• Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

  • The PHQ-9 is a multipurpose instrument for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression.

     

    Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems?

  • 1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things
  • 2.Feeling down, depressed or hopeless
  • 3.Trouble falling asleep, 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’re 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

  • Interpretation:
    Total scores of 5, 10, 15, and 20 represent cutpoints for mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression, respectively.
    Note: Question 9 is a single screening question on suicide risk. A patient who answers yes to question 9 needs further assessment for suicide risk by an individual who is competent to assess this risk.

  • Interpretation cont:


    Provisional Diagnosis and Proposed Treatment Actions
    PHQ-9 Score Depression Severity Proposed Treatment Actions
    0 – 4 None-minimal None
    5 – 9 Mild Watchful waiting; repeat PHQ-9 at follow-up
    10 – 14 Moderate Treatment plan, considering counseling, follow-up and/or pharmacotherapy
    15 – 19 Moderately Severe Active treatment with pharmacotherapy and/or psychotherapy
    20 – 27 Severe Immediate initiation of pharmacotherapy and, if severe impairment or poor response to therapy, expedited referral to a mental health specialist for psychotherapy and/or collaborative management


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  • Format: (000) 000-0000.
  • Should be Empty: