Five questions show how often anxiety came up over the past week, how strong it was, how much you avoided because of it, and how far it got in the way of work, study, home life and relationships. It is a screen, not a diagnosis.
The Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS) was developed by Sonya Norman and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, in 2006 to cover anxiety of any kind, not one disorder. The five questions cover how often you felt anxious, how intense it was, avoidance, and interference with work or home and with social life. Each answer scores 0 to 4, for a total of 0 to 20. A total of 8 or more is the cut-score researchers use to flag a probable anxiety disorder (Campbell-Sills and colleagues, 2008; Norman and colleagues, 2011).
This is not a diagnosis
The score shows how heavy anxiety was last week and how much it interfered, not which disorder is behind it. A cut-score of 8 flagged a probable anxiety disorder correctly in most, but not all, people in the studies. Only a professional can make a diagnosis after a conversation.
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What does a score of 8 or more mean on the OASIS?
In the studies, 8 was the cut-score that best separated people with an anxiety disorder from those without: it was right for about 78 in 100 college students and 87 in 100 primary care patients. It is a reason to talk to a professional, not a diagnosis. To look at specific worries, take the GAD-7: Anxiety test
Why does the OASIS also ask about avoidance and interference?
Anxiety is measured not only by how it feels but also by what it costs: avoided places, slower work, strained relationships. Two people with the same level of worry can have very different lives, and the last three questions capture that.
Source: OASIS: Norman S. B., Hami Cissell S., Means-Christensen A. J., Stein M. B., 2006, Development and validation of an Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS), Depression and Anxiety 23(4), 245-249, DOI 10.1002/da.20182; cut-score 8: Campbell-Sills L. et al., 2008, J Affect Disord 112, 92-101, and Norman S. B. et al., 2011, J Psychiatr Res 45(2), 262-268. Text: S2 Appendix to González-Robles A. et al., 2018, PLOS ONE 13(11): e0206516 (CC BY 4.0).
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