Anxiety Quiz:

This questionnaire helps you to recognise if you have an anxiety problem. Read the question and tick the responses that most accurately describe the way that you have been feeling in the past week.

You may do this on your child’s behalf if you are sure of how he/she has been feeling.

After you’ve done the test, come back here to check with the results

If you or your child has a score indicating an anxiety problem, you or your child needs help. The list below describes the possible anxiety disorders that you or your child may suffer from:

  1. Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by an excessive worry about life events or activities such as work or school. The person concerned suffers at least 3 of the anxiety symptoms of restlessness, fatigue, concentration difficulty, irritability, muscular tension or sleep disturbance. (Children may only suffer from 1 symptom)
  2. Specific phobia is characterized by an excessive and persistent fear of a specific object or situation. Exposure to the feared object or situation provokes an immediate anxiety response. (In children, this may take the form of crying, clinginess, temper tantrum or frozenness)
  3. Panic disorder is characterized by recurrent and unprovoked panic attacks of palpitation, sweatiness, shaking, chest tightness, choking sensation, dizziness, nausea, pins and needles sensation, hot flushes and feeling of gloom and doom. The person may also develop agoraphobia.
  4. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by recurrent and intrusive thoughts and images that are distressing to the person, and the person develops ritualistic behavior such as cleaning, counting, checking to combat the anxiety.
  5. Separation anxiety disorder is characterized by an excessive anxiety about separation from home or the person that the child feels very attached to. The child may worry excessively about losing his/her loved ones and possible harm happening to the loved ones or the home.
  6. Posttraumatic disorder is characterized by a prior exposure to a traumatic event of such distressing degree that the person suffers persistent anxiety symptoms, nightmare and flashback. (Children may display disorganized behavior, experience frightening dreams without remembering the content and act out the trauma during play)
  7. Social phobia is characterized by an excessive fear of social or performance situations where the person feels that he/she is being scrutinized. (Children may display crying, withdrawal, tantrum and frozen behaviour)