Fifteen yes-or-no questions about the past week, scored the way the scale’s authors recommend.
The Geriatric Depression Scale short form is a widely used screen for depression in older adults. Depression is common after an illness, injury or fall, and it can slow recovery. It takes about 5 minutes.
If you are thinking about hurting yourself, or someone else is in danger, call or text 988 (the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7) or call 911 now. This questionnaire can’t help in an emergency.
Instructions
Choose the best answer for how you have felt over the past week.
This is a screening, not a diagnosis. The GDS can point to possible depression, but only a licensed health care provider can diagnose it. Share your result with your doctor.
Scores run from 0 to 15. According to the scale’s authors, for clinical purposes a score above 5 is suggestive of depression and should be followed by an interview with a health care provider. Scores above 10 almost always indicate depression.
Source. Geriatric Depression Scale, short form (English), questions and scoring from web.stanford.edu/~yesavage/GDS.html. The original scale is in the public domain. Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res. 1983;17:37-49. Sheikh JI, Yesavage JA. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS): recent evidence and development of a shorter version. Clinical Gerontologist. 1986;5:165-173. Holsman Physical Therapy is not affiliated with Stanford University or the scale’s authors.
Next step: Share this result with your doctor or another licensed health care provider. You can print it or save it as a PDF with the button above.
The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a screening questionnaire for depression in older adults, developed by Yesavage, Brink and colleagues. The short form has 15 yes-or-no questions about the past week. It is in the public domain.
Each answer that points toward depression scores 1 point, for a total of 0 to 15. Per the scale’s authors, a score above 5 is suggestive of depression and should be followed up, and scores above 10 almost always indicate depression.
Depression is common after illness, injury or a fall, and it can slow recovery, lower activity and raise fall risk. Screening helps make sure it gets addressed.
Share it with your doctor or a mental health professional. If you are thinking about hurting yourself, call or text 988 or call 911 right away.
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