{"id":3923,"date":"2024-02-25T21:55:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T20:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psyctc.org\/psyctc\/?post_type=docs&p=3923"},"modified":"2026-03-30T11:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:55:09","password":"","slug":"hospital-anxiety-and-depression-scale-hads","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.psyctc.org\/psyctc\/glossary2\/hospital-anxiety-and-depression-scale-hads\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A 14 item self-report questionnaire (Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67(6), 361\u2013370. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1600-0447.1983.tb09716.x<\/a>) developed out of earlier work on the “Leeds scales” (Snaith, R. P., Bridge, G. W. K., & Hamilton, M. (1976). The Leeds scales for the self-assessment of anxiety and depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 156\u2013165. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1192\/bjp.128.2.156<\/a>). It was developed specifically to help detection of “clinical” levels of anxiety and\/or depression in patients in hospital for physical conditions: hence the name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, as I have thought it a useful measure, it’s copyright and not free to use without payment of a fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The measure has seven anxiety items and seven depression items all scored 0 to 3 on four level responses. A bit unusually the responses vary across the items some being frequency scaling e.g. “most of the time” to “not at all” but others are endorsement ratings, e.g. “definitely” to “I take just as much care as ever”. That last also illustrates that some are comparative ratings. It’s also unusual in that the levels differ even within the frequency ratings. The time frame is “over the last week”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try also<\/h4>\n\n\n\n