Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)
What It Measures
The Geriatric Depression Scale screens for depression in older adults using a format built for the people answering it: plain yes-or-no questions about the past week, with no rating scales to hold in mind.
Its design choice matters. The GDS deliberately leaves out physical symptoms — poor sleep, low energy, appetite changes — because in older adults these often reflect a medical condition rather than mood, and a general depression measure would count them as symptoms either way. Two versions are in use: the original 30-item form and a 15-item short form. Higher scores mean more depressive symptoms. It screens; it does not diagnose, and it does not ask about suicidal thoughts.
Further Reading
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: The GDS is in the public domain and free to use.
Learn More: Commonly cited bands are 0–4 normal, 5–8 mild, 9–11 moderate, and 12–15 severe, with any score above 5 prompting fuller psychological assessment. Meta-analytic work found the short form performs at least as well as the 30-item version (sensitivity 81%, specificity 78%).
