Ottawa-Carleton, ON

Screening Tool: Depression (in Adults) (9-item PHQ-9)

This survey is designed to provide a quick assessment of whether you might have signs and symptoms related to depression. However, no test is 100% accurate. No matter what your score is, you should seek help if you have any concerns about yourself or your loved ones.

 

This questionnaire is the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). 

 

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following:

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 more information about this tool:

  • Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. The PHQ-9: Validity of a brief depression severity
    measure. J Gen Intern Med 2001;16:606-613
  • Löwe B, Unutzer J, Callahan CM, Perkins AJ, Kroenke K. Monitoring depression treatment outcomes with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Med Care 2004;42:1194-1201