DASS-42: Depression, Anxiety & Stress Self-AssessmentSave

DASS-42: Depression, Anxiety & Stress Self-Assessment

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8 min read

Let’s Get Started

Please read each statement and decide which option 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.

Disclaimer: This quiz is intended as an educational tool and does not diagnose any type of health or mental health condition.

Adapted from the DASS-42

Rating Scale — please refer to this when answering:

0Did not apply to me at all
1Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time
2Applied to me to a considerable degree, or a good part of time
3Applied to me very much, or most of the time

1. I found myself getting upset by quite trivial things

2. I was aware of dryness of my mouth

3. I couldn’t seem to experience any positive feeling at all

4. I experienced breathing difficulty (e.g. excessively rapid breathing, breathlessness in the absence of physical exertion)

5. I just couldn’t seem to get going

6. I tended to over-react to situations

7. I had a feeling of shakiness (e.g. legs going to give way)

8. I found it difficult to relax

9. I found myself in situations that made me so anxious I was most relieved when they ended

10. I felt that I had nothing to look forward to

11. I found myself getting upset rather easily

12. I felt that I was using a lot of nervous energy

13. I felt sad and depressed

14. I found myself getting impatient when I was delayed in any way (e.g. lifts, traffic lights, being kept waiting)

15. I had a feeling of faintness

16. I felt that I had lost interest in just about everything

17. I felt I wasn’t worth much as a person

18. I felt that I was rather touchy

19. I perspired noticeably (e.g. hands sweaty) in the absence of high temperatures or physical exertion

20. I felt scared without any good reason

21. I felt that life wasn’t worthwhile

22. I found it hard to wind down

23. I had difficulty in swallowing

24. I couldn’t seem to get any enjoyment out of the things I did

25. 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)

26. I felt down-hearted and blue

27. I found that I was very irritable

28. I felt I was close to panic

29. I found it hard to calm down after something upset me

30. I feared that I would be “thrown” by some trivial but unfamiliar task

31. I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything

32. I found it difficult to tolerate interruptions to what I was doing

33. I was in a state of nervous tension

34. I felt I was pretty worthless

35. I was intolerant of anything that kept me from getting on with what I was doing

36. I felt terrified

37. I could see nothing in the future to be hopeful about

38. I felt that life was meaningless

39. I found myself getting agitated

40. I was worried about situations in which I might panic and make a fool of myself

41. I experienced trembling (e.g. in the hands)

42. I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things

The Journal That Bridges the Gap Between Self-Assessment and Real Change

Taking the DASS-42 can feel clarifying in the moment—you see your scores, you recognize patterns—but then what? The gap between awareness and action is where most people get stuck, especially when anxiety and depression are pulling in different directions.

My pick: Weekly pattern tracking that shows if your depression and anxiety are actually shifting — Mental Health Journal for Women and Men – Anxiety & Guided on Amazon →

What works

  • The mood and habit tracker gives you a daily anchor point to notice whether your DASS-42 scores are shifting week to week—you’re not just assessing once, you’re building longitudinal awareness of your own patterns.
  • The guided prompts are structured enough to feel like scaffolding (not blank-page paralysis) but open enough that you’re not forcing feelings into a rigid box—which matters when depression and anxiety present differently for each person.
  • 91 days is long enough to actually see behavioral change stick, not just record one good week and stop—it mimics the timeline of real therapeutic work.

What doesn’t

  • A journal can’t replace treatment if your DASS-42 scores are in the moderate-to-severe range; it’s a companion tool, not a substitute for therapy or medical evaluation.
  • It requires consistent engagement—if you’re in a depressive episode where getting out of bed feels impossible, even 5 minutes can feel like too much, and that’s important to know going in.

I sometimes worry that journaling gets oversold as a standalone cure when someone is really struggling, and it’s not. But for people who’ve done their DASS-42 and want to move from measurement to mindfulness, this one has staying power. Check out the Mental Health Journal for Women and Men – Anxiety & Guided.

Mental Health Journal for Women and Men – Anxiety & Guided

I used it to connect my DASS-42 scores across 91 days and finally saw which habits actually moved the needle.

Check Price on Amazon →

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