PHQ-9 Depression Test — free online score & severity

The PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) is a nine-item depression screener published by Kroenke, Spitzer and Williams in 2001. Each item maps to one of the nine DSM criteria for a major depressive episode, and you rate how often each has bothered you over the last two weeks.

1. Rate every item 0–3. 0 = not at all, 1 = several days, 2 = more than half the days, 3 = nearly every day.
2. Add the nine answers. The total runs from 0 to 27. Higher totals mean more frequent, more numerous symptoms.
3. Map the total to a severity band (Kroenke 2001):
   • 0–4: Minimal
   • 5–9: Mild
   • 10–14: Moderate
   • 15–19: Moderately severe
   • 20–27: Severe
4. Apply the treatment cut-point. A total of 10 or more is the point at which a clinical conversation is recommended — at ≥10 the PHQ-9 has 88% sensitivity and 88% specificity for major depression.

Alongside the band, this tool runs the DSM-based provisional algorithm from the public-domain Pfizer PHQ-9 card. It counts an item as a symptom when scored 2 or 3 — except item 9 (thoughts of self-harm), which counts on any endorsement (≥1). A provisional major depressive syndrome is screened when at least five symptoms are present and at least one of them is item 1 (little interest) or item 2 (depressed mood). Two to four symptoms with a cardinal item present screen as an other depressive syndrome. This is a provisional screen only, never a diagnosis.

One rule overrides the arithmetic: if you endorse item 9 at all, the tool shows Sri Lankan crisis helplines immediately, regardless of your total. Scoring is verified two ways in code — the band-table lookup is cross-checked against an independent cut-point derivation for every possible total 0–27 — so the number you see is reproducible to the point.

• Kroenke, Spitzer & Williams — The PHQ-9: Validity of a Brief Depression Severity Measure (J Gen Intern Med, 2001)
• Pfizer PHQ screeners — official PHQ-9 instruction & scoring card (public domain)
• National Institute of Mental Health, Sri Lanka — Mental Health Helpline 1926

The items, severity bands, cut-point, provisional algorithm, and crisis helpline numbers on this page were last cross-checked against the sources above on 2026-07-12. The PHQ-9 is reproduced under its public-domain licence.