Agoraphobia Test: Screen Fear, Avoidance, and Physical Symptoms in Public Spaces
This agoraphobia test screens fear and avoidance when escape or help feels out of reach. Adapted from the DSM-5 Severity Measure for Agoraphobia, it gives an instant symptom summary, not a diagnosis.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Agoraphobia Test is a free, confidential 10-question self-assessment, based on the DSM-5 Severity Measure. It takes about 8 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 4 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
The fear, the symptoms, and the shrinking map
The Agoraphobia Test measures fear and avoidance of situations where escape may feel difficult or help unavailable. It considers anxious thoughts, physical symptoms, and changes in behavior together. Someone can still leave home and experience this pattern, particularly when outings depend on a companion or elaborate preparation.
The full severity measure
All ten items of the DSM-5 Severity Measure for Agoraphobia, covering sudden fear, worry, anxious thoughts, physical symptoms, avoidance, escape, and needing help to cope. Each is rated 0 to 4 over the past seven days, for a total of 0 to 40.
The defining situations
The DSM-5 names five situation types: public transportation, open spaces, enclosed places, standing in lines or being in crowds, and being outside the home alone. Your answers are about how you feel and act in these situations.
The past seven days
The measure asks about the last week, so your result reflects where things stand right now rather than your worst period. Clinicians use it the same way, repeating it over time to track change.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| The APA's own DSM-5 severity items | Rarely | Yes, all 10 items |
| Covers all five DSM-5 situation types | Vaguely | Yes, named explicitly |
| Real APA scoring bands | Made-up labels | Yes, honestly explained |
| Distinguishes agoraphobia from panic and social anxiety | No | Yes, clearly explained |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–40 in total. Your result falls into one of 4 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | None to minimal | Your answers round to an average severity of none. Agoraphobic fear does not seem to be shaping your week right now. |
| 5–14 | Mild severity | Your answers round to an average severity of mild on the APA's scale. Agoraphobic fear or avoidance is present, and this is a good moment to pay attention. |
| 15–24 | Moderate severity | Your answers round to an average severity of moderate on the APA's scale. These situations are costing you real anxiety, effort, or freedom, and support could make a real difference. |
| 25–40 | Severe to extreme | Your answers round to an average severity of severe or extreme on the APA's scale. These situations, or avoiding them, seem to be shaping most of your days. That is exhausting, and it is also very treatable. |
What avoidance can look like day to day
Agoraphobic avoidance rarely announces itself as fear. It shows up as small adjustments that add up: taking the longer route to skip a highway on-ramp, asking a partner to handle the grocery run, scheduling appointments only when someone can come along, or turning down a wedding because the drive is two hours from an exit. Some people keep working but stop attending in-person meetings; others keep leaving the house but only within a self-drawn radius of home. None of these choices look dramatic on their own, which is part of why agoraphobia can take years to name.
If several of these patterns sound familiar, working through a structured Fear Ladder or Exposure Hierarchy with a therapist can help map the situations worth tackling first, starting with the ones that cost the least and building from there.
When considering your result, describe what you actually did as well as how anxious you felt. A quiet period spent avoiding feared situations may give an incomplete picture of the restrictions in your life. Bring examples of missed activities, trips you postponed, and situations you managed only with support to an assessment.
Signs it may be time to talk to a professional
Occasional nerves about a crowded subway or an unfamiliar highway are common and do not need treatment on their own. It is worth talking to a professional when avoidance starts making decisions for you: turning down a job because of the commute, missing a family event because of the drive, or arranging every outing around an exit route or a companion.
A licensed clinician can assess whether agoraphobia, panic disorder, or another anxiety condition fits, and can start cognitive behavioral therapy with exposure right away, often over telehealth if leaving the house is itself the obstacle. The Psychology.com therapist directory lists clinicians who specialize in anxiety and agoraphobia, and if fear ever escalates into thoughts of harming yourself, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text at any hour.
The Panic Disorder Test can help organize concerns about sudden attacks, while the Social Anxiety Test focuses on fear of judgment. Choose the related screening that matches your concern rather than treating several totals as confirmation of a diagnosis. You can find both in the Psychology.com tests hub and bring your examples to a clinician.
How is the agoraphobia test scored?
The APA measure contains 10 items rated from 0 to 4, producing a total from 0 to 40. Dividing the total by 10 gives the average item score used in the APA instructions. Higher scores indicate greater reported symptom severity. This page groups totals into educational result bands; those labels cannot establish a diagnosis.
The result breakdown organizes your answers by theme. These groupings contain different numbers of items, so a larger raw category total does not necessarily mean that area is proportionately more severe. Discuss individual answers and their effects on daily life instead of treating the largest category as a separate clinical finding.
Methodology & sources
The ten questions reproduce the Severity Measure for Agoraphobia, Adult, developed by Craske and colleagues (2013) and published by the American Psychiatric Association as a free emerging measure alongside the DSM-5. Each item asks how often you have had an experience over the past seven days in or about agoraphobic situations, rated from 0 (never) to 4 (all of the time), for a total of 0 to 40. The situations are the five the DSM-5 defines: using public transportation, being in open spaces, being in enclosed places, standing in line or being in a crowd, and being outside the home alone. Wording is lightly adjusted for readability while preserving the meaning of the published items.
This test is provided for education and self-reflection, not diagnosis. The APA scores this measure by average item score: total divided by ten, giving a severity scale anchored at none (0), mild (1), moderate (2), severe (3), or extreme (4). This page groups totals into bands using rounded averages and combines the severe and extreme categories. The APA instructions describe the average score; the grouped display is this page's presentation. A severity rating is not a diagnosis: the DSM-5 also requires that the fear is out of proportion to real danger, lasts six months or more, and causes significant distress or impairment, which a licensed clinician assesses in context.
The APA describes this adult measure as a tool for assessing symptoms and monitoring change, rather than as the sole basis for diagnosis. The readability adjustments and thematic breakdown on this page should be distinguished from the published measure and its clinical instructions.
References
- Craske M, Wittchen HU, Bogels S, Stein M, Andrews G, Lebeau R. Severity Measure for Agoraphobia, Adult. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Arlington, VA: APA; 2013.
- Lebeau RT, Glenn DE, Hanover LN, Beesdo-Baum K, Wittchen HU, Craske MG. A dimensional approach to measuring anxiety for DSM-5. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2012;21(4):258-272. doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1369
- Craske MG, Stein MB. Anxiety. Lancet. 2016;388(10063):3048-3059. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30381-6
- American Psychiatric Association. Severity Measure for Agoraphobia, Adult: instrument and scoring instructions. psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Practice/DSM/APA_DSM5_Severity-Measure-For-Agoraphobia-Adult.pdf
- National Institute of Mental Health. Panic Disorder: What You Need to Know. nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/panic-disorder-when-fear-overwhelms
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Agoraphobia Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/agoraphobia
Agoraphobia Test FAQ
What is agoraphobia, exactly?
Agoraphobia is intense fear or anxiety about situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable if something went wrong, such as a panic attack or another embarrassing or incapacitating symptom. The DSM-5 requires marked fear in at least two of five situation types: public transportation, open spaces, enclosed places, lines or crowds, and being outside the home alone. The word is often misused to mean simply never leaving the house; housebound agoraphobia is the severe end, not the definition.
Is agoraphobia the same as panic disorder?
No, though they are closely linked. Agoraphobia often develops after panic attacks, as a person starts avoiding places where an attack would feel dangerous or humiliating. But in the DSM-5 they are separate diagnoses: you can have panic disorder without agoraphobia, agoraphobia without panic attacks, or both together. If sudden surges of intense fear are the core of your experience, our panic disorder test looks at that side directly.
How is agoraphobia different from social anxiety?
The fear has a different center. In social anxiety, the fear is about being judged, embarrassed, or scrutinized by other people. In agoraphobia, the fear is about being trapped, unable to escape, or without help if symptoms strike; other people are often irrelevant, or even wanted as safe companions. A crowded train can trigger both, for entirely different reasons. If judgment and embarrassment ring truer, our social anxiety test is the better screen.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No. It is for education and self-reflection only. This measure rates severity over the past week; an actual diagnosis also requires that the fear is persistent, out of proportion to real danger, and significantly disruptive, which only a licensed clinician can assess in conversation with you.
Can agoraphobia be treated?
Yes, and treatment works well. Cognitive behavioral therapy with gradual exposure, where you re-enter feared situations step by step with support, has the strongest evidence. Many people reclaim buses, stores, and solo trips they had written off. Medication such as SSRIs can help too, and therapy can start from home via telehealth, which matters when travel itself is the obstacle.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
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