Mental Health Assessment
Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Mental Health Assessment — combined depression/anxiety screening using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples; distinct from the legal/procedural mental-health-act-assessment.
Combined depression and anxiety screening using PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) and GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), with risk assessment.
Scoring
Instruments: PHQ-9 (0–27) and GAD-7 (0–21).
- PHQ-9: 0–4 Minimal, 5–9 Mild, 10–14 Moderate, 15–19 Moderately Severe, 20–27 Severe.
- GAD-7: 0–4 Minimal, 5–9 Mild, 10–14 Moderate, 15–21 Severe.
What it covers
Demographics; PHQ-9 depression screen; GAD-7 anxiety screen; mood and affect; risk assessment; substance use; current medications; treatment history; and social/functional status.
Common pitfalls
- Treating the PHQ-9/GAD-7 total score as more important than item 9 (suicidal ideation) — a non-zero response on the PHQ-9's suicidality item warrants direct follow-up regardless of the total score band; it shouldn't be averaged into an otherwise moderate total.
- Screening without checking substance use context — depression and anxiety symptoms can be substance-induced or worsened by substance use; skipping this section can misattribute the cause.
- Confusing this with the Mental Health Act assessment — see Mental Health Act Assessment for the separate, legal/procedural detention-criteria instrument; this one is a symptom-severity screening tool, not a legal determination.
Learn more
- FormExamples: mental-health-assessment for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
- Mental Health Act Assessment, Psychiatry Assessment, Psychology Assessment for related mental-health assessments.