| Score | Band | What it usually means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | Minimal | Ordinary ups and downs. No treatment indicated on this measure alone. |
| 5–9 | Mild | Worth watching. Many people repeat the questionnaire in two weeks to see the direction. |
| 10–14 | Moderate | The threshold where most clinicians open a fuller conversation. Therapy is a common first step. |
| 15–19 | Moderately severe | Active treatment is usually recommended, often therapy plus a medical consult. |
| 20–27 | Severe | Worth getting an appointment soon rather than someday. |
Free tool · 1 minute · No account, nothing stored
Free depression test (PHQ-9)
Nine questions, one number, and no one watching. This is the same questionnaire a California clinic hands you on a clipboard — scored right here on your device, so your answers never become anybody's data.
- ✓ Free, no email
- ✓ Scored in your browser
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Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following?
What your PHQ-9 score means
The nine items are each scored 0 to 3, so the total runs 0 to 27. The bands below are the standard interpretation from the instrument's validation study — they describe the weight of the last two weeks, not a verdict on you.
One item carries extra weight. Question 9 asks about thoughts of being better off dead or of hurting yourself. Any answer above "not at all" is treated as a flag by clinicians regardless of the total, and this page will say so. If that is where you are tonight, call or text 988 — free, 24/7.
Why this instead of a personality quiz
Most "am I depressed" quizzes online are written by a marketing team and end at a lead form. The PHQ-9 is a real clinical instrument: developed by Drs. Robert Spitzer, Janet Williams and Kurt Kroenke as part of PRIME-MD, published in 2001, free to reproduce without permission, and used in primary care, county clinics and health plans across California. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends depression screening for all adults, which is why the same nine questions keep turning up at check-ups.
Two things follow from that. First, your number is portable — a clinician anywhere in the state will recognise it instantly. Second, it means something over time: the same nine questions in three weeks will tell you whether things are moving.
And why here rather than a therapy company
Screening pages are usually a funnel. The FTC fined BetterHelp $7.8 million in 2023 for handing intake answers to advertising platforms. So this page does the opposite by construction: no ad pixels, no session recording, no server ever sees a response, and our own analytics are excluded from this URL. We would rather be able to say that than be able to measure it.
Paid for by participating therapists · No ads · Data never sold · Read the full pledge
You have a number. Now what?
A score is only useful if it turns into an appointment. Californians have three concrete advantages most people never use:
See the real price first
City-by-city fees and every route below sticker, from Medi-Cal to sliding scale.
Use the 10-day rule
California law gives you a non-urgent appointment inside 10 business days. Here are the scripts.
Run the 5-day search
The method that survives stale listings, full caseloads and voicemail.
Questions people ask
Is this depression test free?
Yes. There is no account, no email, no paywall and no upsell. TherapyCalifornia is paid for by the California therapists who list in our directory, not by advertisers.
Is the PHQ-9 accurate?
The PHQ-9 is the most widely validated brief depression measure in use. In the original validation study of 6,000 patients, a score of 10 or higher identified major depression with roughly 88% sensitivity and 88% specificity. It is a screening instrument, not a diagnosis.
Do you store or sell my answers?
No. Every question is scored by JavaScript running on your own device. Nothing is transmitted to a server, there is no database record, and our analytics scripts are switched off on this page entirely, so no session recording or page-level event can observe your answers.
What is a normal PHQ-9 score?
Scores of 0 to 4 are the minimal band and describe most people most of the time. 5 to 9 is mild, 10 to 14 moderate, 15 to 19 moderately severe, and 20 to 27 severe. A score of 10 or more is the point at which most clinicians start a fuller conversation.
What should I do with my score?
Write it down with the date and bring it to a first appointment — it gives a clinician a two-week snapshot in one number and saves you retelling it. If you do not have a therapist yet, our cost page shows real California fees and the guides show how to get seen inside the state 10-day timely access rule.
Can this test diagnose depression?
No. Only a licensed clinician who talks with you can diagnose a depressive disorder. A questionnaire cannot see context, history, medical causes, or how long something has been going on. Treat the number as a starting point for a conversation.
Sources
- Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001;16(9):606–613.
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Depression and Suicide Risk in Adults: Screening. Final recommendation statement, June 2023 (Grade B for depression screening in adults).
- Federal Trade Commission. FTC to Ban BetterHelp from Revealing Consumers' Data. Press release, March 2023 ($7.8M).
- PHQ-9 developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams and Kurt Kroenke, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. No permission is required to reproduce, translate, display or distribute it.
Updated August 2026 · Sources cited above · Education, not diagnosis