Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS)
OASIS: Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale. A brief 5-item transdiagnostic assessment.
1. Frequency
How often have you felt anxious?
2. Intensity
How intense was your anxiety?
3. Avoidance
How often did you avoid situations/places?
4. Work/School Impairment
How much did anxiety interfere with work/school?
5. Social Impairment
How much did anxiety interfere with social activities?
Guidelines & Evidence
Clinical Details
Section 1
When to Use
Clinical Utility
Brief transdiagnostic screening for anxiety disorder severity
Cross-diagnostic longitudinal tracking of treatment progress
Assessment of functional impairment caused by anxiety symptoms
Primary care and high-volume clinical settings where brief instruments are required
Section 2
Formula & Logic
Scoring Logic
The OASIS consists of 5 items assessing frequency, intensity, behavioral avoidance, and functional impairment (work/school and social) over the past week. Each item is rated 0–4. Total score ranges from 0 to 20.
Thresholds
0–7 points
Low / Normal anxiety levels
8+ points
Probable clinical anxiety disorder
Section 3
Evidence Appraisal
Validation
Development and validation of an Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS).
Norman SB et al. • Depress Anxiety.. 2006;23(4):245-9. Initial validation showing high correlation with disorder-specific measures (e.g., BAI, PDSS).
Validation of a brief measure of anxiety-related severity and impairment: the Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS).
Campbell-Sills L et al. • J Affect Disord.. 2009;112(1-3):92-101. Confirmed a score of ≥8 as the optimal cut-off for identifying anxiety disorders.
