About PsyMed and Our Editorial Team

PsyMed is a free website of mental health and psychology self-tests, with plain-language explanations around each one. It is written and maintained by the PsyMed Editorial Team: a small group of content writers and topic researchers who cover mental health, psychology and related subjects. This page explains who we are, why we built the site, how we work, and where our limits are.

Why we started PsyMed

PsyMed began with our own experiences. Members of our team have lived with depression and anxiety. For us, one of the hardest parts was the stretch before getting help: feeling that something was wrong without having words for it, wondering whether it was serious enough to mention to anyone, and not knowing where to start.

Putting a name to what we were going through made it easier to think about talking to a professional who could assess it properly. We built PsyMed to make that first step easier for other people. A structured set of questions can turn a vague feeling into something specific enough to describe to a doctor, and it can show you whether that conversation is worth having.

What PsyMed is for

Our tests are designed to help you:

• notice patterns in how you have been feeling, thinking or behaving;
• understand the terms that professionals use for those patterns;
• decide whether it is worth speaking to a doctor, psychologist or psychotherapist;
• take something concrete to that appointment, such as your score and the questions behind it.

We write our results to encourage you to speak to a specialist when your answers suggest it would help. Recovery from depression, anxiety and many other conditions is possible, and it usually starts with a conversation with someone qualified to assess you.

What PsyMed is not

We want to be direct about this, because the people who use these tests are often going through a hard time.

• We are not clinicians. Our team is made up of writers and researchers, not psychiatrists, psychologists or doctors. We do not put a clinician’s name on a page to borrow authority.
• Our tests do not diagnose. A screening test measures what you report about yourself at one moment. Only a qualified professional can diagnose a condition, rule one out, or tell apart conditions that look similar on paper.
• We do not give treatment advice. We describe the kinds of treatment that exist, based on published guidance, and point you to a professional. We never recommend medication or doses.
• We are not a crisis service. If you are in danger or thinking about suicide, please contact a crisis line now (see the box at the end of this page).

How we research and write

Because we are not clinicians, we lean heavily on people who are. We build our test pages from published sources and cite the factual claims on them:

• Classification systems: the World Health Organization’s ICD, and the DSM-5-TR criteria as summarised in professional references such as the Merck Manual.
• Public health guidance: fact sheets from the World Health Organization and other public health bodies.
• Research papers: peer-reviewed studies, especially the papers that developed and tested the questionnaires we use.

Before a page is published, a separate review step checks each statistic, quotation and citation against its source. Claims that cannot be traced to a source are removed rather than softened. Some of our tests reproduce published questionnaires; others are original scales we write ourselves, and those are labelled as such on the page. The full process, including how we score tests and decide where crisis information appears, is set out in How We Build Our Tests.

We publish in English and Russian.

How the site is funded

PsyMed is free to use and is funded by advertising served by Google. Advertisers cannot buy a test, a result or a recommendation. A small number of blog articles contain a paid link; those articles say so at the top, and the link is marked as sponsored.

Corrections and contact

If you find a mistake, such as a wrong score band, a citation that does not check out or a description that does not match a condition as you know it, please write to info@psymed.info and tell us which page. We correct errors on the page and update its date so you can see what changed. You can also reach us through our contact page.

Frequently asked questions

Who is behind PsyMed?

The PsyMed Editorial Team, a small group of content writers and topic researchers who cover mental health and psychology. Members of the team have personal experience of depression and anxiety, which is why we started the site.

Are the people who write PsyMed tests qualified clinicians?

No. We are writers and researchers, and we say so openly. We base our test pages on published clinical sources, cite them on the page, and check claims against their sources before publishing. Our tests are a starting point for a conversation with a qualified professional, not a replacement for one.

Can a PsyMed test tell me whether I have a disorder?

No online test can do that. A test can show whether you are reporting symptoms that are worth discussing with a professional. If your result is high, or if you are worried regardless of your score, please speak to a doctor, psychologist or psychotherapist.

What should I do with my result?

Treat it as information to bring to a professional. Writing down your score, the questions that stood out, and how long you have felt this way can make a first appointment easier.