Aisel is a clinical operating system designed for psychiatric and psychology clinics. It automates intake, documentation, billing codes, and EHR synchronisation while keeping clinical judgement in control.

Is Aisel GDPR compliant?

Yes, Aisel is fully GDPR compliant, ensuring the highest standards of data security and patient privacy for European healthcare providers.

How does Aisel improve intake completion rates?

Aisel uses AI to transform complex intake forms into natural patient conversations, achieving 88% completion rates before first consultations.

Licensed instrument

MDQ: scoring, cutoffs & interpretation

A 13-item lifetime screen for bipolar spectrum disorder; positive only when symptom count, co-occurrence and impairment criteria are all met.

Use these insteadASRM YMRS

02 - The clinician's brief

Last reviewed: 7 September 2026 · Reviewed by Lotte Kjær Svalberg

01 - Scoring & cutoffs

How scoring works.

The MDQ has three parts. Part one lists 13 lifetime manic or hypomanic experiences answered yes or no; the number of "yes" answers gives a 0-13 count. Part two asks whether several of the endorsed experiences happened during the same period of time. Part three asks how much of a problem these experiences caused (no problem, minor, moderate or serious).

A positive screen requires all three criteria at once: seven or more "yes" answers in part one, "yes" to the co-occurrence question, and "moderate" or "serious" problems in part three. The symptom count alone is not a severity score, and a positive screen is not a diagnosis - it should be followed by a clinical interview for bipolar disorder. Some distributed versions add unscored questions on family history and previous diagnosis.

Score

Severity

Interpretation

0–6

Below symptom threshold

Fewer than seven lifetime symptoms endorsed. Screen negative regardless of the other two questions.

7–13

Symptom threshold met

Seven or more symptoms endorsed. The screen is positive only if the symptoms clustered in the same period AND caused moderate or serious problems; otherwise it is negative. A positive screen warrants a clinical interview for bipolar disorder.

02 - Licensing, explained

How licensing works.

The Mood Disorder Questionnaire is copyright Robert M. A. Hirschfeld / The University of Texas Medical Branch (2000). Sales, permissions and licensing are handled by Jones & Bartlett Learning on behalf of Dr Hirschfeld's estate; widely circulated PDFs carry "reprinted with permission" notices rather than a public-domain release. We could not verify permission to reproduce the item text online, so this page does not include the questionnaire. Aisel offers a free interactive alternative on the Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale (ASRM) page, and the clinician-rated Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) for severity.

References

Source literature.

Related scales

Instruments clinicians often use alongside this one

bipolar

ASRM

5-item self-report screen for manic and hypomanic symptoms.

Open scale

bipolar

YMRS

Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS)

Clinician-rated measure of manic symptom severity over the past 48 hours.

Open scale

depression

PHQ-9

Patient Health Questionnaire-9

Validated 9-item self-report measure for screening and assessing the severity of depression.

Open scale