Visual Analogue Mood Scales (VAMS)

What are the Visual Analogue Mood Scales?

The Visual Analogue Mood Scales (VAMS) are a family of single-item, self-report scales for momentary mood. Instead of agreeing with statements, you mark how you feel right now on a continuous slider between two anchor words — for example from “not at all happy” to “extremely happy”. This version uses six dimensions (happy, sad, calm, tense, energetic, sleepy) with published reference values from a healthy young-adult sample. Because each item takes seconds, VAMS is well suited to repeated measurement: the same person can chart their mood across a day, a week, or a study period.

How to take it

Judge how you feel at this moment — not how you felt earlier today, and not how you usually feel. Drag each slider to the point that matches the intensity of that feeling, then move on. A full session takes about a minute. The scale becomes most useful when you take it more than once: many people check in at a fixed time of day, or before and after events that affect their mood. Your sessions are stored privately in your browser and are never uploaded.

How to read your results

Each of the six dimensions is independent: feeling calm and tense at the same time is a real and common pattern, not a mistake. The small reference marks come from a healthy young-adult sample and are for orientation only — they are not a norm you should try to match. The mood map summarizes your six ratings as a single point on two axes: how pleasant or unpleasant your mood is (horizontal) and how activated or calm (vertical), following the circumplex model of affect. Earlier sessions appear as lighter dots, so what matters most is not any single snapshot but the pattern your points trace over time.

What this tool cannot do

Single-item scales are quick but less reliable than multi-item questionnaires, and a self-report of momentary mood is influenced by wording, culture, and how you interpret each word. VAMS measures states, not traits: it describes now, not your personality or your mental health. It is not a screening or diagnostic tool for depression, anxiety, or any condition, and it cannot replace professional assessment. If your mood has been persistently difficult, please talk to a qualified professional.

References

• Machado, L., Thompson, L.M., & Brett, C.H.R. (2019). Visual analogue mood scale scores in healthy young versus older adults.
• Killgore, W.D.S. (1999). The visual analogue mood scale: Can a single-item scale accurately classify depressive mood state?
• van Rijsbergen, G.D., et al. (2012). Can a One-Item Mood Scale Do the Trick? PLOS ONE, 7(10), e46796.