STAI

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is a 40-item self-report measure developed by Charles Spielberger that distinguishes between temporary state anxiety (how anxious you feel right now, Form Y-1, 20 items) and enduring trait anxiety (how anxious you generally feel, Form Y-2, 20 items). Each item is rated on a 1–4 scale, producing subscale scores of 20–80. The STAI is one of the most cited anxiety instruments in psychology and has been used extensively in psychedelic research, including the landmark Johns Hopkins and NYU psilocybin studies for cancer-related distress. The state anxiety subscale is particularly useful for measuring acute anxiety during or immediately after psychedelic sessions, while the trait subscale captures lasting anxiolytic effects. The STAI has excellent reliability (α > 0.90) and extensive normative data across diverse populations.