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PHQ-9 Scoring & Interpretation

The PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) screens for depression symptom severity over the past two weeks: 9 items, each scored 0–3, for a total of 0–27. This page is a quick-reference tool for licensed clinicians and trainees — enter the responses from your administered copy to get the total and severity band instantly.

Calculator

Administer the instrument from your own licensed/official copy, then select the client's response for each item below.

Answer every item to see the score.

Progress Note Studio would have auto-scored this PHQ-9 inside a complete note — offline. Free demo.

Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.

Interpretation

Total scoreInterpretation
0–4minimal depression
5–9mild depression
10–14moderate depression
15–19moderately severe depression
20–27severe depression

Item 9 alert

Any response above 0 on item 9 warrants a suicide risk assessment, regardless of the total score. The calculator above flags this automatically, mirroring the alert built into Progress Note Studio.

Not a diagnosis

Screening scores are not a diagnosis. Interpretation requires clinical judgment by a licensed professional. Results shown here are score ranges and severity categories only. This page is a quick-reference tool for licensed clinicians and trainees — it is not intended for self-diagnosis or for use by the general public, and it is not medical or clinical advice.

Attribution

PHQ-9: developed by Drs. Spitzer, Williams, Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. No permission required.

This calculator does not reproduce the questionnaire itself; use your licensed/official copy of the instrument to administer it. Items are identified by number only.

Progress Note Studio builds complete, audit-ready SOAP notes from point-and-click clinical findings — with PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5, C-SSRS and four more screeners that score themselves. 100% offline. One-time license. No subscription, ever.

Try the free interactive demo at progressnotestudio.com