What's My M3

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This form is not a diagnostic instrument and is only to be used within the context of your medical treatment and by you if you are greater than 18 years old. Share your checklist responses and assessment with your physician or other health care provider. The maker and provider of this form disclaims any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use and application of any of this material.

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About Us

Why was the M3 created?

The primary care clinician is usually the first healthcare provider a person sees to discuss a mood problem. By better organizing your information the M3 should enable you and your advisor to better serve your healthcare needs. The numbers of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed mental health patients continues to increase at an alarming rate. The customized assessment report you receive after completing the M3 Screen efficiently organizes your responses over a range of mood disorders. WhatsMyM3 enables patients and clinicians to monitor trends over time.

Who created M3?

The M3 was created by primary collaborators Robert M. Post, MD Head of the Bipolar Collaborative Network, Bernard M. Snyder, MD Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University and a cognitive behavioral therapist, Michael L. Byer, President of M3 Information and Gerald Hurowitz, MD Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and a clinical psychopharmacologist.

About the M3 Score

About Whatsmym3

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Annals of Family Medicine 8:160-169 (2010)

Feasibility and Diagnostic Validity of the M-3 Checklist: A Brief, Self-Rated Screen for Depressive, Bipolar, Anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in Primary Care

Bradley N. Gaynes, MD, MPH, Joanne DeVeaugh-Geiss, MA, LPA, Sam Weir, MD, Hongbin Gu, PhD, Cora MacPherson, PhD, Herbert C. Schulberg, PhD, MSHyg, Larry Culpepper, MD, MPH and David R. Rubinow, MD

PURPOSE Mood and anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric conditions seen in primary care, yet they remain underdetected and undertreated. Screening tools can improve detection, but available instruments are limited by the number of disorders assessed. We wanted to assess the feasibility and diagnostic validity of the WhatsMyM3 (M-3) checklist, a new, 1-page, patient-rated, 27-item tool developed to screen for multiple psychiatric disorders in primary care.

METHODS

We enrolled a sample of 647 consecutive participants aged 18 years and older who were seeking primary care at an academic family medicine clinic between July 2007 and February 2008. We used a 2-step scoring procedure to make screening more efficient. The main outcomes measured were the sensitivity and specificity of the M-3 for major depression, bipolar disorder, any anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a specific type of anxiety disorder. Using a split sample technique, analysis proceeded from determination of optimal screening thresholds to assessment of the psychometric properties of the self-report instrument using the determined thresholds. We used the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview as the diagnostic standard. Feasibility was assessed with patient and physician exit questionnaires.

RESULTS

The depression module had a sensitivity of 0.84 and a specificity of 0.80. The bipolar module had a sensitivity of 0.88, and a specificity of 0.70. The anxiety module had a sensitivity of 0.82 and a specificity of 0.78, and the PTSD module had a sensitivity of 0.88 and a specificity of 0.76. As a screen for any psychiatric disorder, sensitivity was 0.83 and specificity was 0.76. Patients took less than 5 minutes to complete the M-3 in the waiting room, and less than 1% reported not having time to complete it. Eighty-three percent of clinicians reviewed the checklist in 30 or fewer seconds, and 80% thought it was helpful in reviewing patients’ emotional health.

CONCLUSIONS

The M-3 demonstrates utility as a valid, efficient, and feasible tool for screening multiple common psychiatric illnesses, including bipolar disorder and PTSD, in primary care. Its diagnostic accuracy equals that of currently used single-disorder screens and has the additional benefit of being combined into a 1-page tool. The M-3 potentially can reduce missed psychiatric diagnoses and facilitate proper treatment of identified cases.

(Funded by M3 Information)

WhatsMyM3

National Institute of Mental Health

Mental Health America

Mayo Clinic

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline


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We appreciate your comments but regretfully are unable to respond. Any insights you can share will be reviewed. Again thank you for your comments.

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This form is not a diagnostic instrument and is to be used solely within the context of your medical treatment with your physician or other health care provider. The maker and provider of this form disclaims any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use and application of any of this material. WhatsMyM3™ V.03.06 Copyright © 2002-2012 by M3 Information™, The M-3 Checklist and WhatsMyM3.com are free for personal home use. For any other uses, including clinical., educational, non-profit, hospital research, or for-profit settings please contact mail@m-3information.com. No further reproduction or distribution, or reverse engineering is permitted without written permission from M3 Information. Patent Pending.