Want to know where your mindset is at? Try our free interactive K10 wellbeing test

Ok, first things first: if you’re curious or just a little down and want some sort of signpost to suggest where you’re at, then dive right in.

But if you’re finding life particularly challenging, then please seek the appropriate support from trained medical and mental health professionals.

Because, as much as we’re advocates for positive mental health, wellbeing, and psychological practices, we’re not trained professionals in the area.

So, we’re going to start this post with a couple of links:

• BeyondBlue.org.au, which has an abundance of resources that you can access immediately, without talking or chatting to anyone if you don’t wish to, but also contains contact information for services if you need to speak to someone.
• BeyondBlue.org.au (again), specific to if you’re looking for advice on “Talking to someone you are worried about”.

Let’s put the rubber to the road.

–> SKIP TO TEST <–

The K10 Test

I first encountered the K10 Test when I was diagnosed with ADHD at 30-years-old, but I promptly forgot about it, because I didn’t encounter it again for six years.

It was a time of great challenge and stress in my life, with increasing demands at home as a father of two young children, combining with work responsibilities, and the onset of – and unrealised longevity of – a global pandemic that changed the lives of everyone across the globe.

I found myself in a psychologist’s office for the first time in my life.

However, to get there, I had needed a referral from my GP, and I had also utilised a mental health service provided free-of-charge during the pandemic by my health insurer.

I became aware of the K10 Test when all three – the mental health service, my GP, and then my psych – administered the same ‘test’, or questionnaire, on me.

What is it?

Ok, so, once I realised the K10 Test was clearly a ‘thing’, my curiosity took over.

The K10 Test was born through the research and efforts of sociologist Professor Ronald C Kessler, who at the time of writing this, was the McNeil Family Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School.

You can find out more about the man we affectionately refer to as “The Kessler Run” at Harvard’s website.

It was then further developed by Australia’s own Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (CRUfAD), which, when in acronym form, we think just looks like someone’s computer password.

In a nutshell: Kessler was determined to create a global measure of psychosocial distress, which began as a few questions, before expanding to what is now known as the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), which was adopted by the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health (WMH) Initiative.

Hence, why you will be asked to complete this questionnaire whenever you see a healthcare professional for an issue relating to your mental health and wellbeing.

You can find out more about the history, source appropriate references, and understand how it ties in with other studies at the Harvard Medical School’s page on the National Comorbidity Study.

If you’re from Australia (or are simply interested in Australia’s use of the test), the Australian Bureau of Statistics discusses K10 in the context of the National Health Survey.

How does it work?

We want to firstly reiterate our opening direction on the importance of seeking the appropriate mental health and medical advice, and that is because this test is really designed as one of the first-contact assessment measures.

It is usually implemented by an objective professional, who has been trained to assess your mental health and wellbeing, and psychological state, to complement its findings with their own assessment and make the appropriate recommendations to best support you.

So, how does it work?

Basically, it’s 10 questions (hence, K10), with the same five responses to each, numbered from 1-5:

• 1 point: None of the time
• 2 points: A little of the time
• 3 points: Some of the time
• 4 points: Most of the time
• 5 points: All of the time

The subject answers the questions, and the results are tallied, with a lower score generally reflecting better mental health:

• score under 20, likely to be well
• score 20-24, likely to have a mild mental disorder
• score 25-29, likely to have moderate mental disorder
• score 30 over, likely to have a severe mental disorder

Source for the above band interpretations.

Take the quiz

Without further ado, we present your interactive K10 Test.

[qsm quiz=2]