensity of the person's emotional state. 

Items on the DASS test include statements asking participants to reflect on their recent feelings or behaviors. Individuals might then choose the degree to which a statement applied in the past week:

• Felt upset by things that usually wouldn't bother them
• Experienced breathing difficulty when not engaged in physical exertion
• Felt a lack of positive feelings
• Had a sense of nervous energy or being on edge
• Felt scared or worried without any good reason
• Felt downhearted and blue
• Tended to overreact to situations
• Experienced trembling (such as in the hands)

DASS is designed to be sensitive to varying degrees of emotional health, from normal fluctuations to potential clinical concerns. The assessment provides a comprehensive picture of a person's emotional well-being by offering separate scores for depression, anxiety, and stress. 

What are other screening tests?

Various assessments exist to evaluate symptoms of mental health conditions. Some have multiple versions for different situations. For instance, the Beck Depression Inventory has a standard 21-question format and a shorter 13-question format. Shorter forms may help when a longer test is taxing or faster evaluations are needed.

Certain exams may be more helpful when evaluating specific individuals, disorders, and symptoms. Some are meant for children, while others are for adolescents, adults, or older people. Some screening tests may measure different anxiety or depressive disorders; for example, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) assesses generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, while the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale assesses social anxiety disorder symptoms. Certain tests measure a specific set of symptoms of mental health conditions. For example, the Beck Hopelessness Scale evaluates an individual’s attitude about the future, which may help evaluate depression. 

Online screening tests are easy to print, complete, and self-score. Many standard evaluations are available online, guiding you through questionnaires and providing scores based on your answers. For example, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America has an online depression screening test on its site adapted from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a standard assessment for depression symptoms. 

Using anxiety, depression, and stress tests

If you're curious about your mental health concerning anxiety, depression, and stress, other specific screening tests can provide insights into your symptoms' severity and impact on your life. 

Anxiety symptoms to look out for

Feelings of nervousness and worry are common, especially when faced with potential danger or uncertainty. Anxiety can motivate and help you take action in certain situations. Still, it can also be harmful when it is excessive or persistent. In some cases, physical and mental symptoms could signal the existence of an anxiety disorder. 

In addition to producing mental and emotional symptoms like fear and worry, anxiety can have physical effects, including sweating, excessively rapid breathing, increased heart rate, and physical tension. These reactions are part of the fight-or-flight response. Anxiety tests—such as the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)—typically ask questions to gauge the severity of this response in your life.

Depression is marked by low mood, fatigue, lack of motivation, and loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. While most people feel down occasionally, when the feelings are long-lasting, chronic, and disruptive to everyday life, they could be a sign of a depressive disorder. People who are experiencing depression may also withdraw from others. 

Common depression scales used by professionals include the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). These scales assess the severity and frequency of the above-described symptoms and the extent to which they impact an individual’s life. 

The following are questions similar to those you may see on a depression screener:

• Have you lost interest or pleasure in activities you once enjoyed?
• Has your weight fluctuated significantly?
• Have you experienced increases/decreases in appetite?
• Are you often irritable or moody?
• Do you withdraw from others?
• Is it harder than usual to get out of bed in the morning?
• Do you lack energy, motivation, and zest for life?
• Has your self-esteem or self-worth diminished recently?
• Have your sleeping patterns recently changed?
• Are you using potentially unhealthy coping mechanisms (e.g., drugs or alcohol) to manage your low mood?

Tools for individuals

Stress can cause various physiological and psychological responses. When someone feels stressed, they may experience sweating, rapid heart rate, worry, and nervousness. Like anxiety, feelings resulting from stress help you stay alert and active. Ongoing, severe, and disruptive stress can also cause issues.

Anxiety and stress differ in their origins. Stress originates from threats or challenges, while anxiety arises from future concerns. While stress has a clear source, anxiety can develop without one. Instead, anxiety may result from excessive stress or the anticipation of future stress.

Stress screening tools—such as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)—can help shed light on an individual’s stress levels.  

The following are questions similar to those you may see on a stress screener:

• Do you often wish you had more time to do the things that you want to do?
• Do you schedule yourself too tightly, often rushing from one activity to another?
• Do you often feel overwhelmed?
• Do you let others cross your personal boundaries?
• Do you work in a high-pressure, high-stakes environment?
• Do you experience frequent interpersonal conflict?
• Do you often feel pressured to commit to things, even if you don't want to?
• Have you given up your hobbies due to work or other obligations?
• Has your appetite or eating schedule changed significantly due to time constraints?
• Do you experience sleep disruptions?

Navigating mental health challenges with online therapy

A licensed therapist can also teach you strategies to manage stress and avoid mental health conditions in the future. Researchers have confirmed the effectiveness of this type of internet-based counseling. In a recent meta-analysis—which included 14 studies and over 1,800 total participants—researchers concluded that online cognitive behavioral therapy effectively improves symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. 

Online therapy can help you better understand how well you cope with mental health challenges. With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can record your progress using an online journal. You’ll also be able to message your therapist anytime, which can be helpful if you forget to mention something during a session or have a question about stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms.