Screening tool

PHQ-9 — the depression screening questionnaire

The 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.

Developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. No permission required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute.

Who is this for?

Adults 18 and older who have noticed low mood, loss of interest, or changes in sleep, appetite, or energy over the past two weeks and want a structured way to describe it to a clinician. It is a screen, not a diagnosis, and it does not replace a clinical evaluation.

This page is educational. It reproduces the published questionnaire and its published scoring so you can see what it asks and how clinicians read it. It does not diagnose any condition, recommend treatment, or replace a clinician’s evaluation. If you complete it here, your answers stay on your device and are not stored unless you choose to save the result to your own Gale record.

Before you begin

A validated screening questionnaire — not a diagnosis. Only a licensed clinician can diagnose. It is the same questionnaire a provider may use at a visit — completing it here is for your own understanding and preparation. Validated for adults 18 and older. Your answers stay on this device unless you choose to save them. 9 questions · about 3 minutes.

9 questions · about 3 minutes

How the PHQ-9 is scored

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?

Question	Several days	More than half the days	Nearly every day
1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things	1	2	3
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless	1	2	3
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much	1	2	3
4. Feeling tired or having little energy	1	2	3
5. Poor appetite or overeating	1	2	3
6. Feeling bad about yourself — or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down	1	2	3
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television	1	2	3
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite — being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual	1	2	3
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way	1	2	3

The total is the sum of all answers, from 0 to 27.

What your score means

These are the instrument's published interpretation ranges — the PHQ-9's reading of the total, not a statement about you. A total of 10 or higher is the usual screening cut point.

Total	Published interpretation
0–4	minimal
5–9	mild
10–14	moderate
15–19	moderately severe
20–27	severe

How accurate is it?

A total of 10 or higher is the established screening cut point for a fuller conversation about depression.

In the primary-care sample where the PHQ-9 was validated, about 88 of every 100 people who had major depression scored 10 or higher, and about 12 of every 100 people who did not have it also scored that high — a false positive. 1Ref 1Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW (2001).The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure.Validation of the PHQ-9 depression measure; a score >=10 had a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 88% for major depression, and scores of 5/10/15/20 mark the mild/moderate/moderately severe/severe interpretation ranges.

In that same primary-care sample, where major depression was uncommon (about 7 in 100 people), of the people who scored 10 or higher only roughly a third to a half turned out to have major depression on fuller evaluation — the study reports a positive predictive value of 31% at a cut point of 9, rising to 51% at 15. That share is lower still wherever depression is less common. 1Ref 1Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW (2001).The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure.Validation of the PHQ-9 depression measure; a score >=10 had a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 88% for major depression, and scores of 5/10/15/20 mark the mild/moderate/moderately severe/severe interpretation ranges.

Bringing your results to your provider

A screening result is most useful in a conversation with a clinician who knows you. It is not a verdict and it does not decide a diagnosis or a treatment — only a licensed clinician can do that, after a fuller evaluation. What a result can do is give you a concrete, structured way to describe what you have been noticing.

When you complete the PHQ-9 above, Gale drafts a short set of talking points from your answers — the number, the published interpretation, how long the symptoms have been present, and a few questions to ask. You can read them out at a visit, or save the result and bring it along. The point is not the label; it is that you walk in able to advocate for yourself with something specific to say.

Common questions

Is the PHQ-9 a diagnosis of depression?

No. The PHQ-9 is a screening questionnaire. It describes how often you have noticed certain symptoms; only a licensed clinician can diagnose depression, after a fuller evaluation.

What does a PHQ-9 score mean?

The total runs from 0 to 27. In the published interpretation the ranges are labelled minimal, mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe, and a total of 10 or higher is the usual cut point for discussing depression with a clinician. The label is the instrument's interpretation of your answers, not a verdict about you.

What if a question about self-harm feels true for me?

If you are thinking about harming yourself, help is immediate and free: call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. You do not have to finish the questionnaire first.

Is this the questionnaire my provider will use?

Quite possibly. The PHQ-9 is one of the most widely used depression screens in primary care, so your provider may hand you this exact questionnaire — or a different one. Either way, completing it here helps you understand what is being measured, and bringing your total can start the conversation.

Sources

1.Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW (2001). The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16(9): 606-613. doi:10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x ✓Validation of the PHQ-9 depression measure; a score >=10 had a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 88% for major depression, and scores of 5/10/15/20 mark the mild/moderate/moderately severe/severe interpretation ranges.

1 sources, numbered by first appearance. Every entry verified 2026-06-11 against PubMed / PMC / publisher pages (214 in the full bibliography).