Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)
A 10-item self-report of non-specific psychological distress over the past 4 weeks. Each item asks how often you felt a certain way. Higher totals indicate greater distress. Administer under clinician oversight.
This is a clinical instrument. It is not publicly self-administered — a clinician assigns it through a secure patient link.
At a glance
Detailed write-up pending
A full, citation-backed scientific write-up for this scale — overview, clinical use, and psychometrics in the voice of a dissertation "Measures" section — has not yet been authored. To honor the platform's no-fabricated-sources rule, this page currently shows only the verified registry facts above (item count, structure, scoring, and any published norms). No validity coefficients, reliability figures, or citations are shown here that cannot be traced to a named source; the authored write-up will be added once its sources have been read and recorded in the plan-integrity file.
Example item
“tired out for no good reason?”
Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.
Scoring & interpretation
Item responses are summed to a total score and compared against published screening cutoffs.
| Band | Threshold | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Likely to be well | ≥ 10 | Total below 20 indicates the person is likely to be well. |
| Mild distress | ≥ 20 | Total of 20–24 indicates a mild level of psychological distress. |
| Moderate distress | ≥ 25 | Total of 25–29 indicates a moderate level of psychological distress. |
| Severe distress | ≥ 30 | Total of 30–50 indicates a severe level of psychological distress. |
Source & citation
Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L. J., et al. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32(6), 959–976.
Scoring. Bands per Andrews, G., & Slade, T. (2001). Interpreting scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 25(6), 494–497 (<20 likely well, 20–24 mild, 25–29 moderate, 30–50 severe).
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) © World Health Organization. Free for clinical and research use; a commercial-use grey area applies — do not imply commercial clearance.