Who Is This Depression Quiz For?

Below is a list of 10 questions designed to help you decide if y'all might exist experiencing low. The questions relate to life experiences common amidst people who have depression. Please read each question carefully, and signal how often you have experienced the aforementioned or similar challenges in the past few weeks.

How Accurate Is It?

This quiz isNOT a diagnostic tool. Mental health disorders can only be diagnosed past a licensed mental health provider or doctor.

Psycom believes assessments tin be a valuable first step toward getting handling. All as well oft people stop short of seeking help out of fear their concerns aren't legitimate or severe enough to warrant professional intervention.

Learn More than Well-nigh Depression

Depression can make you experience alone simply you have lots of company. Major depressive disorder (MDD), the clinical term for depression, is ane of the well-nigh common mental health conditions, affecting an estimated 350 million people in all age groups. You should know that depression isn't the same as beingness lamentable. It's normal to experience blue or unmotivated from time to time, simply low is more constant. And, information technology has a existent, biological basis.

Your privacy is important to us. All results are completely anonymous.

Picayune interest or pleasance in doing things

Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless

Trouble falling or staying comatose, or sleeping likewise much

Feeling tired or having little energy

Poor appetite or overeating

Feeling bad almost yourself - or that you are a failure or accept allow yourself or your family down

Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television

Moving or speaking then slowly that other people could have noticed

Thoughts that you would exist amend off dead, or of hurting yourself

If you've had any days with issues in a higher place, how difficult have these problems fabricated it for y'all at piece of work, abode, school, or with other people?

Optional: Enter your e-mail below to receive your test results and our costless mental health eNewsletter.

(We try difficult to go far corking and nosotros will not bombard your inbox)

Email

The above quiz is based on the Patient Wellness Questionnaire (PHQ-9). If yous remember you lot may be suffering from Depression and/or you (or a loved one) are experiencing a mental health crisis, we strongly advise that y'all achieve out to to a qualified mental health professional person. To aid in your search please consider our directory of emergency mental health resources.

Depression FAQs

How is low diagnosed?

Depression (also called major depressive disorder) presents with symptoms that range from balmy to astringent. Feelings of sadness, difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much, feeling worthless or guilty, loss of free energy or increased fatigue, and a loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed are common. Children and adolescents who are depressed may come across as irritable rather than sad.

A health care professional person looks for symptoms that are interfering with the person's relationships and with their work and that represent a change in the person'south previous level of functioning.1 To receive a diagnosis of depression, the person must take five depression symptoms every day, and well-nigh all twenty-four hour period, for at least two weeks.2

Who can diagnose low?

Primary care providers often diagnose depression. They may refer an individual to a mental wellness professional such equally a psychiatrist or psychologist for treatment. Typically, says Steven Hollon, PhD, of Brentwood, Tennessee, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, the provider uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to make a diagnosis.iii "They go through the criteria in the DSM to see how many criteria the person meets," Hollon says.

How many people are diagnosed with low?

Around 17.3 one thousand thousand U.s. adults have had at least one major depressive episode.2 Some 20% of women and between 10 and 12% of men will experience depression at least once in their life, says says Steven Hollon, PhD, of Brentwood, Tennessee, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt Academy.

"Depression is relatively rare during childhood and comparably distributed across the genders," Hollon adds. "The rates just explode during adolescence and that is when gender disparities showtime emerge." And, he adds, "Half of all the folks who are going to be diagnosed with major depression at some point volition have at to the lowest degree i episode during adolescence."

How long does it accept to diagnose depression?

It can take weeks afterward low begins before it is diagnosed. This is partly because people may be resistant to inquire for assistance, says Rudy Nydegger, PhD, Professor Emeritus of psychology and management at Union College and chief in the Segmentation of Psychology at Ellis Hospital, both in Schenectady, New York.

When a master care doctor is looking into whether a person is depressed, they may initially recollect the symptoms could exist caused by a concrete illness, Nydegger explains. "Often, a primary intendance doctor may be looking at the person's medications or whether something is going on physiologically," he says. "They are trying to rule out medical causes every bit the reason for the symptoms, which is appropriate, but then it tin can take longer to get a diagnosis."

Is information technology possible to try to diagnose yourself with depression?

"Cocky-diagnosis is non helpful," says Rudy Nydegger, PhD, Professor Emeritus of psychology and direction at Union College and chief in the Division of Psychology at Ellis Hospital, both in Schenectady, New York. "Instead of going online and researching the University of Google, ask your doctor."

Who has the highest charge per unit of depression?

Developed women have a higher rate of low at any given point in fourth dimension (eight.7%) equally compared to adult men (5.3%). The age grouping that has the most adults who have had a major depressive episode in the past yr is the 18 to 25 age grouping.4

Children and teenagers get depressed, too, but it tin can exist catchy to diagnose, says Rudy Nydegger, PhD, Professor Emeritus of psychology and management at Spousal relationship College and primary in the Division of Psychology at Ellis Infirmary, both in Schenectady, New York. "We know that betwixt 2% and 6% of children experience depression," he says. "About 14% of teenagers age 12 to 17 will experience one episode of major depression. And about 9% of teenagers report a major depressive episode in a given year."

Tin can you inherit low?

Genetic factors do play a office in depression, but then practise biological, ecology, and psychological factors.2 Unipolar low (depression simply) is less likely to exist inherited than Bipolar disorder (which is marked by one or more manic or hypomanic episodes in add-on to low), says Steven Hollon, PhD, of Brentwood, Tennessee, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University.

While depression does tend to run in families, just because a family unit member has depression does not mean yous are going to get it, says Rudy Nydegger, PhD, Professor Emeritus of psychology and management at Marriage College and main in the Division of Psychology at Ellis Infirmary, both in Schenectady, New York. "Information technology is not a simple gene matter," he says. "And the important thing is not so much why a person has depression only what are nosotros going to practise to aid them."

What is the #i cause of depression?

"The number one cause of depression is the tough stuff, the major life events that go incorrect," says Steven Hollon, PhD, of Brentwood, Tennessee, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University. Depression can occur when people experience agin life events such as the decease of someone shut, the loss of a job, or some type of psychological trauma. Depression can lead to more stress and dysfunction, which can worsen the depression itself.

In that location also is a connection between depression and physical wellness. For instance, cardiovascular disease can lead to depression (and vice versa).4,5

Thankfully, there are constructive treatments for depression. "We know that low is a very treatable condition and that over 80 percent of people who receive appropriate handling for their depression volition better significantly," says Rudy Nydegger, PhD, Professor Emeritus of psychology and direction at Matrimony College and primary in the Partitioning of Psychology at Ellis Hospital, both in Schenectady, New York. "Unfortunately, the large majority of people with depression never get advisable handling."

Article Sources

  1. American Psychiatric Association. What is depression? Page Last Reviewed October 2020. Accessed July 9, 2021.
  2. National Institute of Mental Health. Low: What is depression? Folio Last Revised in 2021. Accessed July 9, 2021.
  3. American Psychiatric Association. DSM five – Ofttimes Asked Questions. Accessed July 9, 2021.
  4. National Plant of Mental Health. Major low. Revised 2021. Accessed July nine, 2021.
  5. World Health System. Depression. Page Last Updated January xxx, 2020. Accessed July nine, 2021.

Last Updated: Dec 7, 2021