Postnatal Depression Self-Check — Free 12-Question Mood & Anxiety Test

The Postnatal Mood Check asks 12 questions about emotional changes that are common from late pregnancy through the first year after birth, based on the past two weeks. The first 6 look at depressed mood: whether days of caring for the baby feel only heavy, whether your heart stays dim even when something is funny, crying for no reason, blaming yourself for not being a good enough parent, feeling things will not get better, and whether thoughts of disappearing or harming yourself have crossed your mind.

The other 6 look at anxiety and burden: checking on the baby again and again for fear something bad will happen, a pounding heart or tight breath over small things, being unable to rest even while the baby sleeps, carrying everything alone because you are not sure it is all right to ask for help, worrying that your body and life will never return to how they were, and feeling weighed down by other people's comments or looks more than usual. Each question is answered on four steps from not at all (0) to nearly every day (3), and it takes about two minutes.

Your result comes not as one total but as two scores, Depressed Mood and Anxiety and Burden. Each runs from 0 to 18 and is divided into four bands: 0–3, 4–8, 9–13 and 14–18. For Depressed Mood these read Generally Comfortable, Mildly Depressed, Moderately Depressed and Severely Depressed; for Anxiety and Burden, Relatively Stable, Occasionally Anxious, Moderately Anxious and Severely Anxious. One score may be high while the other is not, or both may be high, which shows which load is heavier for you right now.

Around birth, lack of sleep and physical recovery alone can push both scores up. So the more important clue is not one score but which way it moves when you check again two weeks later. This check is screening information, not a diagnosis; mood changes in this period are common, nothing to be ashamed of, and often improve well with help. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, do not stay alone with them: contact local emergency services or a crisis line right away.

These items were developed by Soundary itself; they are not a translation or adaptation of any particular standardized scale. They try to put into everyday words the feelings heard especially often around birth, such as self-blame, the burden of carrying everything alone, and the weight of other people's comments and looks. So the result is not a fixed diagnostic cutoff but a reference self-check that organizes how you are doing now, and it works well as a starting point for describing your state at an appointment.

A good time to check again is about two weeks later. Since the check covers the past two weeks, that interval shows the trend, and if you save your results on Soundary, you can compare them side by side with your previous ones. If either score is 9 or higher, or keeps rising, tell your obstetric or mental health provider how you are doing and talk it over. Showing the result to family or a partner and agreeing on exactly what help you need also supports recovery.