Psychological Distress

Kessler Psychological Distress Scale 10

A 10-question screening scale of psychological distress over the most recent 4-week period.

10questions
~3minutes
100%confidential

Understand Yourself Better

Gain meaningful insights from your responses

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Only you — and any clinician you choose — can see your answers.

About Psychological Distress

The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale 10 (K10) is a 10-question screening scale of psychological distress. It is intended to yield a global measure of distress based on questions about anxiety and depressive symptoms that a person has experienced in the most recent 4-week period. The scale was designed to be sensitive around the threshold for the clinically significant range of the distribution of nonspecific distress, in an effort to maximize the ability to discriminate cases of serious mental illness (SMI) from non-cases.

When should you consider this assessment?

If several of these experiences have been present for two weeks or more and are affecting your daily life — work, sleep, relationships — a screening assessment is a good first step to understand what you are going through.

How the assessment works

About 3 minutes. Each one asks how often you have experienced something recently. You can go back and change any answer before you submit, and you will see every answer on a review screen first.

What happens after?

You will get a patient-friendly report: a severity band, a breakdown of which areas weigh heaviest, key observations from your answers, and clear next steps. If it would help to talk to someone, we will suggest therapists who work with psychological distress.

About this instrument

DomainsPsychological Distress
AdministrationSelf-administered
Assessment typeClinical
ModeQuestionnaire
Eligibility11 years and above
Estimated time2 to 3 minutes

How it works

Three steps, about 3 minutes, and nothing you cannot undo.

Verify your number
A quick one-time code, so your report has somewhere safe to live.
Answer 10 questions
One at a time, at your own pace. You can stop and come back.
Get your report
A clear result, what it means, and what you can do next.

Frequently asked questions

No. It is a screening tool to help you and a clinician understand your experiences — only a licensed professional can make a diagnosis.
Yes. Your responses are confidential and visible only to you and any clinician you choose to consult.
Most people finish in about 3 minutes. Your answers are kept as you go, so you can leave and come back.
Please reach out immediately — our 24×7 helpline and trained professionals are here for you. You do not need to finish the assessment first.

Take 3 minutes for yourself

Understanding is the first step. Your report is private and instant.

Take the K10 assessment · ₹100

Attribution & references

Attribution
Kessler, R.C., Barker, P.R., Colpe, L.J., Epstein, J.F., Gfroerer, J.C., Hiripi, E., Howes, M.J, Normand, S-L.T., Manderscheid, R.W., Walters, E.E., Zaslavsky, A.M. (2003). Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60(2), 184-189.
License
No formal request is needed to use the scale.
References
  • Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe LJ, et al. Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychol Med. 2002 Aug;32(6):959-76. PMID: 12214795