Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS)

The Sheehan Disability Scale is a brief three-item self-report measure designed by David V. Sheehan to assess functional impairment across work/school, social life, and family life domains in psychiatric and medical disorders. First described in Sheehan's 1983 book 'The Anxiety Disease' and validated in multiple studies since, the SDS quantifies the degree to which a patient's illness interferes with major life domains. It is widely used in psychiatric research and clinical practice to assess the functional impact of depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other conditions, complementing symptom severity measures by capturing real-world impairment.