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Apex Nursing

PHQ-9 Calculator

Over the last 2 weeks, how often has the patient been bothered by each problem?

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Score

— / 27

Higher = more severe

9 items remaining

Item 1

1.Little interest or pleasure in doing things

Item 2

2.Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless

Item 3

3.Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much

Item 4

4.Feeling tired or having little energy

Item 5

5.Poor appetite or overeating

Item 6

6.Feeling bad about yourself — or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down

Item 7

7.Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television

Item 8

8.Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed — or being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual

Item 9

9.Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some waySafety item

Interpretation notes

The PHQ-9 is a screening and severity-monitoring tool, not a diagnosis — a positive screen prompts clinical evaluation. A score ≥ 10 has good sensitivity and specificity for major depression.

Item 9 is independent of the total.A patient can have a low overall score and still endorse suicidal thoughts — that response is acted on regardless. A tenth question about functional difficulty (not scored) helps gauge impact but doesn’t add to the 0–27 total.

Educational use only. The PHQ-9 supports screening and monitoring; diagnosis, treatment, and safety decisions are clinical judgments made by qualified providers per facility policy. This material supports nursing education and exam review. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for clinical judgment, institutional policy, or medical direction. Always follow facility protocols and current provider orders.

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