How Do You Know if You Have Depression?
You doctor, if he or she is like most others, will be very wary of your using an online depression test to self diagnose, and for good reason. These types of tests can of course be very useful, but not if they are done instead of seeing your doctor! So by all means use them, but do realise that your symptoms may be because of medical reasons, or even because of other psychological conditions.
Up until now the most commonly-used test for depression has been the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), developed by Aaron T Beck many years ago. That test had to be paid for each time it was used, wasn’t freely available to the general public, and was quite negatively focussed.
A BETTER TEST FOR DEPRESSION
Nowadays psychologists and other health professionals are moving toward the use of the Lifeworks Joy Inventory which is seen as superior to the BDI for several reasons. One of these is that the test is positively focussed, so although the test is still extremely accurate, it prepares the client to shift his/her focus to solutions rather than problems.
Health practitioners and the general public can have confidence in the Lifeworks Joy Inventory because in every case to date it has matched well with the BDI and with other commonly-used scales (Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale, and the client’s own Subjective Units of Discomfort Scale).
As well as being highly accurate, the Lifeworks Joy Inventory has another advantage: it is completely free to use and may be distributed freely as well. Designed as a gift to the field of mental health, it was hoped that more people would then benefit from free and easy access to quality testing.
So if you believe you or a loved one may be suffering from depression, you’ll find a link below to an interactive online test that will not only give you a depression rating and explain its meaning, but will also spell out what else you need to do in order to get a correct diagnosis.
As explained in the test results, extremes can also be a cause for concern and also need the attention of a doctor and/or psychologist. Whilst a low extreme could be depression, it may also suggest other health problems. A high extreme could indicate an unhealthy denial of life’s normal ups and downs.
AFTER YOUR TEST
Regardless of your test results, if you suspect that you may be depressed, it’s very important to make an appointment with your doctor so that he/she can ask the right questions to determine if there’s a medical reason for your depression symptoms (such as an endocrine disorder), as well as checking exact symptoms in relation to digestion, sleep, skin and hair, sexual dysfunction, stress factors, and a range of other matters.
Once you have a proper diagnosis of depression you can embark on treatment knowing that any other medical issues have also been identified and will also be treated.
There is a proviso though: I urge you not to believe any health professional (or any web site, no matter how authoritative) who tells you that depression is difficult to treat, or that it’s going to take a long time to get over it, or that you have to learn to accept depression as part of your life. That type of belief belongs in the dark ages! Research done world wide, including by The Lifeworks Group in Australia, has demonstrated that depression can usually be resolved very rapidly, usually in just a matter of days, and that better results are achieved without drugs for most patients.
For any depression treatment to be effective we need to look at the 17 lifestyle factors that health researchers advise are known to cause or help cause depression. We also need to examine the unconscious thoughts and feelings that underpin depression, and eliminate those quickly and easily using modern therapy techniques.
After all, if your lifestyle is healthy and truly “life sustaining”, and you feel mentally strong and optimistic, depression simply cannot co-exist with that state of affairs. You have a whole life to get on with.
Filed under: Careers