Severity of depression. ≈ 3 minutes to complete. Free to use.
PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) is a validated clinical instrument used to assess severity of depression. It is most often used for depression screening in primary care. The instrument contains 9 items. Typical administration time is ≈ 3 minutes.
Source / attribution: Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. © Pfizer (use freely without permission)
Depression screening in primary care. PHQ-9 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 — severity of depression — is operationalized through a fixed set of items, each with a defined response format. This standardisation is what allows PHQ-9 scores to be compared meaningfully across clinicians, sites, and studies.
Like all screening or assessment instruments, PHQ-9 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 9 items below to see your PHQ-9 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.
PHQ-9 uses simple summation: each item's selected response is converted to a numeric value, and the values are added to produce a total score. Reverse-scored items are inverted before summation.
Scoring notes: Item 9 (suicidal ideation) requires immediate clinical follow-up if positive. Screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. Educational use only.
The cutoffs below are drawn from the published validation literature. Always interpret in clinical context.
| Score range | Band | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | Minimal / none | No depression suggested. |
| 5–9 | Mild | Mild depression. |
| 10–14 | Moderate | Moderate — consider treatment. |
| 15–19 | Moderately severe | Moderately severe — active treatment. |
| 20–27 | Severe | Severe — urgent treatment + safety assessment. |
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 | Several days | 1 |
| 2 | Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless | Several days | 1 |
| 3 | Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping too much | Several days | 1 |
| 4 | Feeling tired or having little energy | Several days | 1 |
| 5 | Poor appetite or overeating | Several days | 1 |
| 6 | Feeling bad about yourself, or that you are a failure | Not at all | 0 |
| 7 | Trouble concentrating on things | Several days | 1 |
| 8 | Moving or speaking slowly, or being fidgety/restless | Not at all | 0 |
| 9 | Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself | Several days | 1 |
Add up all the item scores you noted in Step 1.
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 = 7
Find the row in the interpretation table whose range contains your total:
Total = 7 falls between 5 and 9 → Mild
Mild. Mild depression.
A score is one input alongside history and examination. PHQ-9 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-9 doesn't fit your context, related instruments in psychiatry include:
| Scale | Measures | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| BDI-II | Severity of depression | — | ≈ 5 minutes |
| GAD-7 | Severity of generalized anxiety | 7 | ≈ 2 minutes |
| ASA Physical Status | Pre-operative health status | 1 | — |
| Barthel Index | Functional independence in ADLs | 10 | — |
| CHA2DS2-VASc | Annual stroke risk in non-valvular atrial fibrillation | 8 | — |
| Child-Pugh | Severity of cirrhosis and prognosis | 5 | — |
| CURB-65 | 30-day mortality in community-acquired pneumonia | 5 | — |
| Glasgow Coma Scale | Level of consciousness after head injury | 3 | — |
PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) is a validated instrument that assesses severity of depression. Its primary clinical use is Depression screening in primary care. It takes about 3 minutes to complete, and the 9 items are summed to produce a total score.
PHQ-9 typically takes about 3 minutes 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-9 contains 9 items. Item scores are summed to produce the total. Scores run from 0 to 27, grouped into 5 interpretation bands from ‘Minimal / none’ up to ‘Severe’.
On the PHQ-9 (total score 0–27), scores of 20–27 fall in the ‘Severe’ band — interpreted as: Severe — urgent treatment + safety assessment. The full ladder is: 0–4 — Minimal / none: No depression suggested.; 5–9 — Mild: Mild depression.; 10–14 — Moderate: Moderate — consider treatment.; 15–19 — Moderately severe: Moderately severe — active treatment.; 20–27 — Severe: Severe — urgent treatment + safety assessment. 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 0–4 fall in the ‘Minimal / none’ band: No depression suggested. 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-9 has reported Cronbach's α of 0.89 in validation samples and test–retest reliability of 0.84. Validated against MINI structured interview for major depression. Strong correlation with HRSD; widely adopted in primary care, hospital, and community settings worldwide. In practical terms, a Cronbach’s α around 0.89 indicates good internal consistency (the items hang together well), and a test–retest reliability of 0.84 means scores are strongly stable when the scale is repeated without real clinical change.
Yes — PHQ-9 is in the public domain and free for clinical, educational, and research use without permission. You can use this calculator and the scale itself freely; if you publish results or reproduce the scale, cite the original source paper.
Kroenke K et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2001;16(9):606-613. This is the original publication for the PHQ-9 — the reference to cite when reporting results.
No. PHQ-9 is a structured assessment aid, not a diagnostic test. Its proper role is Depression screening in primary care — 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-9 is supported by the following peer-reviewed sources: