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Mental Health Quizzes

Learn more about the PHQ-9 below


What is the PHQ-9? 

The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a validated clinical tool used by healthcare providers to screen for and measure the severity of depression1. Your score on the PHQ-9 is just one of many considerations that can help determine the need for treatment. Regardless of your score, give us a call to see if TMS or Spravato® therapy might be of help. 


How does the PHQ-9 depression quiz work?

The PHQ-9 asks a series of questions about how often you've experienced specific depression symptoms over the last two weeks. Each response is assigned a numerical score and then all the scores are added up to a final number. The quiz also asks how difficult any symptoms have made it to finish work, take care of things at home, and get along with other people.


How is a PHQ-9 depression quiz scored?

Each response is assigned the following numerical value:


  • If you answer "not at all," that response gets a score of 0
  • If you answer "several days," that response gets a score of 1
  • If you answer "more than half the days," that response gets a score of 2
  • If you answer "nearly every day," that response gets a score of 3


What does my PHQ-9 depression quiz score mean?

Adding up the scores from all of your responses give you a final score. The final score can correlate with different severity levels as shown below:


  • Score of 0-4: Minimal
  • Score of 5-9: Mild
  • Score of 10-14: Moderate
  • Score of 15-27: Moderately severe to severe


What do I do with my PHQ-9 result? 

Having a higher score doesn’t mean your depression is less likely to respond to treatment - your PHQ-9 score is just one way of measuring how you are doing at a particular point in time. That means your result is a good starting point for a conversation about depression symptoms with your mental healthcare provider, not a diagnosis.


How often should I take a PHQ-9 depression quiz?

You can take this quiz as often as you’d like. During treatment, we ask our patients to take it once a week. 


1. PHQ-9 is adapted from PRIME MD TODAY, developed by Drs Spitzer, Williams, Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc

The medical information on this site and these quizzes is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Always consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. Your responses will not be used for marketing purposes.