The 12 Assessment Instruments for Anxiety Disorders

At present, a large part of the world's population lives in a globalized society, which experiences continuous changes at high speed, so people often have difficulties to adapt to them and, with it, the cases of suffering from anxiety are increasing.

Given the high prevalence of anxiety disorders within the world population, professionals increasingly have greater demands for the detection and treatment of anxiety disorders. themselves, which is why a large multitude of assessment instruments for anxiety disorders have been developed, as well as psychological treatments specific.

In this article we will talk about the most used instruments to evaluate anxiety disorders, finding some both to measure anxiety as a general construct, as well as to measure various more specific anxiety disorders (for example, phobias, generalized anxiety, etc.).

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The most widely used anxiety disorders assessment instruments

These are the most frequently used assessment instruments for anxiety disorders in clinical psychology.

1. State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire (STAI)

The Questionnaire to measure state anxiety and trait anxiety developed by Spielberger and his collaborators is one of the instruments for evaluating the most widely used anxiety disorders, if not to say that it could be the one most used by professionals.

State anxiety is defined as a process of intense emotional activation in the face of a stimulus that the person perceives as dangerous or in anticipation of it, so it starts some actions in order to anticipate or protect itself from it, such as the acts of flight and avoidance of the risks that you think you will take if you face the situation feared. In this case, the person feels anxiety at a specific moment and usually calms down when the stimulus that considered dangerous has disappeared, but you do not have to have a predisposition to feel that mode.

In the case of trait anxiety, the symptoms experienced by the person are quite similar to those felt in a case of state anxiety; However, in this case the person has a greater predisposition to feel anxiety, they may even experience feelings of restlessness and worry without some stimulus in the environment that has triggered them. In this case, it could be said that when a case of trait anxiety is detected, it is because the person evaluated usually experiences states of tension on a regular basis.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the STAI questionnaire for anxiety is made up of 2 scales of 20 items each; one being to measure state anxiety and the other to measure trait anxiety. In addition, its items are answered on a Likert scale (from 0 to 3) and the scores can range from 20 to 80 points, this score being directly proportional, in an ascending way, to the degree of anxiety experienced by the person evaluated.

This is one of the anxiety disorders assessment tools that can also be used during the assessment process of the anxiety disorder. obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), eating disorders (ED), among others.

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2. Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)

This instrument was developed primarily in order to measure clinical anxiety or prolonged state of anxiety over time. Unlike other assessment instruments for anxiety disorders that are also used to assess cases of depression, as is the case of the STAI, the BAI is in charge of measuring anxiety in a more specific way, because its items have less content related to anxiety. depression.

This inventory to measure anxiety was developed by Aaron beck and Robert A. Steer, in order to measure anxiety in a wide variety of clinical patients and in the general population aged 13 years and over. On the other hand, This inventory is made up of 21 items that must be answered on a Likert-type scale with a score of 0 to 3 points per item, so the maximum anxiety score would be when reaching 63 points.

The cut-off points of this inventory to measure anxiety are the following:

• Very low anxiety: 0 to 21 points.
• Moderate anxiety: 22 to 35 points.
• Severe anxiety: 36 to 63 points.

• Related article: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

Other assessment instruments for anxiety disorders

Below we will briefly explain some of the most commonly used instruments to measure other disorders anxiety disorder: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and mutism selective.

1. Instruments to assess generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

These are some of the most widely used assessment instruments for generalized anxiety disorders.

1.1 Questionnaire for the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GADQ-M)

The Spanish version of this questionnaire, developed by Sandín, is made up of 11 items that serve to make the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder in a short time. It is relevant to note that its items are mainly focused on providing information about the characteristics of the evaluated concerns; although it is based on the DSM-IV criteria, since no new or revised edition has been made.

1.2 Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ)

This questionnaire contains 16 items that are used to carry out an evaluation of pathological and generalized concern, that is, a worry that is uncontrollable and excessive. Its most modern version is number 11 (PSWQ-11).

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2. Instruments to assess panic disorder

In the following, we will briefly explain some of the assessment instruments for disorders of the anxiety disorders that have been developed more specifically for panic disorders and agoraphobia.

2.1 Agoraphobia Inventory (IA)

The Spanish version of this questionnaire has been developed by Echeburúa et al. And It consists of 69 items that have been developed to assess the symptoms of agoraphobia.

This inventory is divided into 2 parts:

• Part 1: to assess avoidance, bodily sensations, and cognitions related.
• Part 2: to assess a number of possible moderating factors for those anxiety responses.

2.2 Panic and Agoraphobia Questionnaire (CPA)

This questionnaire consists of 40 items to evaluate and diagnose panic disorder and agoraphobia, following the DSM-IV criteria.

The advantages of this test are the following:

• Allows you to detect the severity of panic attacks.
• It makes the diagnosis of panic disorder and agoraphobia possible.
• It is used to detect coping with panic, interoceptive avoidance and agoraphobia, among others.

2.3 Abbreviated Questionnaire for Panic Disorder (CATP)

It has been developed by Sandín and collaborators, and revised in 2015. It is composed of 14 items that evaluate three relevant factors of panic disorder through 3 scales:

• The severity of the panic.
• The catastrophic interpretations in the face of panic.
• The self-efficacy of the individual in the face of panic.

2.4 Questionnaire of Panic Attacks for Children and Adolescents (CAPN)

It is a version of 28 items to evaluate and diagnose panic disorder, being a version developed specifically for children and adolescents.

3. Instruments to assess phobias

In this section we will see which are the instruments that are usually used in the clinical field of psychology to evaluate phobias.

3.1 Inventory of School Fears (IME)

This is one of the assessment instruments for anxiety disorders, although this is more specific, since it is more focused on the anxiety symptoms experienced before certain school fears. There are 3 different versions, each one focused on a population group at a certain stage of evolutionary development.

It is used to evaluate fears related to the school context: fear of physical discomfort, school failure, punishment, social evaluation, among others.

3.2 FSSC-Spanish fear questionnaire for children (FSSC-E)

It is made up of 80 items and has an abbreviated version (25 items) and an updated version of 2016, made by Sandín and collaborators.

It is a questionnaire that is used to evaluate fear of danger, death, animals, strangers, social fears, and medical fears.

3.3 Inventory of Fears FSS-III-66

The Spanish version has 60 topics and is used to evaluate the following phobias: social fears, fears agoraphobic, fears of what is unfamiliar or unfamiliar, fears of blood-injections, harm and fears of animals.

4. Instruments to assess separation anxiety disorder (SAD)

The following are some of the most widely used separation anxiety disorder assessment instruments.

4.1 Separation Anxiety Symptom Inventory (SASI)

This questionnaire consists of 15 items and It is used to assess separation anxiety retrospectively in people who are already adults, although it focuses on assessing separation anxiety caused at an early age.

4.2 Childhood Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (CASI)

This 26-item questionnaire is focused on children between the ages of 6 and 11 years old. Fundamentally assesses concern about separation, discomfort about separation, and peace of mind about separation. It also has a version for the child's parents to answer.

4.3 Early Onset Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (CASIT)

This questionnaire consists of 24 items and is aimed at a very small population group (3-5 year old children). It is applied by the child's parents and it assesses separation anxiety in relation to sleep, day-to-day events, or the loss or harm of a loved one.