High Score on an Anxiety Test: How to Read It and What to Do

You have just completed the anxiety test and the result surprises you — or confirms what you suspected. A high score often raises questions: Is it serious? Should I see someone? How did I get here? This article helps you decode your score, understand what it really reveals and, above all, know which concrete steps to take.

What does a high score really mean?

A high score on an anxiety test is not a diagnosis. It is a confidential self-check that helps put words to an experience — it is no substitute for a professional opinion. Thinking that you "have" anxiety and being in daily distress are two different things.

The three dimensions of a high score

1. The intensity of physical symptoms Trembling, palpitations, sweating, chronic muscle tension. Your body is signalling an activation of the sympathetic nervous system (the "fight or flight" response) that will not switch off. It is as though your internal alarm were stuck at "maximum alert". 2. Recurring, intrusive thoughts You anticipate the worst, you replay disaster scenarios, you ask yourself a thousand "what ifs". These thoughts are not facts — they are cognitive distortions, those mental biases that amplify threat. Discover how these distortions sabotage your relationship and your wellbeing. 3. Avoidance and a shrinking life You avoid situations, places and people in order to escape discomfort. In the short term, it brings relief. In the long term, it reinforces anxiety by (falsely) confirming that the threat is real.

Why a high score? The possible roots

A high score on an anxiety test rarely comes out of nowhere. It usually has origins that CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) helps untangle.

Early emotional wounds

If you grew up in an unpredictable, critical or overprotective environment, your brain learned to stay on alert. The 5 emotional wounds — rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, injustice — deeply affect your relationship and your peace of mind. Anxiety is often the relational scar left by those wounds.

Young's schemas

Jeffrey Young, the founder of schema therapy, identified 18 early maladaptive schemas — fixed beliefs about yourself and the world. High anxiety often correlates with schemas such as:

• Vulnerability to harm: the conviction that something terrible is going to happen


• Loss of control: the fear of losing your grip on your life


• Abandonment: the fear of being left alone

Explore your 18 Young schemas to identify your emotional wounds.

Current life factors

A divorce, a career change, a toxic relationship, debts, a bereavement — a high anxiety score can also be a healthy reaction to a threatening situation. Before pathologising yourself, ask yourself: Is my life objectively stressful right now?

How to interpret your score against the thresholds

Anxiety tests generally use thresholds:

Careful: these thresholds vary from one test to another. Always check the interpretation grid provided with your result.

Traps to avoid after a high score

1. Catastrophising the result

"I have a high score, so I'm anxious for life." False. A test measures a moment in time. Your score can come down with concrete changes.

2. Self-diagnosis without a professional

A high score does not mean "generalised anxiety disorder" or "social anxiety". Only a psychologist or psychiatrist can make a diagnosis.

3. Waiting for it to go away on its own

Anxiety tends to be self-perpetuating. Without intervention, it takes root. But it is also very treatable — CBT has proven effectiveness.

5 concrete steps after a high score

Step 1: Accept without judging

Your high score is not a weakness. It is information. You are not "broken" — you are someone going through an anxious period who has the wisdom to acknowledge it.

Step 2: Identify your triggers

For one week, note down:

• When anxiety rises (time, context, person)


• How it shows up (thoughts, sensations, behaviours)


• What you did to relieve it

This journal reveals patterns. Perhaps anxiety spikes before work meetings, or when you are alone in the evening, or after an argument with your partner.

Step 3: Try a simple breathing technique

The 4-7-8 breath (inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, exhale for 8) activates your parasympathetic nervous system — the opposite of the alarm. Practise for 3 minutes a day. It is not magic, but it is a physiological anchor.

Step 4: Consult a professional

If your score is high or very high, a consultation with a psychologist or a CBT psychotherapist makes sense. Visit psychologieetserenite.com to find a practitioner. CBT offers concrete, fast-acting tools — usually 8 to 16 sessions are enough to see measurable change.

Step 5: Act on your lifestyle

• Sleep: 7–9 hours, regularly (anxiety thrives when you are tired)
• Movement: 30 minutes of walking or exercise each day (reduces cortisol)
• Limit stimulants: caffeine and alcohol amplify anxiety
• Connection: talk to someone you trust — isolation feeds anxiety

Anxiety and relationships: an often forgotten link

Anxiety does not live in a vacuum. It affects your relationship, your friendships, your work. You may become:

• Hypervigilant to your partner's judgement


• Emotionally dependent — seeking constant reassurance


• Avoidant — fleeing intimacy for fear of rejection

If you are in a relationship and have a high score, a useful question is: Does my anxiety come from my relationship, or am I projecting it onto the relationship? Analyse your conversations with your partner on ScanMyLove to identify the communication patterns that fuel the tension.

When anxiety is hiding something else

Sometimes a high score signals something else. Check for:

• Depression: anxiety and depression often go together. A high score plus fatigue, emotional emptiness and loss of interest may point to a masked depression.
• Trauma: if your anxiety worsened after an event (a break-up, an accident, an assault), you may be dealing with post-traumatic anxiety.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder: if your anxiety is tied to intrusive thoughts or compulsions, that is a different profile.

If you are going through real difficulty — not just a bad day — these 10 signs will help you get clear.

The key message: a high score is a starting point, not a sentence

Your high score is telling you: "Hey, something here deserves attention." It is an invitation to understand your brain, your wounds, your beliefs — and to transform them.

Anxiety is treatable. Thousands of people have brought their score down from 70 to 30, or from 85 to 45. It takes time, consistency and often professional support — but it is possible.

If you are in immediate distress or having dark thoughts, contact your local emergency services, or find a helpline in your country at findahelpline.com. For free emotional support, wherever you are, befrienders.org lists volunteer listening services available around the clock.

---

Gildas Garrec, CBT psychotherapist in Nantes