Anxiety Test Online: Is My Nervousness Normal?

Do you notice a knot in your stomach almost every day, struggle to stop turning things over in your mind, and feel as if your body is always on alert? Anxiety is a normal response to whatever we perceive as a threat, but when it becomes constant, out of proportion and starts to hold you back, it stops being an ally. This anxiety test helps you find out in four minutes whether what you feel is within the expected range or deserves a professional assessment. It is free, anonymous, and your answers never leave your device.

What is anxiety and when does it stop being normal?

Anxiety is a basic, universal emotion: the alarm response with which body and mind prepare for possible danger. It speeds up the heart, tenses the muscles, sharpens attention and pushes us to act. Without it we would not study for an exam or look before crossing the road. In the right measure, anxiety is adaptive.

The problem arises when that alarm goes off too often, too intensely or without any real threat to justify it. That is when we speak of pathological anxiety or an anxiety disorder. Three signs help to tell it apart from normal anxiety:

• Disproportion: the reaction is far greater than the situation that triggers it, or it appears for no apparent reason.
• Persistence: it is not confined to a single moment but lasts for weeks or months, on most days.
• Interference: it affects your work, studies, sleep or relationships, or leads you to avoid things you used to do.

According to the World Health Organization, anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in the world, affecting around 4% of the population, and they are almost twice as common in women as in men. They usually begin in adolescence or early adulthood, although they can appear at any age: in teenagers they often show up as irritability or physical complaints and, in older people, as worry about health. They frequently go unrecognised for years because the person gets used to living under tension or puts the physical symptoms down to other causes. The good news is that they respond very well to psychological treatment.

Symptoms of anxiety: mental, physical and behavioural

Anxiety shows itself on three levels that feed one another: what you think, what your body feels and what you do. Recognising all three matters because many people only identify one of them, usually the physical one, and end up going from doctor to doctor without finding an explanation.

Mental and emotional symptoms

• Excessive worry that is hard to control, often about several things at once.
• Feeling nervous, restless or "on edge".
• Catastrophic anticipation: the mind always jumps to the worst-case scenario.
• Difficulty concentrating or a feeling of the mind "going blank".
• Irritability and low tolerance for frustration.
• Fear of losing control, going mad or something terrible happening.

Physical symptoms of anxiety

• Palpitations, a racing heart, tightness in the chest.
• Shortness of breath or a choking sensation.
• Muscle tension, headaches, clenched jaw, knotted muscles.
• Sweating, trembling, tingling in the hands or face.
• Digestive discomfort: a knot in the stomach, nausea, diarrhoea.
• Dizziness, unsteadiness, a sense of unreality.
• Sleep problems and constant fatigue.

Behavioural symptoms

• Avoiding situations, places or people that trigger anxiety.
• Putting off decisions or tasks for fear of getting them wrong.
• Repeatedly checking, asking for confirmation or seeking reassurance.
• Turning to alcohol, tobacco or food to calm down.

No single symptom defines anxiety. What points towards a disorder is the combination, frequency and impact these symptoms have on your life, which is exactly what this test tries to measure.

Types of anxiety disorder: GAD, panic, phobias, social anxiety and agoraphobia

The DSM-5-TR and the ICD-11 describe several anxiety disorders. They all share excessive fear and worry, but differ in their focus and in how they appear:

• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD): persistent, hard-to-control worry about many topics (health, money, work, family) for at least six months, accompanied by restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, irritability, poor concentration or sleep problems. It is the disorder that the GAD-7 and the first part of this test focus on.
• Panic disorder: sudden, unexpected panic attacks with very intense physical symptoms that peak within minutes, followed by a persistent fear of them happening again.
• Agoraphobia: fear and avoidance of places from which it would be hard to escape or get help if symptoms appeared: public transport, open or enclosed spaces, queues, crowds or being outside the home alone.
• Specific phobia: intense, disproportionate fear of a particular object or situation (flying, heights, animals, blood, injections) that is avoided or endured with great distress.
• Social anxiety disorder (social phobia): marked fear of situations in which you may be observed or judged by others: public speaking, meeting people, eating in front of others.

There are also separation anxiety in adults, selective mutism and anxiety induced by substances or medical conditions. It is common for several disorders to coexist: for example, GAD with panic disorder, or social anxiety with depression. This test measures anxiety in general; if you suspect social anxiety, we have a specific test for it.

How does this online anxiety test work?

The questionnaire consists of 14 statements. The first seven are an adaptation of the GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale), the most widely used anxiety screening instrument in the world, which is in the public domain. The remaining seven are original items that extend the assessment to three areas the GAD-7 does not fully cover: physical symptoms (palpitations, muscle tension, worry-related insomnia), avoidance and interference with daily life.

For each statement you indicate how often it has happened to you over the last two weeks: "not at all" (0 points), "several days" (1), "more than half the days" (2) or "nearly every day" (3). The total score ranges from 0 to 42, and you also get a breakdown across three areas: worry and mental tension, physical symptoms, and avoidance and interference.

The test is free, anonymous and requires no registration. The calculation is done in your own browser: we neither send nor store your answers. It takes about four minutes. Answer honestly, thinking about how you have felt on most days rather than on the worst or the best of them. If you hesitate between two options, choose the one that best describes your usual experience.

How to interpret your anxiety test score

Scores are grouped into four indicative levels:

• 0-8 · Low: anxiety within the expected range; occasional symptoms that do not interfere.
• 9-17 · Mild: symptoms present on several days; worth monitoring and looking after your habits.
• 18-28 · Moderate: probably significant level; a professional assessment is recommended.
• 29-42 · High: very frequent symptoms and major interference; assessment should be a priority.

The breakdown by area adds useful nuance. A high score in worry and mental tension with few physical symptoms points to a profile of rumination and anticipation, typical of GAD. If physical symptoms stand out, you may be experiencing anxiety mainly in your body, as happens in panic disorder, and it is worth ruling out medical causes. When avoidance and interference scores high, anxiety is already shrinking your life, and that is usually the best indicator that you need help, regardless of the total score.

Remember that a screening test does not diagnose. A high score means your symptoms resemble those of an anxiety disorder closely enough to justify a consultation; a low score reduces that likelihood but does not rule it out, especially if your symptoms are intermittent or fluctuate over the month. Only a professional can confirm a diagnosis after a clinical interview.

Anxiety, stress and depression: how to tell them apart

They are often confused because they share symptoms (tension, insomnia, irritability, poor concentration), but they are not the same thing and the treatment changes depending on the case.

Anxiety vs. stress

Stress is the response to a specific, identifiable demand: a deadline, an exam, a house move, illness in the family. It is usually proportionate and disappears once the situation is resolved. Anxiety, on the other hand, is anticipatory: it focuses on what might happen, persists even when the threat does not exist or has already passed, and the person often cannot say exactly what triggers it. Stress sustained over months can end up turning into an anxiety disorder.

Anxiety vs. depression

Anxiety is an emotion of activation (alertness, tension, fear of the future); depression is an emotion of deactivation (sadness, apathy, loss of interest, hopelessness, slowing down). Yet they coexist extremely often: roughly half of people with depression also have an anxiety disorder, and prolonged anxiety is exhausting and can open the door to a depressive episode. If, alongside nervousness, you notice persistent sadness, loss of pleasure or lack of energy, complete our depression test as well.

Other conditions that can look like anxiety include hyperthyroidism, arrhythmias, anaemia, sleep apnoea, too much caffeine or ADHD, in which restlessness and poor concentration have a different origin. That is why a good assessment always includes your medical history.

What to do after the test: evidence-based treatment for anxiety

If your result is moderate or high, or mild but long-standing, the next step is a professional assessment. You can go directly to a licensed psychologist or to your GP, who will rule out physical causes and, where appropriate, refer you to mental health services.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

It is the psychological treatment with the strongest evidence for every anxiety disorder and the first-line recommendation in international clinical guidelines. It works on the thoughts that feed worry, teaches you to tolerate uncertainty and, above all, uses gradual exposure to dismantle avoidance. In many cases, 8 to 16 sessions bring clear, lasting improvement.

Techniques you can start today

• Slow, diaphragmatic breathing: four seconds in and six seconds out, for a few minutes several times a day.
• Progressive muscle relaxation: tensing and releasing muscle groups to learn to spot tension.
• Worry time: gathering your worries into a fixed slot each day instead of ruminating all day long.
• Mindfulness: observing anxious thoughts without fighting them or obeying them.
• Facing rather than avoiding, in small, planned steps.

When is medication needed?

When anxiety is intense, disabling or does not respond to therapy, a doctor or psychiatrist may consider SSRI or SNRI antidepressants, the first-choice drugs; anxiolytics are reserved for short periods because of the risk of dependence. Medication works best combined with psychotherapy.

Habits that protect you

Regular exercise, enough sleep at regular times, less caffeine and alcohol, social contact and limits on news and social media. A specialised psychologist, such as the one we recommend at the end of the test, can design a plan tailored to your situation together with you, including online sessions.

The scientific basis of this anxiety test

The first seven items of this questionnaire are an adaptation of the GAD-7 (Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams and Löwe, 2006), a public-domain scale developed to detect generalised anxiety disorder in primary care that also performs well as a screening tool for other anxiety disorders (panic, social anxiety, post-traumatic stress). It has validated translations in many languages, including Spanish, and its cut-off points (5, 10 and 15) are the usual reference for mild, moderate and severe anxiety.

The remaining seven items were written from the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 criteria for anxiety disorders, in order to capture somatic symptoms, avoidance and functional impairment, which are the elements that best distinguish normal anxiety from clinical anxiety. The cut-off points for the total score are indicative and were set to maximise sensitivity: we would rather flag someone who turns out not to have a disorder than overlook someone who does. The content has been reviewed by the MyPsicoTest team in line with current clinical guidelines and is updated periodically.

The 14 questions in this test

Think about how you have felt over the last 2 weeks.

1. I have felt nervous, anxious or on edge.
2. I have not been able to stop or control worrying.
3. I have worried too much about different things.
4. I have had trouble relaxing.
5. I have been so restless that it was hard to sit still.
6. I have become easily annoyed or irritable.
7. I have felt afraid, as if something awful might happen.
8. I have noticed palpitations, a racing heart, sweating or shortness of breath without any physical exertion.
9. My body has felt tense: clenched jaw, tight shoulders, headaches or an upset stomach.
10. I have struggled to fall asleep, or woken in the early hours turning my worries over.
11. I have avoided situations, places or activities because of the anxiety they cause me.
12. I have put off decisions or tasks, or cancelled plans, out of fear or nervousness.
13. Anxiety has made it hard for me to concentrate or perform at work, in my studies or with chores at home.
14. Anxiety has affected my social, family or romantic life.

Answer scale: Not at all · Several days · More than half the days · Nearly every day

If your result worries you or you want a professional assessment, you can talk to Xènia Capel Salcedo, a licensed psychologist (COPC reg. 14982), who offers a free first consultation call and online therapy from anywhere.

Reviewed by the MyPsicoTest team · Updated: 27 October 2026