Clinical Global Impression - Severity
CGI-S is a single clinician global rating of current severity. This page is for clinics. It is not a patient questionnaire.
Overview
What is the CGI-S?
The Clinical Global Impression - Severity item asks a clinician to rate how mentally ill the person is at this time relative to the clinician's experience of that population. It is a global anchor, not a multi-item symptom scale.
Development and clinical use
Guy published CGI items in ECDEU assessment manuals for clinical trials. CGI-S and CGI-I are often paired. They remain rater judgements, not computed totals.
- Rater
- Clinician only
- Companion
- CGI-I
- Mode
- Global impression
- Not a symptom total
- Single anchor
- Clinical role
- Global severity
- Diagnosis
- Not established by rating
Administration
A focused clinician rating
Only a clinician completes CGI-S. It should not be sent to a client as a self-report.
- One rated item at a time with visible progress
- Keyboard-operable response choices
- Previous, next, and review steps for the rater
- Clear confirmation that the rating is stored for clinic review
The illustration shows a rater control, not the official CGI wording.
Report showcase
Designed to make evidence easy to review
The downloadable synthetic example illustrates report layout using invented response patterns, without patient data or instrument questions.
- Named instrument, version, and provenance
- Item-level response pattern without source wording
- Methodology, references, and clinical boundary
- Responsible clinician review rather than automated conclusions
Clinician review required
Methodology
Understand the measure and its scoring conventions
The official item uses a seven-point anchor. This page does not independently verify descriptors for a production rule beyond naming the construct.
References
- CGI in ECDEUGuy W. ECDEU Assessment Manual for Psychopharmacology. 1976.
Questions
What clinics ask before they evaluate the CGI-S
These answers stay inside educational catalogue scope. They do not replace official manuals or clinician judgement.
Can a client complete CGI-S?
No. It is a clinician global impression.
Is CGI-S a diagnosis?
No. It is a single severity anchor.
CGI-S or CGI-I?
CGI-S is current severity. CGI-I is rated change. They are different items.
Can I complete it here?
No. This page is educational.