The measurement of anxiety

Selected contemporary highlights and issues in the field of anxiety measurement are discussed. The concepts of state and trait anxiety, and the most widely used measures of these, are reviewed. A measure of state anxiety is essential in some clinical and experimental research and it is often very useful in clinical practice. Whilst existing measures are satisfactory for some purposes, none adequately assesses the psychological, somatic and behavioural components of anxiety. The measurement of trait anxiety is also important in some clinical research and as part of the assessment of selected patients. In some circumstances, self report measures of trait anxiety should be used in conjunction with a measure of social desirability. Patients who score low both on trait anxiety and social desirability may respond differently to experimental stressors from those who score low on trait anxiety and high on social desirability. This may have a number of implications, for example in the area of psychoimmunology. Four scales are reviewed in more detail: the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Clinical Anxiety Scale and the Fear Questionnaire. Finally, some future directions for research are outlined.