Ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings. ≈ 1 min to complete. Free with attribution.
PHQ-2 (Patient Health Questionnaire-2) is a validated clinical instrument used to assess ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings.. It is most often used for ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings.. The instrument contains 2 items. Typical administration time is ≈ 1 min.
Source / attribution: Free to use with citation
Ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings. PHQ-2 is part of standard practice in this setting because it provides a structured, replicable assessment that can be tracked over time and compared across patients or visits.
The instrument's primary construct — ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings. — is operationalized through a fixed set of items, each with a defined response format. This standardisation is what allows PHQ-2 scores to be compared meaningfully across clinicians, sites, and studies.
Like all screening or assessment instruments, PHQ-2 is a structured aid — not a diagnostic test in isolation. Results should be interpreted alongside history, examination, and clinical context. Where a score crosses an actionable threshold, the next step is typically a more detailed clinical evaluation rather than a definitive diagnosis.
Answer all 2 items below to see your PHQ-2 score and interpretation.
Each item is scored on a 4-point scale (0–3). Your score updates live as you answer.
All scoring runs in your browser. No data is sent anywhere — close the tab and the answers are gone.
Sum items 1-2 scored 0-3. Total range 0-6. Score >= 3 suggests further evaluation.
Scoring notes: Sum items 1-2 scored 0-3. Total range 0-6. Score >= 3 suggests further evaluation.
The cutoffs below are drawn from the published validation literature. Always interpret in clinical context.
| Score range | Band | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | Minimal | None |
| 3–6 | Possible depression | Administer PHQ-9 |
This is an illustrative walkthrough, not a real patient. Follow the same four steps with your own answers — or use the live calculator at the top of this page.
Read each question and choose the response that best fits. Each response has a number next to it — that number is the item's score. The example below uses illustrative answers.
| # | Item | Example response | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Little interest or pleasure in doing things | More than half the days | 2 |
| 2 | Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless | Nearly every day | 3 |
Add up all the item scores you noted in Step 1.
2 + 3 = 5
Find the row in the interpretation table whose range contains your total:
Total = 5 falls between 3 and 6 → Possible depression
Possible depression. Administer PHQ-9
A score is one input alongside history and examination. PHQ-2 supports clinical judgment — it does not replace it.
Psychometric figures are drawn from the validation literature and may vary across clinical populations and translations.
If PHQ-2 doesn't fit your context, related instruments in depression include:
| Scale | Measures | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHQ-8 | Research version of PHQ-9 excluding suicidality item for general population studies. | 8 | ≈ 2 min |
| CES-D | 20-item screening test for depressive symptoms in the general population. | 20 | ≈ 5 min |
| HADS-D | 7-item depression subscale designed for hospital and clinical outpatient settings. | 7 | ≈ 2 min |
| SDS | 20-item self-report scale measuring affective, psychological, and somatic symptoms of depression. | 20 | ≈ 5 min |
| PHQ-9 | Severity of depression | 9 | ≈ 3 minutes |
| GAD-7 | Severity of generalized anxiety | 7 | ≈ 2 minutes |
| AUDIT | 10-item WHO screening tool for hazardous alcohol consumption and dependence. | 10 | ≈ 3 min |
| CHA2DS2-VASc | Annual stroke risk in non-valvular atrial fibrillation | 8 | — |
PHQ-2 (Patient Health Questionnaire-2) is a validated instrument that assesses ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings. It is designed for clinicians, medical students, evidence-synthesis researchers. It takes about 1 min to complete, and the 2 items are summed to produce a total score.
PHQ-2 typically takes about 1 min to administer. The exact duration varies a little depending on whether it is self-administered or completed with a clinician. Its brief format is part of what makes it practical for routine clinical use and for repeat administration when tracking change over time.
PHQ-2 contains 2 items. Item scores are summed to produce the total. Scores run from 0 to 6, grouped into 2 interpretation bands from ‘Minimal’ up to ‘Possible depression’.
On the PHQ-2 (total score 0–6), scores of 3–6 fall in the ‘Possible depression’ band — interpreted as: Administer PHQ-9. The full ladder is: 0–2 — Minimal: None.; 3–6 — Possible depression: Administer PHQ-9. A higher score reflects a more severe presentation, and crossing a cutoff is a prompt to step up assessment or care — but these bands are screening thresholds, not diagnoses.
Scores of 0–2 fall in the ‘Minimal’ band: None. A low score is reassuring but does not by itself rule out the underlying condition — if symptoms or clinical suspicion persist, reassess over time or use a complementary evaluation rather than relying on the number alone.
PHQ-2 has reported Cronbach's α of 0.83 in validation samples and test–retest reliability of 0.82. Sensitivity 97%, specificity 67% for major depression. In practical terms, a Cronbach’s α around 0.83 indicates good internal consistency (the items hang together well), and a test–retest reliability of 0.82 means scores are strongly stable when the scale is repeated without real clinical change.
PHQ-2 is free to use with attribution — clinical, educational, and research use is permitted provided the original source is credited. If you publish results or reproduce the scale, include the citation to the source paper.
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. W. (2003). The Patient Health Questionnaire-2: Validity of a two-item depression screener. Medical Care, 41(11), 1284-1292. This is the original publication for the PHQ-2 — the reference to cite when reporting results.
No. PHQ-2 is a structured assessment aid, not a diagnostic test. Its proper role is clinical assessment of ultra-brief depression screening for busy clinical settings — it standardizes assessment and flags who needs closer evaluation, but the result must be weighed alongside history, examination, and clinical context. When a score conflicts with your clinical impression, clinical judgment takes precedence; treatment decisions should never rest on a screening score alone.
PHQ-2 is supported by the following peer-reviewed sources: