Screening tools

The screening questionnaires providers use, explained

These are the validated, public-domain questionnaires clinicians use to open a conversation — depression, anxiety, adverse childhood experiences, PTSD, and alcohol use. Each page shows what the instrument asks, how it is scored in the published literature, and how to bring your result to your provider. A screen is not a diagnosis — only a licensed clinician can diagnose.

The questionnaires
Screening toolPHQ-9The PHQ-9 is a nine-question screen for depression symptoms over the past two weeks, developed by the authors of the PRIME-MD and validated in primary care. It takes about three minutes, produces a total from 0 to 27, and is meant to open a conversation with a clinician — not to diagnose. It is the same questionnaire many clinicians hand you at a visit, so completing it here shows you what your provider measures and helps you prepare for that conversation.depression symptoms over the last two weeks | 9 questions · about 3 minutesScreening toolGAD-7The GAD-7 is a seven-question screen for anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks, part of the PRIME-MD family and validated in primary care. It takes about two minutes, produces a total from 0 to 21, and is meant to help you describe anxiety to a clinician — not to diagnose it. It is the same questionnaire many clinicians hand you at a visit, so completing it here shows you what your provider measures and helps you prepare for that conversation.anxiety symptoms over the last two weeks | 7 questions · about 2 minutesScreening toolACEsThe ACE questionnaire counts ten kinds of adverse experience before age 18 — abuse, neglect, and household stress — from the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study. It was built as a population research measure. It produces a count from 0 to 10, not a severity band and not a prediction about any one person's health. Some clinics ask about childhood adversity; this page explains the research measure behind that conversation.the count of ten kinds of adverse experience before age 18 | 10 questions · about 3 minutesScreening toolPC-PTSD-5The PC-PTSD-5 is a brief screen for post-traumatic stress from the VA's National Center for PTSD. It starts by asking whether you have experienced a traumatic event; if so, it asks five yes/no questions about the past month. It produces a count from 0 to 5 and is a screen, not a diagnosis. It is one of the questionnaires clinicians use to raise trauma at a primary-care visit, so completing it here shows you what your provider may ask and helps you prepare for that conversation.post-traumatic stress symptoms in the past month | 1 gate + 5 questions · about 2 minutesScreening toolAUDIT-CThe AUDIT-C is a three-question screen for unhealthy alcohol use, drawn from the WHO's AUDIT. It asks about how often you drink, how much on a typical day, and how often you drink heavily. It produces a total from 0 to 12 and is a screen, not a diagnosis; the positive cutoff differs by sex. It is the same questionnaire many clinicians use to open a conversation about drinking at a visit, so completing it here shows you what your provider measures and helps you prepare.how much and how often you drink alcohol | 3 questions · about 1 minute

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