Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)

The MADRS measures how severe a person's depression is right now, and it was built specifically to pick up change — the items were chosen from a larger scale because they were the ones most responsive to antidepressant treatment.

Ten items cover apparent sadness, reported sadness, inner tension, reduced sleep, reduced appetite, concentration difficulties, lassitude, inability to feel, pessimistic thoughts, and suicidal thoughts. Nine come from what the person reports; apparent sadness is rated from what the clinician observes during the interview. Each scores 0 to 6, for a total out of 60. Unlike the Hamilton scale, it leans toward core mood symptoms rather than physical ones, which matters when someone is also medically unwell.

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Licensing Notes: The scale is reproduced without restriction across trial protocols, clinical resources, and calculators.