02 - The clinician's brief
01 - What it measures
The SCL-90-R (Symptom Checklist-90-Revised) is a 90-item self-report questionnaire developed by Leonard Derogatis that screens psychological distress across nine dimensions: somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism.
02 - Scoring & cutoffs
Each item is rated 0-4 for the past week, and results roll up into a Global Severity Index (GSI) plus nine subscale scores. A full administration takes 12-15 minutes.
03 - When to use it
For most clinical and research purposes, the dimensions people use the SCL-90-R for are covered by public-domain instruments you can score here in your browser, free: PHQ-9 for depression, GAD-7 for anxiety, and PHQ-15 for somatic symptoms. Each is validated, widely cited, and takes 2-4 minutes. If you need a single broad measure of distress instead, the K10 is a strong free option.
04 - Licensing, explained
The instrument is copyrighted and distributed by Pearson under a paid per-use licence. That means there is no legitimate free online version - any site offering one is reproducing it without permission, and the version you are taking may be altered or scored incorrectly.
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