PHQ-9 depression screening
Answer the nine PHQ-9 questions and see your total out of 27 with the published severity band. The questionnaire is reproduced word for word, it runs entirely in your browser, and it is a screen rather than a diagnosis. For adults.
Medically reviewed by Kevin Brandstetter, M.D.Updated September 22, 2026
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
Your PHQ-9 score
Incomplete
0 of 9 answered
Answer every question to see the score. A partly answered questionnaire has no score of its own.
A score is a screen, not a diagnosis. The next step is a conversation with a licensed clinician, who reads a number like this alongside your history, not on its own.
A screen, not a diagnosis.
The PHQ-9 measures how often nine symptoms have bothered you over the last two weeks. It cannot diagnose depression or anything else, and a number on its own says little about one person. Only a licensed clinician can make a diagnosis, and they read a score alongside your history, not instead of it. This tool is for adults.
If you are thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, free and open 24 hours a day. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Methodology
- How this is calculated
- Each of the nine items scores 0 for “Not at all”, 1 for “Several days”, 2 for “More than half the days”, and 3 for “Nearly every day”. The nine are added for a total between 0 and 27, which falls in one of five published severity bands. No total appears until every item is answered, because a partly answered questionnaire has no score.
- Where the data comes from
- The official English PHQ-9, developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and colleagues with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. The instruction line, the nine items, and the four answer choices are reproduced word for word, and the cut points are the published ones. The form states: “No permission required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute.”
- Last updated
- September 22, 2026
- What this does not account for
- Everything a clinician asks beyond these nine questions: how long this has gone on, what else is happening in your life, your medical history, your medications, alcohol and drug use, and conditions such as thyroid disease or anemia that can look like depression. The official form also carries an unscored tenth question about how difficult these problems make daily life; this tool leaves it out and scores the nine.
What the bands mean
The five bands below are the published cut points, with a plain description of what a clinician usually does with a number in that range. They describe a clinician's habit, not your situation, and none of them is a decision about you.
| Score | Band | What usually happens next |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 4 | Minimal or none | Usually nothing further is needed on the strength of the score alone. |
| 5 to 9 | Mild | Usually watched over time, with a repeat screen at a later visit. |
| 10 to 14 | Moderate | Usually the point where a clinician starts talking about a treatment plan. |
| 15 to 19 | Moderately severe | Usually treated actively, and the clinician follows up closely. |
| 20 to 27 | Severe | Usually treated actively, and often promptly. |
Why the wording is not edited
The PHQ-9 is a validated questionnaire: its cut points mean what they mean because large numbers of people answered these 9 questions in this wording. Shorten an item or soften a phrase and the score is no longer the score the research is about. So the instruction line, the items, and the four answer choices here are reproduced exactly, including the punctuation, rather than rewritten in Temi's voice the way the rest of this page is.
The ninth question
The last item asks about thoughts of being better off dead or of hurting yourself. Answering anything other than “Not at all” brings up crisis numbers right away, before the rest of the questionnaire is finished, because that answer matters more than a total does. Clinical versions of this form put the same instruction in a note addressed to the clinician; this page is read by the person answering it.
Nothing here is stored
Your answers stay in your browser. They are not sent to Temi, not saved, not attached to you, and not recorded in any session replay, and closing the tab clears them. Temi knows only that someone opened this tool, the same thing it knows about every page.
Copying the result link is the one way answers leave your browser, and you decide when. The link carries the nine answers in the part of the address after the “#”, which browsers never send to a web server, so Temi still never sees a score. Anyone holding the link can open it and read the answers, so send it only to someone you mean to show.
If you want to act on what you see, the useful next step is a conversation with a clinician who knows you, or one you can get to. If you already take a medication for your mood and just need it renewed, Temi's physicians review non-controlled renewals. Temi does not prescribe controlled substances.
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Already taking a medication for your mood?
Temi's physicians review renewals for non-controlled medications, usually within 48 hours. A score on this page is not a prescription and does not decide anything.
A licensed physician reviews every request. Nothing on this page is a prescription.