Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D)
What It Measures
The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression measures how severe someone's depression currently is. Unlike self-report questionnaires, a clinician conducts a semi-structured interview and rates what they observe and hear.
Seventeen items are scored in the standard version: depressed mood, guilt, suicidal thoughts, three kinds of insomnia, work and activities, psychomotor slowing, agitation, psychic and somatic anxiety, gastrointestinal and general somatic symptoms, genital symptoms, hypochondriasis, weight loss, and insight. Nine items score 0 to 4 and eight score 0 to 2, giving a total from 0 to 52. Higher means more severe. Two items — retardation and agitation — are rated from observation rather than from what the person reports.
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: The original scale (Hamilton, 1960) is in the public domain; no permission is required, and reproductions cite Hamilton (1960). Note that structured derivatives like the SIGH-D and GRID-HAMD interview guides carry separate copyright.
Learn More: Version confusion is common. HAM-D-17 is the standard for severity. HAM-D-21 adds four items (diurnal variation, paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depersonalisation) intended to subtype depression.