The actual screeners. On your terms, before the appointment.

These are the actual questionnaires. Not an approximation. Not "inspired by" the clinical versions. The same forms sitting in a folder on your doctor's desk.

PHQ-9 for depression. GAD-7 for anxiety. ASRS for ADHD. The ones you usually answer in the waiting room, cold, on three hours of sleep, trying to reconstruct the last two weeks from scratch in a plastic chair, while someone at the desk asks if you've changed your address.

Why knowing them in advance is fine

You are not gaming anything. A screener measures how you have actually been feeling. Knowing the questions in advance does not change how you have been feeling. What it does is give you time to think honestly, instead of trying to reconstruct two weeks of your life on the spot under fluorescent lights.

Clinicians use these tools because they are standardised and they work. You can use them for the same reason. The score you get here will be the same score you would get in the office -- because you are the same person, with the same two weeks behind you.

How to answer

Answer for the last two weeks. Not your worst day ever. Not the good stretch you had last month. The last two weeks, as honestly as you can manage. If you are not sure, go with your gut -- your gut is usually right about this.

What the score means

It is a number on a scale clinicians use to understand severity and track change over time. It is not a diagnosis. A high score does not confirm anything. A low score does not rule anything out. It is a data point, and data points are useful.

What to do with it

Bring it in. Print it or screenshot it or just remember the number. Tell your doctor "I did the PHQ-9 and scored a 14" and watch the conversation get more useful immediately. Or share it with someone you trust. Or keep it for yourself -- sometimes just having language for what you have been feeling is enough.


Screeners available
Depression
PHQ-9

9 questions. Scores from 0 to 27. One of the most commonly used depression screeners in primary care.

Anxiety
GAD-7

7 questions. Generalised anxiety disorder screener. Used alongside PHQ-9 in most primary care settings.

ADHD
ASRS-v1.1

6 questions. Adult ADHD self-report scale, Part A screening section. Developed with the World Health Organisation.

Autism
AQ-10

10 questions. Autism spectrum quotient short form. Used as a starting point for referral discussions.

OCD
OCI-R

18 questions. Obsessive-compulsive inventory, revised version. Covers six symptom dimensions.

Bipolar
MDQ

Three-part questionnaire. Screens for a history of manic or hypomanic episodes and the impact they caused.

PTSD
PCL-5

20 questions. PTSD checklist for DSM-5. Used to monitor symptom change during and after treatment.