What are the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 mental health screenings

by Ian Wheeler

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How answering a few simple questions can help you better understand your mental health.

Symptoms of anxiety and depression are increasingly common around the world, but many people don’t know they are experiencing them. And if that’s the case, an anxiety and depression screening can help you recognize a condition that you didn’t even know you had!

Calm Health is here to help you figure out if some of the emotions you’re experiencing in your day-to-day life may actually be symptoms of anxiety or depression. One of the ways we do this is by providing you with some simple mental health screenings that you can take at home.

These screenings take the form of two short lists of questions that have been created by mental health professionals and are used by doctors and therapists around the world to help detect anxiety and depression. They are called the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7, and they are becoming standard in many wellness visits.

What is the PHQ-9?

Mental health professionals have designed a series of screenings called the Patient Health Questionnaire, or PHQ. One of these, the PHQ-9, is specifically intended to detect symptoms of depression. It is designed to be a self-test, meaning you can take the screening by yourself and immediately see your results. You can also retake the screening as often as you want to track your progress over time.

When it comes to identifying symptoms of depression, it’s not only important to see whether the symptoms are there but also to measure how severe they are. The questions on the PHQ-9 are a simple but effective way of doing exactly this. They ask you to indicate how many times in the past two weeks you have experienced some of the more common symptoms of depression, such as having trouble sleeping or feeling a loss of interest in activities you used to enjoy. Some people may see only a few questions, while others might be given additional ones, depending on the answers they give.

You answer each question with a number from 0 to 3. Putting a 0, the lowest score, means “I have not experienced this feeling at all over the past two weeks,” while the highest, a 3, would mean “I have experienced this feeling nearly every day for the past two weeks.”

At the end of the test you simply add up the numbers and compare them to a chart at the bottom of the page to see if you may be experiencing symptoms of depression, and how severe the symptoms are.

What is the GAD-7?

The GAD-7 is very similar. While the PHQ-9 is designed to test for symptoms of depression, the GAD-7 works in the same way to test for anxiety (GAD stands for “generalized anxiety disorder”). Like the PHQ-9, you answer a series of questions about how many times over the past two weeks you have experienced some of the more common symptoms of anxiety, such as being distracted by worries or feeling so restless that you can’t sit still.

And just like the PHQ-9, you answer these questions with a number from 0 to 3, with 0 indicating “not at all over the past two weeks” and 3 meaning “nearly every day over the past two weeks.” Again, you simply add up your score at the end and check it against a chart to see if you may be experiencing symptoms of anxiety and how severe those symptoms are.

How can these screenings help me?

It’s very important to understand that a self-test like the PHQ-9 or GAD-7 is not the same as being diagnosed with depression or anxiety; only a licensed medical professional can do that. However, you can take your results from the screenings and discuss them with your doctor or therapist. This can help them understand where you’re at and what may be the right course of treatment for you.

The beauty of self-tests like these is that they take only a few minutes to complete, meaning that you can do them on your own at home, or even while you’re in the waiting room of your doctor or therapist’s office. The tests are free and you can easily find them online and complete them on your computer, or print them out and fill them out with a pen. The important thing is to share the results with a mental health professional. You can find a free online version of the PHQ-9 test here, and the GAD-7 here.

The other great thing about these tests is that they are standard and have been proven to be effective at detecting possible symptoms of depression or anxiety. This means that any licensed medical professional like a doctor or psychiatrist will recognize these tests and accept the results as being useful in helping direct you to the appropriate level of care for your unique condition.

When you join Calm Health, you’ll be given the opportunity to answer questions based on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scoring system. Your answers will help us get to know you and understand how you’re feeling. They will also help us give you personalized recommendations for the Calm Health content that will be most helpful and meaningful for where you are right now. Even if your scores indicate only mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all, we can still recommend content for you that you will find useful.

DISCLAIMER

Calm Health is a mental health wellness product. Calm Health is not intended to diagnose or treat depression, anxiety, or any other disease or condition. Calm Health is not a substitute for care by a physician or other health care provider. Any questions that you may have regarding the diagnosis, care, or treatment of a medical condition should be directed to your physician or health care provider.

SOURCES:

PHQ-9

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495268/

GAD-7

www.mirecc.va.gov/cih-visn2/Documents/Clinical/GAD_with_Info_Sheet.pdf

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Calm Health is a mental health wellness product. Calm Health is not intended to diagnose or treat depression, anxiety, or any other disease or condition. Calm Health is not a substitute for care by a physician or other health care provider. Any questions that you may have regarding the diagnosis, care, or treatment of a medical condition should be directed to your physician or health care provider.