Three tools you can use right now. The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 questionnaires are official, in the public domain, and used in clinical practice worldwide. Everything runs in your browser: answers are not sent anywhere and are not stored.
Important. These are screening tools, not a diagnosis. They indicate the likely severity of symptoms over the past two weeks and help you decide whether to seek support. Only a qualified professional can make a diagnosis after a proper conversation.
Choose a tool
About the PHQ-9
What it is. The PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) is a brief self-report scale measuring the severity of depressive symptoms over the past two weeks. Its nine items correspond to the nine diagnostic criteria for a depressive episode.
Who developed it. The questionnaire was created by Dr Robert L. Spitzer, Dr Janet B.W. Williams and Dr Kurt Kroenke with colleagues as part of the PRIME-MD project, supported by an educational grant from Pfizer. It is one of the most widely used depression screening tools in the world.
What it is used for. The PHQ-9 is used in primary care and psychological practice for two purposes: to identify the likely presence of depressive symptoms and — when repeated — to track changes in a person's state over time. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, with a maximum of 27 points.
What it does not do. The questionnaire does not establish a diagnosis and does not replace clinical assessment. A high score only means symptoms are pronounced and a specialist should be consulted for a full evaluation.
Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
01Little interest or pleasure in doing things
02Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
03Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much
04Feeling tired or having little energy
05Poor appetite or overeating
06Feeling bad about yourself — or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down
07Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television
08Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed; or the opposite — being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual
09Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way
0 of 27
What to do next
If the result concerns you, it can be discussed in a consultation. The first session is about understanding your situation — no pressure.
Find support near you. Whatever your score, free psychological help is available almost everywhere: mental health centres, hospital services, non-profit organisations, and university counselling services for students. Searching for "free mental health support" plus your city usually brings up current contacts.
About the GAD-7
What it is. The GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7) is a seven-item scale assessing the severity of anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks. It was developed as a screening tool for generalised anxiety disorder.
Who developed it. The questionnaire was created by Dr Robert L. Spitzer, Dr Kurt Kroenke, Dr Janet B.W. Williams and Bernd Löwe. It was first published in 2006 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
What it is used for. Beyond generalised anxiety, the GAD-7 has shown acceptable sensitivity for screening panic disorder, social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Each item is scored from 0 to 3, with a maximum of 21 points.
The key cut-off. Official guidance identifies a score of 10 or above as the threshold warranting further evaluation by a specialist — this is the cut-off used in clinical practice.
Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
01Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge
02Not being able to stop or control worrying
03Worrying too much about different things
04Trouble relaxing
05Being so restless that it is hard to sit still
06Becoming easily annoyed or irritable
07Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen
0 of 21
What to do next
If the result concerns you, it can be discussed in a consultation. The first session is about understanding your situation — no pressure.
Find support near you. Whatever your score, free psychological help is available almost everywhere: mental health centres, hospital services, non-profit organisations, and university counselling services for students. Searching for "free mental health support" plus your city usually brings up current contacts.
A technique with equal phases: inhale, hold, exhale, hold — four seconds each. Used to reduce physiological arousal during anxiety and tension.
Cycle 0 / 4
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Done. Notice how your state has changed.
How many cycles you need
One cycle is four phases of four seconds each — about 16 seconds in total. So 4 cycles ≈ 1 minute of practice.
Quick calming in the moment. When you need to reduce acute tension — before a difficult conversation, or as anxiety builds — 1–3 minutes, that is 4–12 cycles, is usually enough. Even a single minute of focused breathing helps restore mental clarity.
Deeper relaxation. For fuller calming of the nervous system, 4–5 minutes, roughly 15–18 cycles, is recommended.
Regular practice. A Stanford University study (Cell Reports Medicine, 2023) found that 5 minutes of daily breathwork over a month was associated with improved mood and reduced anxiety. The effect is cumulative: regularity matters more than the length of any single session.
Practical tip. Learn the technique while calm — then it will work automatically in a moment of real stress. If four seconds feels too long, start with three: what matters is that all four phases are equal in length.
Safety notes. Stop the exercise if you feel dizzy, uncomfortable or unwell. Do not perform it if you have respiratory or cardiovascular conditions without consulting a doctor first.
A method for desensitising and reprocessing traumatic experiences through eye movements. Developed by American psychologist Francine Shapiro in 1987 — she noticed that eye movements could reduce the intensity of distressing memories, and built a structured therapeutic protocol on that observation. The exact mechanism is not fully understood, but the leading hypothesis links bilateral stimulation (alternating activation of the left and right hemispheres) to how the brain naturally reprocesses memories during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Guided eye movements or other bilateral stimulation are thought to activate a similar process while awake, helping to "unstick" a memory that has remained emotionally lodged. For adults with PTSD, the NICE guideline (NG116) lists EMDR alongside trauma-focused CBT as a first-line recommended option. An important boundary: I work exclusively within the cognitive behavioural (CBT) approach — this exercise is a separate, publicly available self-help practice based on open scientific sources, and it is not part of my consultation protocol. The suggested set length (20–30 seconds) matches the range used in clinical bilateral stimulation practice; the stopping point is your own felt sense, following the "Butterfly Hug" technique that Francine Shapiro herself adapted for self-use outside of therapy.
How to use it
Recall a stressful event and keep it in focus
Sit comfortably, the moving point at eye level, at whatever distance feels comfortable for your screen
Press "Start" and follow the point smoothly with your eyes, keeping your head still
Follow the point for 20–30 seconds — this is the range used in clinical bilateral stimulation practice
Press "Pause" and check in with yourself: if tension is still there, do another set
The stopping point is your own felt sense of "enough", not a fixed number of sets
Afterwards, notice how your state has changed
0Cycles
0:00Session time
Speed
No need to rush to the fastest pace — slower but comfortable for your eyes works better. You can change the speed at any point during the session.
Important. This tool is for self-help and reducing acute stress — it is not full EMDR therapy. Deep reprocessing of traumatic experience should only be done with a trained therapist in a supervised setting.
Contraindications. Do not use during an acute psychotic episode or if you have epilepsy. If in doubt, consult a doctor.
Source of the questionnairesThe PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were developed by Dr Robert L. Spitzer, Dr Janet B.W. Williams, Dr Kurt Kroenke and colleagues, with an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. They are in the public domain: no permission is required to reproduce, translate or distribute them. Official source — phqscreeners.com.
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