What Is the PHQ-9? A Simple Guide to Depression Screening

If you've ever talked to a doctor about feeling down, there's a good chance they handed you a short questionnaire. That questionnaire was almost certainly the PHQ-9 — the most widely used depression screening tool in the world.

PHQ-9 stands for Patient Health Questionnaire-9. It was developed by Drs. Robert Spitzer, Janet Williams, and Kurt Kroenke, and it's been validated in hundreds of studies across different populations and countries. It's not a diagnostic tool — it's a screening instrument designed to flag whether depressive symptoms are present and how severe they might be.

How the PHQ-9 works

The PHQ-9 asks you 9 questions about how you've been feeling over the past two weeks. Each question maps to one of the nine criteria for major depressive disorder in the DSM-5 (the standard diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals).

For each question, you rate how often you've experienced the symptom: not at all (0), several days (1), more than half the days (2), or nearly every day (3). Your total score ranges from 0 to 27.

What the scores mean

0-4: Minimal symptoms. Most people in this range are not experiencing clinical depression.

5-9: Mild symptoms. You might be going through a rough patch. Watchful waiting and self-care strategies are often recommended.

10-14: Moderate symptoms. This is the range where treatment consideration begins — therapy, lifestyle interventions, or sometimes medication.

15-19: Moderately severe symptoms. Active treatment is typically recommended.

20-27: Severe symptoms. Immediate treatment and often a combination of therapy and medication are recommended.

These ranges are guidelines, not verdicts. A score of 12 doesn't mean you're "moderately depressed" — it means a professional should take a closer look at what you're experiencing.

What the PHQ-9 can and can't do

The PHQ-9 can tell you whether your symptoms are consistent with depression and how severe they appear. It gives healthcare professionals a standardized way to track changes over time — if you score 18 today and 10 in six weeks, that's meaningful progress.

What it can't do is diagnose. Depression diagnosis requires a clinical evaluation that considers your full history, other conditions, medications, and life circumstances. The PHQ-9 is the starting point, not the conclusion.

Taking the PHQ-9 online

You can take a free PHQ-9 screening on Neriva. In addition to the standard 9 questions, Neriva adds a few context questions to help distinguish between burnout, stress, and depression — patterns that often feel identical from the inside but benefit from different approaches.

Your results include a plain-English interpretation of what your scores suggest, along with concrete next steps for the next 72 hours. No account required to take the screening; sign in if you want to save results and track changes over time.