[1] When used, an observer may make judgements and rate a person at a specified scale level with respect to identified characteristics.
The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale includes twenty-one questions, each having three to five possible responses that reflect increasing or decreasing severity.
[8][9] The two questions on the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2):[10] During the past month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed, or hopeless?
[11] The scale is completed by patients to identify the presence and severity of symptoms consistent with the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.
[15] The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) sets are self-reported depression rating scales.
[10] The Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) is completed by the patient and a researcher.
This depression rating scale includes a 27-item screening questionnaire and follow-up clinician interview designed to facilitate the diagnosis of common mental disorders in primary care.
Its lengthy administration time has limited its clinical usefulness; it has been replaced by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
[21][22][23] Other copyrighted scales allow individual clinicians and researchers to make copies for their own use, but require licenses for electronic versions or large-scale redistribution.