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PTQ 15 original text and working translation · Full guides free
Complete the 15-item PTQ free and read the total plus three subscales. Original English, a new Chinese working translation, explicit scoring and no diagnostic bands.
15 questions · about 5 minutes · no signup
In this questionnaire, you will be asked to describe how you typically think about negative experiences or problems. Please read the following statements and rate the extent to which they apply to you when you think about negative experiences or problems. The original instructions specify your typical thinking, without a fixed recent time window. Keep that reference when answering. The unscored choice is a FermatMind addition for uncertainty or a choice not to answer, not an original response. One unscored answer withholds its subscale and the overall total; other complete subscales remain available. All-unscored can finish. No score produces a diagnosis, severity band, percentile or career recommendation.
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All questions and full results are free, with no signup. Saving is optional; only saved attempts can be resumed after a refresh or language change. Tab drafts expire after 24 hours and clear on completion or retake.
This edition uses the published 15-item Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ). It asks how you typically think about negative experiences or problems, without a fixed recent time window. The original English items, order and five response anchors are retained. FermatMind supplies a new Simplified Chinese working translation, web presentation and explicitly unscored choice; these adaptations have not been psychometrically validated. Read a 0–60 total and three raw subscale sums, with four complete explanations available to everyone. The form does not diagnose a condition, assign a severity level or compare you with a population.
The English questions and anchors come from the original 15-item PTQ appendix. The three subscales cover core repetitive-thinking characteristics, perceived unproductiveness and attention occupied by thinking. This content-independent process measure does not inspect private thought content or determine a disorder. The new Chinese wording is a working translation and is not presented as an official validated Chinese version.
The published instruction asks how you typically think about negative experiences or problems. It specifies no past-week or past-month window, and this edition does not add one. Think about the same reference throughout. Repeating the form under different circumstances does not by itself establish a meaningful improvement, deterioration or treatment effect.
Every numeric choice contributes its displayed 0–4 value without reversal. Core items 1,2,3,6,7,8,11,12,13 sum to 0–36; items 4,9,14 sum to 0–12; items 5,10,15 sum to 0–12. The complete total is the sum of all fifteen, 0–60. Different subscale sizes mean their raw sums should not be ranked. No norm, percentile, four-band result or illness probability is supplied. A fictional example in the original fifteen-item order is 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3. The three subscale sums are 18, 6 and 5, giving 18 + 6 + 5 = 29 overall.
The added unscored choice is available when you cannot judge or prefer not to answer. One unscored item withholds its subscale and the total, while other complete subscales remain. All-unscored can finish and open all four full guides. This editorial completeness rule does not impute a low value, prorate missing items or diagnose missingness.
The full readings include worked calculations, fictional examples and optional observations. They do not prescribe thought suppression or treatment. If thinking is distressing or interfering with life, qualified professional support can be considered without waiting for a particular score. The questionnaire cannot rule out difficulties or replace an individual assessment; no answers or private thoughts are needed in a public link.
PTQ by Thomas Ehring, Ulrike Zetsche, Kathrin Weidacker, Karina Wahl, Sabine Schönfeld and Anke Ehlers (2011), The Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ): Validation of a content-independent measure of repetitive negative thinking, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42(2), 225–232, doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.12.003. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Original published version under CC BY 3.0. FermatMind supplies a new Simplified Chinese working translation, web presentation, unscored option and explanatory content. No author endorsement is implied. The licensed material is provided without warranties.
The PDF itself links CC BY 3.0; the institution’s record separately links CC BY 4.0. This edition cites the PDF’s 3.0 notice for the reused appendix. A separate Oxford-hosted copy bears an all-rights-reserved notice; no change date or cause is inferred. Original-study psychometrics do not establish this online edition’s reliability, Chinese-language equivalence, cutoffs or treatment sensitivity.
These are public explanations, not anyone's private attempt. Full reports cover all 3 single directions and every tied combination. Reading one does not affect your score.
The original 15-item PTQ combines recalled repetition, intrusiveness, difficulty disengaging, perceived lack of usefulness and occupied attention. The total has no severity band in this edition.
Nine original items concern repetition, unwanted appearance and difficulty disengaging. Their raw sum describes selected responses, without measuring the truth or danger of a thought.
Three items concern perceived lack of resolution or help from repeated thinking. The sum is about your reported experience, not a measure of work output or problem-solving ability.
Three items ask how thinking about problems occupies attention or competes with other activities. Their sum is self-report rather than an attention test, sleep scale or neurological assessment.
This edition uses the published 15-item Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ). Its three subscales describe core repetitive-thinking characteristics, perceived unproductiveness and attention occupied by thinking. All fifteen numeric responses give a 0–60 raw total. There are no severity bands or diagnostic cutoffs.
No. This page reports selected responses, without diagnostic thresholds or illness probabilities. A low score does not rule out other difficulties, and support can be sought regardless of the number.
The original instruction asks about typical thinking when considering negative experiences or problems, not a fixed two-week period. This edition keeps that reference.
No. This is a new FermatMind Simplified Chinese working translation. It does not automatically inherit the original German and English study findings, and author endorsement is not claimed.
Choose unscored. The affected subscale and total stay missing; other complete subscales remain. All-unscored can finish and read all four full guides free without signup.
No. Public links contain only the questionnaire or guide identity. Optional drafts remain in this tab for up to twenty-four hours and clear on completion or reset. No private thought content is requested.
The appendix to Ehring et al. (2011) supplies the fifteen English items, original anchors and scoring. Complete attribution follows CC BY 3.0 as linked by the source PDF. Chinese is a new FermatMind working translation; the added unscored option and web presentation have not been validated or endorsed by the original authors.
Website content edition 1.0.0 ·
Source question / scoring / report versions: ptq15_ehring2011_appendix_fmzh_working_v1 / ptq15_unreversed_three_complete_sums_and_strict15_total_no_bands_v1 / ptq15_four_full_readings_fm_v1