DASS Scoring Instructions

<strong>DASS</strong>21 Name: Date:<br />

Please read each statement and circle a number 0, 1, 2 or 3 which indicates how much the statement<br />

applied to you over the past week. There are no right or wrong answers. Do not spend too much<br />

time on any statement.<br />

The rating scale is as follows:<br />

0 Did not apply to me at all<br />

1 Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time<br />

2 Applied to me to a considerable degree or a good part of time<br />

3 Applied to me very much or most of the time<br />

1 (s) I found it hard to wind down 0 1 2 3<br />

2 (a) I was aware of dryness of my mouth 0 1 2 3<br />

3 (d) I couldn’t seem to experience any positive feeling at all 0 1 2 3<br />

4 (a)<br />

I experienced breathing difficulty (e.g. excessively rapid breathing,<br />

breathlessness in the absence of physical exertion)<br />

0 1 2 3<br />

5 (d) I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things 0 1 2 3<br />

6 (s) I tended to over-react to situations 0 1 2 3<br />

7 (a) I experienced trembling (e.g. in the hands) 0 1 2 3<br />

8 (s) I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy 0 1 2 3<br />

9 (a)<br />

I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool<br />

of myself<br />

0 1 2 3<br />

10 (d) I felt that I had nothing to look forward to 0 1 2 3<br />

11 (s) I found myself getting agitated 0 1 2 3<br />

12 (s) I found it difficult to relax 0 1 2 3<br />

13 (d) I felt down-hearted and blue 0 1 2 3<br />

14 (s)<br />

I was intolerant of anything that kept me from getting on with what I<br />

was doing<br />

0 1 2 3<br />

15 (a) I felt I was close to panic 0 1 2 3<br />

16 (d) I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything 0 1 2 3<br />

17 (d) I felt I wasn’t worth much as a person 0 1 2 3<br />

18 (s) I felt that I was rather touchy 0 1 2 3<br />

19 (a)<br />

I was aware of the action of my heart in the absence of physical<br />

exertion (e.g. sense of heart rate increase, heart missing a beat)<br />

0 1 2 3<br />

20 (a) I felt scared without any good reason 0 1 2 3<br />

21 (d) I felt that life was meaningless 0 1 2 3

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<strong>DASS</strong>-21 <strong>Scoring</strong> <strong>Instructions</strong><br />

The <strong>DASS</strong>-21 should not be used to replace a face to face clinical interview. If you are experiencing significant<br />

emotional difficulties you should contact your GP for a referral to a qualified professional.<br />

Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (<strong>DASS</strong>-21)<br />

The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (<strong>DASS</strong>-21) is a set of three self-report scales designed to<br />

measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress.<br />

Each of the three <strong>DASS</strong>-21 scales contains 7 items, divided into subscales with similar content. The depression<br />

scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of interest / involvement,<br />

anhedonia and inertia. The anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational<br />

anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. The stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic nonspecific<br />

arousal. It assesses difficulty relaxing, nervous arousal, and being easily upset / agitated, irritable /<br />

over-reactive and impatient. Scores for depression, anxiety and stress are calculated by summing the scores<br />

for the relevant items.<br />

The <strong>DASS</strong>-21 is based on a dimensional rather than a categorical conception of psychological disorder. The<br />

assumption on which the <strong>DASS</strong>-21 development was based (and which was confirmed by the research data) is<br />

that the differences between the depression, anxiety and the stress experienced by normal subjects and<br />

clinical populations are essentially differences of degree. The <strong>DASS</strong>-21 therefore has no direct implications for<br />

the allocation of patients to discrete diagnostic categories postulated in classificatory systems such as the<br />

DSM and ICD.<br />

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

NB Scores on the <strong>DASS</strong>-21 will need to be multiplied by 2 to calculate the final score.<br />

Depression Anxiety Stress<br />

Normal 0-9 0-7 0-14<br />

Mild 10-13 8-9 15-18<br />

Moderate 14-20 10-14 19-25<br />

Severe 21-27 15-19 26-33<br />

Extremely Severe 28+ 20+ 34+<br />

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