DASS-21 Questionnaire

Please read each statement and circle a number 0, 1, 2 or 3 which indicates how much the statement applied to you over the past week. There are no right or wrong answers. Do not spend too much time on any statement.

1. I found it hard to wind down
Stress
2. I was aware of dryness of my mouth
Anxiety
3. I couldn't seem to experience any positive feeling at all
Depression
4. I experienced breathing difficulty (e.g., excessively rapid breathing, breathlessness in the absence of physical exertion)
Anxiety
5. I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things
Depression
6. I tended to over-react to situations
Stress
7. I experienced trembling (e.g., in the hands)
Anxiety
8. I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy
Stress
9. I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool of myself
Anxiety
10. I felt that I had nothing to look forward to
Depression
11. I found myself getting agitated
Stress
12. I found it difficult to relax
Stress
13. I felt down-hearted and blue
Depression
14. I was intolerant of anything that kept me from getting on with what I was doing
Stress
15. I felt I was close to panic
Anxiety
16. I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything
Depression
17. I felt I wasn't worth much as a person
Depression
18. I felt that I was rather touchy
Stress
19. 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)
Anxiety
20. I felt scared without any good reason
Anxiety
21. I felt that life was meaningless
Depression
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DASS-21 Scoring Instructions

The DASS-21 should not be used to replace a face to face clinical interview. If you are experiencing significant emotional difficulties you should contact your GP for a referral to a qualified professional.

Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21)

The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21) is a set of three self-report scales designed to measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress.

Each of the three DASS-21 scales contains 7 items, divided into subscales with similar content. The depression scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of interest / involvement, anhedonia and inertia. The anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. The stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. It assesses difficulty relaxing, nervous arousal, and being easily upset / agitated, irritable / over-reactive and impatient. Scores for depression, anxiety and stress are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items.

The DASS-21 is based on a dimensional rather than a categorical conception of psychological disorder. The assumption on which the DASS-21 development was based (and which was confirmed by the research data) is that the differences between the depression, anxiety and the stress experienced by normal subjects and clinical populations are essentially differences of degree. The DASS-21 therefore has no direct implications for the allocation of patients to discrete diagnostic categories postulated in classificatory systems such as the DSM and ICD.

Recommended cut-off scores for conventional severity labels (normal, moderate, severe) are as follows:

NB Scores on the DASS-21 will need to be multiplied by 2 to calculate the final score.

Scoring Guide

Severity Depression Anxiety Stress
Normal 0–9 0–7 0–14
Mild 10–13 8–9 15–18
Moderate 14–20 10–14 19–25
Severe 21–27 15–19 26–33
Extremely Severe 28+ 20+ 34+


Lovibond, S.H. & Lovibond, P.F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety & Stress Scales. (2nd Ed.)Sydney: Psychology Foundation.