Free PHQ-15 Somatic Symptom Test — Online Self-Check

Your PHQ-15 score in context

The PHQ-15 is a snapshot of the past 4 weeks, not a fixed measurement of your physical health. Somatic symptom burden is responsive to circumstance — a difficult month physically (a viral illness, a back strain, a medication change, a hospital admission, a period of poor sleep, a flare of a chronic condition) can push the score meaningfully upward during the window you happened to take the screen. A genuinely settled month can pull it downward. The 4-week recall window the PHQ-15 uses was designed to balance two competing needs: long enough to smooth out single bad days, short enough to detect change before a persistent symptom pattern becomes entrenched. If you took this screen at a known difficult point, the number may sit higher than your baseline. If the 4 weeks behind you were unusually settled, it may sit lower. That does not make the reading unreliable; it makes the context around it important.

One reframe specific to the PHQ-15: this instrument measures physical symptoms, not mental-health symptoms. A high PHQ-15 score paired with a low PHQ-9 score suggests a primarily somatic profile — physical symptoms are dominant without major mood disturbance — which is the picture historically described in the somatic-symptom literature and may prompt evaluation for underlying medical contributors or for somatic symptom disorder. A high PHQ-15 score paired with a high PHQ-9 score (or a high GAD-7 score) suggests a depression-with-physical-symptoms or anxiety-with-physical-symptoms profile, where the physical and emotional components are intertwined and benefit from being addressed together rather than separately. If you have not also taken the PHQ-9 and GAD-7, doing so gives you a substantially more informative clinical picture than the PHQ-15 alone. The three together are one of the most commonly used brief-screen combinations in primary care for exactly this reason.

When you retake the PHQ-15, the change is more informative than any single number. The clinical literature uses around 5 points as the threshold for a clinically meaningful shift on this instrument; smaller swings between two readings often fall within ordinary variation and do not reliably signal that something has improved or worsened. A change of 5 or more points, in either direction, is worth paying attention to and worth mentioning to a clinician if one is involved. The PHQ-15 was designed for repeated administration at intervals matched to its 4-week recall window — every 4 weeks is the natural cadence. Retesting more often produces noise; the 4-week window has not had time to update. Retesting much less often loses the tracking sensitivity. A single high score is information; a sustained pattern across multiple administrations is a different and stronger signal.

How to bring this to a clinician

The PHQ-15 is well known in primary-care settings — somatic symptoms drive a substantial share of primary-care visits, and the PHQ-15 is among the most widely used brief screens for somatic symptom burden specifically. Most primary-care clinicians will recognize it immediately and know how to read the 0-30 scoring. You do not need to explain what it is — bringing the score gives the conversation a concrete starting point that descriptions of physical symptoms often otherwise lack.

What to bring:

• The total score on the canonical 0-30 scale (the number shown on your result above)
• Which items you rated "Bothered a lot" (raw value 2) and which you rated "Bothered a little" (raw value 1). The item-level pattern often guides what a clinician evaluates first — a PHQ-15 dominated by pain items looks clinically different from one dominated by cardiopulmonary symptoms or by fatigue and sleep
• How long the somatic burden at this level has been present (best guess in weeks or months). A recent shift and a long-running pattern need different responses
• Any major recent medical or life events — a viral illness, a hospital admission, a new diagnosis, a medication change, a relationship rupture, a bereavement, a major work stressor — that might be contributing
• Any medication, substance, or supplement that started in roughly the same window as the symptoms. Several common medications have somatic side effects that overlap with PHQ-15 items (gastrointestinal symptoms, fatigue, dizziness, sleep disruption)
• Whether mood- or anxiety-related concerns are also part of the picture. If yes, bringing a PHQ-9 and/or GAD-7 result to the same conversation usually shortens the path to a useful plan, because depression and anxiety commonly co-occur with elevated somatic burden and integrated treatment tends to outperform treating either alone

A two-line opening you can use as-is:

I took the PHQ-15 at home and scored [X] on the 0-30 scale. The items I rated highest were [item descriptions]. I'd like to talk about what to do next.

A clinician will commonly follow up by taking a more detailed history of the symptoms that hit hardest — onset, character, timing, what makes them better or worse, what they prevent you from doing — and may suggest basic workup (bloods to check thyroid function, anemia, vitamin and mineral status, blood sugar, inflammation markers as appropriate to the pattern), a review of current medications and substances, an evaluation of sleep, and a consideration of any co-occurring mood or anxiety symptoms. They may also ask about specific symptoms the PHQ-15 captures less directly — pain location and severity, gastrointestinal pattern detail, cardiac risk factors, sleep architecture — to fill in gaps that the broad somatic-burden total does not address. Mentioning these areas upfront, even briefly, can shorten the appointment and get you to a concrete plan faster than open-ended descriptions. You can print this page or save it as PDF using your browser's print menu — the result, score, and item ratings all carry through.

If you're reading this with someone who took the test

If you are a partner, parent, sibling, close friend, or caregiver reading this result alongside the person who took the test, this section is addressed to you. Somatic symptom burden is one of the more privately-managed health pictures — by the time someone takes a PHQ-15, they may have been quietly accommodating the underlying physical symptoms for weeks or months that people around them did not fully see. The score gives you a concrete starting point for a conversation that can otherwise be hard to begin, particularly because chronic physical symptoms are often treated socially as something to push through rather than to talk about. Ask them directly what they want from you before drawing your own conclusions from the number. Different people in different shapes of somatic burden want different kinds of support, and a score does not tell you which they need.

Three things that consistently help: showing up steady and present, without trying to diagnose the symptoms or explain them away. Persistent physical symptoms do not respond to "it's probably just stress" or "have you tried [X]" even when those statements are well-intentioned; both tend to land as dismissive of the actual lived experience and to imply that the person has not already considered the obvious options. Practical help with tasks that the symptom burden has made harder — driving them to an appointment, sitting with them through a phone call to schedule one, taking on a logistics or caregiving task that has become too taxing, picking up groceries or prescriptions, preparing a meal — meets the moment in a way words often cannot. And asking, calmly, what kind of support feels most useful right now: companionship at an appointment, help thinking through what to say to a clinician, a quiet presence on a hard day, or just knowing you are available if needed.

Three things that tend not to help: minimizing the symptoms ("everyone gets tired," "my back hurts too," "it's probably nothing") — this lands as dismissive even when meant to be reassuring; offering medical interpretations or diagnoses you are not qualified to make ("sounds like just anxiety," "that's probably IBS," "maybe you're just dehydrated") — these short-circuit the clinical evaluation the score is pointing toward; and pressing have-you-tried suggestions for supplements, dietary changes, exercise programs, or alternative therapies that the person has almost certainly considered. Most people with persistent somatic symptoms have spent considerable time researching their own situation.

One situation calls for specific care: if they mention thoughts of suicide or self-harm — even passively, in the form of not wanting to be here, wishing they could just stop, or feeling that others would be better off without them — that is information to take seriously rather than redirect away from. High somatic symptom burden frequently co-occurs with depression, and the wearing nature of chronic physical symptoms can amplify hopelessness when both are present. The most useful response is to stay calm, ask gently whether they have any specific plans or means available, and help them connect with support today. Suggesting they call or text 988 (US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, free and confidential) while you sit with them is a concrete next step. If they feel unsafe or you feel they may not stay safe, an emergency department visit is appropriate. Asking about suicidal thoughts does not put the idea in someone's head; it makes it possible for them to talk about something they may have been carrying alone. The PHQ-15 itself does not assess suicidal thoughts, so a high score on this scale is not a substitute for a safety conversation when those thoughts are present.

If the somatic burden has reached a point where it is meaningfully compressing their life — work suffering, basic self-care slipping, important relationships strained because they cannot bring themselves to engage — helping them schedule and keep the first clinical appointment is one of the most concrete, high-leverage things you can do. Getting to the room is often the hardest single step, particularly for somatic symptoms where people may have already had visits that did not produce clear answers.

Other screens you might also take

The PHQ-15 measures physical symptom burden over the past 4 weeks. Several patterns commonly co-occur with elevated somatic scores, and a more targeted second screen often clarifies the larger picture — especially because the PHQ-15 was specifically designed to be used alongside the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 as a brief primary-care screening combination.