High — Time to Get Support
Worry is now driving the day. You deserve help.
Roughly 3-5% of adults land in this band
Your answers suggest a level of distress and impairment that warrants prompt professional support. Symptoms are interfering with most areas of life—work, sleep, relationships, and basic self-care. This is not weakness, character flaw, or willpower failure: anxiety at this level is common and treatable. The right next step is professional evaluation within days, not months. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, contact a crisis line immediately: 988 (US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), 116 123 (Samaritans, UK), or your local emergency number. This is a self-reflection tool, not a diagnostic tool, screening instrument, or medical device—but at this level, please talk to a licensed professional as soon as you can.
Strengths
- You completed a check-in while struggling—that takes real courage
- Often deeply caring, conscientious, and attuned to others
- Insight into the gap between how you feel and how you want to feel
- Frequently very capable once worry is eased by support
- Strong response to well-supported treatment when it is started
Challenges
- Daily life is significantly disrupted (work, sleep, relationships)
- Frequent panic episodes, dread, or constant background worry
- Concentration and short-term memory can feel broken
- Avoidance is now shaping where you go and what you do
- Co-occurring low mood, sleep problems, or substance use are common at this level
Famous Highs
Lady Gaga
Singer and actress. Has spoken publicly about PTSD, severe anxiety, and chronic pain, and the role of trauma-focused therapy and medication in her recovery.
Selena Gomez
Singer and producer. Has discussed severe panic attacks and a 2018 hospitalisation, and her ongoing dialectical behaviour therapy.
Stephen Hawking
Theoretical physicist. Discussed early severe anxiety after his ALS diagnosis at age 21, and gradually finding stability through work, family, and structure.
Adele
Singer-songwriter. Has spoken openly about severe pre-performance anxiety and post-natal anxiety, and about the role of therapy and structure in working with — not against — that wiring.
Career Matches
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is a high score the same as having an anxiety condition?
No. It is the level most strongly associated with a clinical anxiety condition, but a self-reflection check-in on its own cannot identify a condition. It is a strong signal that you would benefit from formal evaluation by a GP, psychiatrist, or licensed psychologist—they will use a proper clinical interview to confirm or rule out a diagnosis.
I am scared. What do I do right now?
Three steps: (1) Tell one person you trust today—a partner, friend, family member, GP receptionist. (2) Book an urgent GP or therapist appointment within the next 1-2 weeks; in the UK you can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies without a GP, in the US you can search psychologytoday.com by zip code. (3) If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or you cannot keep yourself safe, call 988 (US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), 116 123 (Samaritans, UK), or go to A&E / the emergency room. You do not have to be in immediate physical danger to call these lines.
Will I always feel like this?
No. Anxiety at this level is treatable. Many people achieve substantial improvement with cognitive behavioural therapy; a similar share respond to SSRIs; combining therapy and medication often outperforms either alone for more severe presentations. Most people feel meaningfully better within 8-16 weeks of starting well-supported treatment.
Should I keep working?
Talk to a clinician about this rather than deciding alone. Some people benefit from continuing structured work; others need a leave of absence or reduced hours to stabilize. In the UK, GPs can issue a fit note. In the US, FMLA leave or short-term disability may apply. An employer cannot legally discriminate against a treated mental-health condition (Equality Act 2010 in the UK; ADA in the US).
What is the difference between severe anxiety and a panic disorder?
They overlap and often co-occur. Chronic, day-to-day worry about many things is one pattern. Panic attacks—discrete episodes of intense fear with physical symptoms like racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness, dread of dying, usually peaking within minutes—are a different pattern. This check-in can pick up either, but a clinician will differentiate them and may add a mood check and a panic-specific tool to clarify the picture.
Famous-person type assignments are estimates based on public writing and behaviour, not validated test results. Results Library content is educational, not a clinical assessment.