Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS-SR) Assessment

Quick 24-situation check-in for fear and avoidance across common social situations during the past week.

Answer both the fear and avoidance parts for every situation.
Keep each rating tied to what the situation felt like and how much you avoided it during the past week.
Your responses stay only in this browser and are never uploaded.

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Fear / anxiety:

Avoidance:

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Social anxiety snapshot

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Anchor gauge

Subscale scoreboard

Anchor ladder

Situation pressure map

Social load brief

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Review next

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Current context

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Higher-load situations vs lighter anchors

#	Higher-load focus	Lighter anchor	Copy
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Subscale	Fear	Avoidance	Total	Share of max	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ row.fear }}	{{ row.avoidance }}	{{ row.total }}	{{ row.share }}

Monitoring lens

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Reference	Range	Status	How to read it	Copy
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#	Highest-load situations	Total	Copy
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Pattern cues

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Approach openings

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Answer review

Exports keep the original item wording with the selected fear and avoidance ratings so you can review the pattern outside the browser if needed.

#	Situation	Domain	Fear	Avoidance	Total	Pattern	Copy
{{ row.id }}	{{ row.text }}	{{ row.domainLabel }}	{{ row.fearLabel }}	{{ row.avoidanceLabel }}	{{ row.total }}/6	{{ row.patternLabel }}

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Social anxiety becomes costly when fear of scrutiny starts changing ordinary choices. A person may still attend class, join meetings, answer calls, or visit shops, but the effort can be high enough that they speak less, rehearse heavily, avoid eye contact, cancel plans, or stay away from situations where they might be noticed.

The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale self-report version, usually shortened to LSAS-SR, records that burden across 24 situations. It is not limited to speeches or stage performance. The situations also include eating or drinking in public, working while observed, talking with authority figures, meeting strangers, returning goods to a store, and resisting a pushy salesperson. That breadth matters because social anxiety can be narrow and performance-focused, broad across many contacts, or heavy in a few everyday moments that are easy for other people to underestimate.

Fear or anxiety: How much distress the situation brings, from none to severe.
Avoidance: How often the situation is skipped or sidestepped, from never to usually.
Performance situations: Being observed, tested, watched while working, or expected to speak or act in front of others.
Interaction situations: Meeting, talking, disagreeing, making eye contact, asking, returning, hosting, or setting a boundary with other people.

Separating fear from avoidance is one of the scale's most useful features. Someone may keep doing feared tasks and score high on fear but lower on avoidance. Another person may report less fear because they have already shaped daily life around avoidance. Both patterns can affect work, study, relationships, errands, and access to support.

The LSAS-SR score is a one-week self-report snapshot. A high score can support a conversation about social anxiety disorder, but diagnosis also depends on duration, impairment, other mental or physical health factors, culture, substance use, and a qualified assessment. A low total can still hide a narrow problem if one or two important situations are avoided almost completely.

The scale is most useful when it is read as a pattern, not just a number. The total, fear and avoidance split, performance and interaction split, and highest-scoring situations together show what is being feared, what is being avoided, and where follow-up should start.

How to Use This Tool:

Use one recall frame throughout the assessment. The page asks about the past week, so keep every answer tied to that period unless a clinician, study, or care plan tells you to use a different frame.

Select Begin assessment to open the 24 situation list.
For the current situation, choose one Fear / anxiety rating and one Avoidance rating. A situation is complete only when both parts are answered.
Use the situation navigator and progress label to find missing pairs. The final report appears after the progress reaches 24 / 24 answered.
Start with Social anxiety snapshot. Confirm the Total score, the 30-point and 60-point anchor badges, and the selected lens label.
Compare Fear total, Avoidance total, Performance load, and Interaction load before reading the narrative brief.
Check Anchor gauge, Subscale scoreboard, Anchor ladder, and Situation pressure map for the same pattern in chart form.
Review Higher-load situations vs lighter anchors and Answer review before copying a result link or saving CSV, DOCX, or chart outputs.

If a situation did not happen during the week, answer as carefully as you can from the closest recent experience or likely past-week response, then flag that uncertainty when sharing the result.

Interpreting Results:

Total score is the headline LSAS-SR result. Scores from 0 to 29 remain below the 30-point screening anchor, scores from 30 to 59 reach the screening range, and scores from 60 to 144 reach the generalized-range anchor used in cutoff research.

Below 30 anchor does not erase specific high-load situations. Check the highest rows before treating the result as unimportant.
30-59 screening range means the result deserves closer review with impairment, duration, avoidance, and daily restriction.
60+ generalized range points toward a broader pattern across many social or performance situations, especially when both subscale groups are elevated.

Fear and avoidance totals explain why the same total can mean different things. Fear ahead of avoidance suggests the person is still entering difficult situations while paying a high internal cost. Avoidance ahead of fear suggests the anxiety may already be narrowing daily behavior.

Performance load and interaction load show where the pressure sits. A performance-leaning profile points more toward being watched, tested, or expected to speak. An interaction-leaning profile points more toward meeting, disagreeing, making eye contact, or setting boundaries. A mixed profile means both groups are contributing.

Do not use a single anchor as a diagnosis. If the result is surprising, first verify the Answer review rows with the highest item totals and compare them with real changes in work, study, relationships, errands, and situations you have stopped attempting.

Technical Details:

The LSAS-SR is an additive rating scale. Each of the 24 situations receives a fear rating and an avoidance rating, each from 0 to 3. One situation can therefore contribute 0 to 6 points, and the full scale ranges from 0 to 144.

The scale also supports two practical subscale views. Thirteen situations are treated as performance or observation situations, while eleven are treated as social interaction or assertiveness situations. Those subscale totals are not separate diagnoses, but they help identify whether the result is driven more by public performance pressure, everyday interaction pressure, or both.

Formula Core

\begin{array}{rcl} T_{fear} & = & \sum_{i = 1}^{24} F_{i} \\ T_{avoid} & = & \sum_{i = 1}^{24} A_{i} \\ T_{total} & = & T_{fear} + T_{avoid} \end{array}

In the formula, F is the fear or anxiety rating for a situation and A is the avoidance rating for the same situation. If the 24 fear ratings sum to 34 and the 24 avoidance ratings sum to 28, the total is 62 out of 144.

LSAS-SR score construction
Score part	Construction rule	Range	Reading cue
Fear total	Sum of all 24 fear ratings	0 to 72	Higher values mean stronger distress across the situation set.
Avoidance total	Sum of all 24 avoidance ratings	0 to 72	Higher values mean more frequent behavior restriction.
Performance load	Fear plus avoidance for 13 performance situations	0 to 78	Public speaking, observation, tests, and being watched carry more of the score when this is high.
Interaction load	Fear plus avoidance for 11 interaction situations	0 to 66	Strangers, authority, eye contact, disagreement, errands, and boundaries carry more of the score when this is high.
Item total	Fear plus avoidance for one situation	0 to 6	Highest item totals identify the situations most worth reviewing.

LSAS-SR anchor boundaries
Anchor range	Inclusive total	Boundary rule	Interpretation limit
Below 30 anchor	0 to 29	Totals under 30 remain below the screening anchor.	Specific avoided situations can still matter.
30-59 screening range	30 to 59	30 is included in the screening range.	Further review is warranted, not a diagnosis.
60+ generalized range	60 to 144	60 is included in the generalized-range anchor.	Broad impairment and clinical context still decide meaning.

The profile labels use simple difference rules. Performance-leaning appears when performance load is at least 8 points higher than interaction load. Interaction-leaning appears when interaction load is at least 8 points higher than performance load. Smaller differences are labeled mixed profile. Fear-ahead and avoidance-ahead item labels appear when one rating is at least 1 point higher than the other for the same situation.

A prior total, when present, is used only as a comparison. A 28% or larger reduction from that prior total is flagged as an improvement signal because response research has used that reduction size for LSAS-SR change. It does not alter the current total, the anchor range, or the need to keep the recall frame comparable across runs.

Limitations and Privacy Notes:

The LSAS-SR is a screening and monitoring aid for social anxiety symptoms. It cannot diagnose social anxiety disorder, choose treatment, or explain every reason someone avoids a situation.

Answers depend on memory, recent opportunities, and willingness to report distress and avoidance honestly.
A one-week snapshot can shift after exams, deadlines, travel, illness, conflict, or unusually low social demand.
Diagnosis considers duration, impairment, other mental or physical health conditions, medication, substance use, and cultural context.
Scoring happens in the browser and answers are not uploaded for scoring, but copied result links and downloaded outputs can still contain sensitive mental-health answers.
Severe distress, safety concerns, panic, depression, trauma symptoms, substance misuse, or shrinking daily participation deserve qualified support even when the score is below an anchor.

Worked Examples:

Below 30 with one clear driver

Social anxiety snapshot shows 24/144 and Below 30 anchor. In Situation pressure map, speaking up at a meeting is 5/6 while most other situations are 0 to 1. The total stays below the screening anchor, but that meeting situation still deserves attention because it may affect school or work participation.

Screening range with avoidance ahead

A result of 46/144 reaches 30-59 screening range. If Avoidance total is 31/72 and Fear total is 15/72, the main concern is not only distress. The answer pattern suggests daily behavior may already be narrowing around avoided situations.

Generalized-range anchor with mixed pressure

Total score is 68/144, Performance load is 36/78, and Interaction load is 32/66. The result reaches 60+ generalized range, and the profile is mixed because both situation groups are contributing rather than one group dominating.

Prior-score comparison

A saved prior total of 88/144 and a current total of 62/144 is a 30% reduction, so the monitoring badge can show an improvement signal. The current Anchor range still matters because 62 remains in 60+ generalized range.

Missing one answer pair

If the progress label shows 23 / 24 answered, the report stays hidden. Open the situation without a completion check, answer both Fear / anxiety and Avoidance, then return to Social anxiety snapshot and Answer review.

FAQ:

Does a score below 30 rule out social anxiety disorder?

No. It only means the total stayed below a common LSAS-SR screening anchor. A few severe or usually avoided situations can still affect daily life.

Why are fear and avoidance scored separately?

Fear shows the internal anxiety load, while avoidance shows behavior restriction. They can move in different directions, so the split can explain the same total score more clearly.

What does the 60-point anchor mean?

A total of 60 or higher reaches the generalized-range anchor used in LSAS-SR cutoff research. It is a strong review cue, not a diagnosis by itself.

Why did I answer most questions but get no report?

Every situation needs both a fear rating and an avoidance rating. Use the situation navigator and progress label to find the missing pair.

Can I compare today's total with an older result?

Yes, when the recall frame and scoring version are comparable. The prior-total comparison is descriptive and does not change the current LSAS-SR anchor range.

Are my answers uploaded for scoring?

No. Scoring happens in the browser. Copied result links and downloaded files can still carry sensitive answer details after you save or share them.

Glossary:

LSAS-SR: The self-report version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale.
Fear total: The sum of all 24 fear or anxiety ratings, from 0 to 72.
Avoidance total: The sum of all 24 avoidance ratings, from 0 to 72.
Performance load: The combined fear and avoidance score for performance and observation situations.
Interaction load: The combined fear and avoidance score for social interaction and assertiveness situations.
Item total: The fear plus avoidance score for one situation, from 0 to 6.
Screening anchor: A cutoff used to flag results that deserve closer assessment rather than stand-alone diagnosis.
Generalized range: The 60+ LSAS-SR range associated with a broader pattern across social anxiety situations.

References:

The Liebowitz social anxiety scale as a self-report instrument: a preliminary psychometric analysis, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2002.
Screening for social anxiety disorder with the self-report version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Depression and Anxiety, 2009.
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS): Optimal cut points for remission and response, Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 2018.
Social Anxiety Disorder: What You Need to Know, National Institute of Mental Health, revised 2025.
Social anxiety disorder: assessment and diagnosis for adults, NICE, 2013.