Seasonal Affective Disorder Assessment

Seasonal mood disorder evaluation using SPAQ Global Seasonality Score (GSS) and PHQ-9 depression severity screening, with combined severity classification.

Scoring

Instruments: SPAQ GSS (0–24) + PHQ-9 (0–27).

• SPAQ GSS: 0–7 No SAD, 8–10 Subsyndromal SAD, 11–24 SAD likely.
• PHQ-9: standard depression severity bands (see Mental Health Assessment).
• Combined severity: No SAD, Mild, Moderate, Severe, or Critical (SAD likely with PHQ-9 20–27, or suicidal ideation present).

What it covers

Demographics; seasonal pattern history; current mood assessment (PHQ-9); sleep and energy; appetite and weight changes; social and occupational impact; light exposure assessment; previous treatments; risk assessment (self-harm); and treatment plan with monitoring.

Common pitfalls

• Diagnosing SAD from a single winter assessment without seasonal pattern history — SAD is defined by a recurring seasonal pattern over multiple years, not a single depressive episode that happens to occur in winter; the seasonal-pattern-history section is what actually establishes this.
• Missing the critical-severity override — any suicidal ideation present should escalate to critical severity regardless of the SPAQ/PHQ-9 numeric bands; the combined-severity table explicitly carves this out.
• Treating light exposure assessment as incidental — light exposure (and light therapy as an intervention) is specifically relevant to SAD in a way it isn't for non-seasonal depression; skipping it misses a core, evidence-based part of the evaluation and treatment plan.

Learn more

• FormExamples: seasonal-affective-disorder-assessment for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.
• Mental Health Assessment for the general depression/anxiety screening PHQ-9 is drawn from.