Objective Psychological distress is highly prevalent but often undiagnosed in brain tumor patients. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire‐2 (PHQ‐2) for screening of distressed neurosurgical brain tumor patients. Methods A total of 226 (69% women; mean age 55.6 ± 14.7 years) consecutive patients on admission for elective brain tumor surgery were evaluated for psychological distress using the PHQ‐2, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; n = 206), and the Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II; n = 196). At discharge, the patients were reevaluated using the PHQ‐2 and HADS. Results On admission, 43% and 18% of patients had moderate‐severe psychological distress according to the HADS (HADS depression or anxiety score ≥11) and BDI‐II (score ≥20), respectively. At discharge, there was a significant decrease in psychological distress among patients according to the PHQ‐2 (p = 0.04) and HADS (p < 0.001) screening results. The PHQ‐2 had marginal internal consistency (Cronbach's coefficient alpha = 0.68) and suboptimal test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.51). The PHQ‐2 had acceptable psychometric properties for identifying patients with moderate‐severe psychological distress according to the HADS (sensitivity = 74%, specificity = 68%, and positive predictive value (PPV) = 40%) and BDI‐II (sensitivity = 71%, specificity = 65%, and PPV = 30%). Psychometric properties of the PHQ‐2 were inferior for mild‐severe psychological distress. Greater number of PHQ‐2 depressive symptoms was associated with greater scores on the HADS and BDI‐II (all ps < 0.001). Conclusions Psychological distress is prevalent in brain tumor patients and can be successfully identified using the PHQ‐2. The PHQ‐2 has moderate internal consistency. The PHQ‐2 should be considered for routine use in brain tumor patients for psychological distress screening purposes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.