Columbia Depression Scale (DISC) Test

Readers concerned about depressive experiences, social disconnection, trauma exposure, or suicide-related warning signs can use the Columbia Depression Scale (DISC) Test to review depressive, social, trauma-related, and behavioral experiences contributing to a preliminary suicidal behavior risk result. As a suicide risk screening questionnaire, it supports self-reflection and may help a person decide whether to involve someone trusted or seek further assessment.

What This Assessment Explores

Questions cover emotional distress, social disconnection, future orientation, health, trauma, and suicide-related experiences. They address low mood, worthlessness, tension, feeling unwanted or detached, lack of plans or purpose, statements about not wanting to live, talk of methods, aggression, and self-harm. These themes identify the situations and behaviors that contribute to one preliminary risk-level result.

The single scale is Suicidal Behavior Risk Level (0–25), a suicidal behavior risk assessment. Low 0–12 indicates minimal risk, Moderate 13–19 an intermediate level, and High 20–25 increasing risk. These bands flag when additional support or professional consultation may be appropriate.

The main thematic areas are:

• Emotional strain reflects low mood, self-criticism, tension, sensitivity, and confusion.
• Disconnection reflects feeling unsupported, unwanted, detached, or reluctant to accept help.
• Future orientation reflects the presence or absence of plans, goals, purpose, and a positive or negative attitude toward life.

Methodology and Evidence Base

Every item uses Yes or No to describe a feeling, circumstance, attitude, or behavior. The questionnaire produces one displayed risk-level score; response-level weighting and the arithmetic used to obtain it are not documented, so the calculation cannot be reconstructed from the result alone.

The questionnaire’s themes are conceptually consistent with the Columbia SuicideScreen, a structured screen addressing suicide and depression-related concerns, and with the Columbia DISC Depression Scale, although this Columbia depression scale questionnaire is not presented as an adaptation or validation of either instrument. Beck, Kovacs, and Weissman’s Scale for Suicide Ideation addresses suicidal intent, while Joiner’s work gives context for interpersonal disconnection and suicidal desire. Together, these sources provide interpretive context rather than evidence that this online questionnaire has been validated.

Standardization information for this online version is not documented: norms, reliability coefficients, validated clinical cutoffs, and detailed scoring cannot be assumed. Responses may vary with current mood, memory, self-awareness, and willingness to disclose. The result is not diagnostic and requires professional evaluation when answers involve not wanting to live, talking about suicide methods, or self-harm.