Am I Depressed?

    Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

    The PHQ-9 is a multipurpose instrument for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression.

    "*" indicates required fields

    Step 1 of 2

    Little interest or pleasure in doing things*
    Feeling down, depressed or hopeless*
    Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping too much*
    Feeling tired or having little energy*
    Poor appetite or overeating*
    Feeling bad about yourself - or that you’re a failure or have let yourself or your family down*
    Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television*
    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*
    Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way*

    Interpretation:

    • Total scores of 5, 10, 15, and 20 represent cutpoints for mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression, respectively.
    • Note: Question 9 is a single screening question on suicide risk. A patient who answers yes to question 9 needs further assessment for suicide risk by an individual who is competent to assess this risk.

    Provisional Diagnosis and Proposed Treatment Actions

     
    PHQ-9 Score Depression Severity Proposed Treatment Actions
    0 – 4 None-minimal None
    5 – 9 Mild Watchful waiting; repeat PHQ-9 at follow-up
    10 – 14 Moderate Treatment plan, considering counseling, follow-up and/or pharmacotherapy
    15 – 19 Moderately Severe Active treatment with pharmacotherapy and/or psychotherapy
    20 – 27 Severe Immediate initiation of pharmacotherapy and, if severe impairment or poor response to therapy, expedited referral to a mental health specialist for psychotherapy and/or collaborative management