Patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9)

The PHQ-9 is a depression assessment tool which scores each of the 9 DSM-IV criteria as '0' (not at all) to '3' (nearly every day):

• the PHQ-9 assessment tool been validated for use in Primary Care
  
  
• the questionnaire is designed to assess the patient's mood over the last 2 weeks:
  
  
  • over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
    
    
    • 1) little interest or pleasure in doing things?
      
      
    • 2) Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless?
      
      
    • 3) trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much?
      
      
    • 4) Feeling tired or having little energy?
      
      
    • 5) poor appetite or overeating?
      
      
    • 6) feeling bad about yourself - or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down?
      
      
    • 7) trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television?
      
      
    • 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?
      
      
    • 9) thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way?
      
      
      • for each of the nine tested criteria there are four possible answers:
        
        
      • Not at all = 0 points
      • Several days = 1 point
      • More than half the days = 2 points
      • Nearly every day = 3 points
        
        
      • the maximum total score is 9x3 = 27 points and the patient's score is thus a score out of 27 (e.g. 16 points = 16/27)
        
        
• depression severity is graded based on the PHQ-9 score:
  • 0-4 None
  • 5-9 mild
  • 10-14 moderate
  • 15-19 moderately severe
  • 20-27 severe

For an online version of the PHQ9 then click here