Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8) Test

Get a quick picture of how physical symptoms are affecting your patient in just 2 minutes. Eight focused items deliver clear scores to flag somatization, track progress, and support differential diagnosis.

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Questions: 82 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

26,765 views

2,283 completions

1,851 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

11/32

Somatization Total Score (STS)

Measures the overall severity of somatic symptom burden reported over the past weeks on the SSS-8.

Low

Moderate

High

0 – 7: Low | 8 – 15: Moderate | 16 – 32: High

A score of 11 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not severe level of somatic symptom burden.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Frequent unexplained symptoms

44%OF USERS

People bothered by recurring physical complaints like pain, fatigue, or dizziness who want to understand whether stress or emotions may be contributing.

Therapy or medication monitoring

33%OF USERS

Patients already in psychotherapy or taking medication who track how their bodily symptoms change over time and bring clear results to appointments.

Clinician screening and triage

23%OF USERS

Psychologists, psychotherapists, and physicians who use a quick questionnaire to screen for somatization and support differential diagnosis.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Overall Somatization Score (OSS)

Average

14.8

Normal range

10.6 — 19.1

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

Over the past week, how often have you been bothered by each of the following problems? Please select only one response option for each problem.

- Not at all
- Occasionally
- Some of the time
- Quite often
- Very often
- Not at all
- A little bit
- Sometimes
- Quite a bit
- Very often
- Not at all
- Not very often
- Sometimes
- Quite often
- Very often

These are 3 of the 8 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

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WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8) Test - Symptoms and Signs

somatics

This brief self-report measure assesses the severity of common somatic symptoms and related distress. The Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8) is designed to support clinical screening and symptom monitoring in medical and behavioral health settings.

It consists of 8 items rated by the respondent and typically takes about 2 minutes to complete. Items query the degree to which physical symptoms have been bothersome over a recent time frame, yielding a summary score that can be used to quantify symptom burden and track change over time. The measure was developed by Kurt Kroenke.

The Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8) is intended to complement, not replace, clinical evaluation; results should be interpreted in the context of medical history, current health conditions, and other assessment data.

Author: Janet B. W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke, Robert L. Spitzer

Literature: Barsky, A. J., Wyshak, G., & Klerman, G. L. The somatosensory amplification scale and its relationship to hypochondriasis. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 1990.; Gierk, B., Kohlmann, S., Kroenke, K., Spangenberg, L., Zenger, M., Brähler, E., & Löwe, B. The somatic symptom scale-8 (SSS-8): A brief measure of somatic symptom burden. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2014.