Depression Test
Depression warning signs

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There are a number of 'depression tests' or questionnaires, of varying length, used by doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and other health care providers.

Your health provider would want to do a 'proper' assessment.  Therefore you may be required to do one of these depression tests to aid diagnosis.

Depending on your score you will be told that you are suffering from a mild, medium or sever depression.

Further down this page you will find my own depression test, purely based on my experience of having a conversation with people who feel depressed, rather than giving them a depression questionnaire.  Whether you are a student, mental health or other professional, you will find enough information about the depression warning signs right on this page.

This page is also useful for you if you are the partner/spouse of a someone you suspect is suffering from depression.  My relationship advice would be to make this information available to your loved-one.  However, your partner needs to make the decision themselves to take action, decide to go and see a counsellor and start to deal with their depression.  Your support is hugely valuable, but 'taking over' would only lead her/him to feel even more out of control and 'useless', as they probably already feel.

List of depression tests/inventories

Just for your information though, here are the tests or depression questionnaires that you may be presented with if you go to see your doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist or other healthcare provider 'complaining' of symptoms of depression:

1. The Wakefield Questionnaire
2. Beck's Depression Inventory
3. Goldberg Depression Rating Scale
4. Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D - pdf)
5. Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Self Report (QIDS-SR)
6. Geriatric Depression Rating Scale
7. The Major Depression Inventory (ICD-10 - pdf)
8. MDE - screener
9. MDE - screener, adapted by Ricardo Munoz (online depression questionnaire)
10. Zung Self-rated Depression Scale (pdf)
11. The Harvard National Depression Screening Scale (HANDS - online)
12. Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
13. RAND Self Administered Depression Screener (pdf)

In my view depression is a 'nominalisation' - a word that does not mean anything specifically other than the meaning you give it.  Compare 'depression' with someone having a high temperature - it is, in my eyes, a symptom.

You might say - "I have flu", but you wouldn't know if that was so - it could be something entirely different.  If it was just a cold, it could be a viral or bacterial infection.  Even if you were sure it was bacterial trouble - you would not know which bacterium and you couldn't be sure that you would respond to the prescribed treatment.

A good counsellor - aware of the latest research - would be able to figure out what being depressed means to you personally.  He/she would work out with you what is likely to be most helpful for you, in your particular situation, with your particular symptoms of depression.

You may also be interested in my pages: signs of clinical depression, natural depression treatments, nervous breakdown and other related pages.

Helping people with depression

I have been practicing as a counsellor for over twenty two years and have done over 8000 counselling sessions in that time - both with individuals and with couples.  A great deal of my work has been with people who are 'depressed'. I totally belief that by creating an environment in which your body/mind can heal itself and by making the best use of your resources, you can recover from depression.

When you come to me for help, I would not want to present you with a depression test.  I would talk with you and find out from our conversation what you consider to be your 'depression warning signs' and what symptoms you are experiencing.

I care very little about the 'label' of depression - arrived at by whatever depression test.

Your situation is different from someone else's troubles.  What I do care about is how quickly I can help you to feel better.  You are significantly less likely to suffer a relapse, if you don't take antidepressant drugs (do watch the video on my page: Natural depression treatments for further information.  Although I realise that for a very few people antidepressants may be a solution - when really nothing else works.

Want to start with 'magic bullets'?  You can do no better than do some research on Omega 3.  Have a look at my pages Fish oil and depression and Omega-3 side effects (see links below).

Your parents were depressed - no wonder you are?

Just in case you think your depression is the result of the dodgy genes you inherited, watch this video.

Depression warning signs

You will know whether or not you are suffering from depression when you have gone through my depression questionnaire and matched my depression warning signs and symptoms of depression with what you are experiencing.  You won't need to fill in a lengthy test paper with scales or numbers, thereby potentially adding to your worry.  You will know, just by scanning the questions - the warning signs or symptoms that apply to you will just 'jump out'.

My depression questionnaire for your personal use

I appreciate that you want to know/understand what is wrong with you, what the depression warning signs and symptoms are from my perspective.  So, here are the kind of questions I might ask you in a counselling session.  You are likely to suffer a combination of these signs of depression which make life tough on you.  Whatever your particular depression warning signs are, will help us shape our discussion around how we can get you to beat depression in the quickest possible way.

Sleep

Sleep disturbance is one the most significant depression warning signs.  Sleep is absolutely vital for mental health.

• Are you often waking up very early in the morning  (This is one of the most telling symptoms of depression.)
• Are you having wild, vivid and often disturbing dreams?
• Are you finding it hard to fall asleep?
• Do you wake up in the night with thoughts constantly whirring through your mind?
• Do you wake up in the morning feeling exhausted - as if you have had no sleep?
• Do you find it difficult to 'get going' and motivate yourself?
• Are you sleeping excessively?

Day-to-day life

• Are you finding it hard to deal even with the simplest of things?
• Do you feel that 'everything' is too much
• Feel you 'can't be bothered' with it all?

Activities/interests/hobbies

• Have you stopped doing the things you used to enjoy?
• Are you fighting to motivate yourself and increasingly withdrawing?

Friends and family

• Are you snapping at the children and then giving yourself a hard time about it?
• Are you withdrawing from your friends? (This is a worrying sign of depression.)
• Are you cross with your partner/spouse all the time for next to nothing?
• Are you avoiding people?
• Do you find it harder to 'connect' with people?
• Are you easily agitated/irritable?

Thoughts and feelings

• Are you feeling low and depressed? (You would not be here, if this wasn't one of your signs of depression!)
• Do you worry more than you used to?
• Do you feel 'cut off' from your feelings, or 'living in a bubble'?
• Do you feel guilty a lot of the time?
• Have you thought a lot about death and dying?
• Do you feel 'out of control' of your feelings?
• Have you felt like/been crying at the drop of a hat?
• Are you feeling sad a lot of the time?
• Do you find it hard to make a decision?
• Do you feel hopeless?  (This is one of the most worrying signs of depression.)
• Has your self-esteem suffered?
• Are you avoiding answering the telephone, opening the post, opening the front-door?
• Has your sense of humor disappeared?
• Can't think straight?
• Do you feel lonely?

Work

• Are you snappy with your colleagues
• Has your productivity dropped?
• Are you finding it difficult to concentrate?
• Have you become very forgetful?
• Are you worried that people can 'look in' and discover that you are not your usual self?
• Have you cried at work?
• Are you finding it harder to make decisions?
• Have you started avoiding particular situations?
• Have you lost your enthusiasm, where you previously were 'bouncing off the walls'?

Other depression warning signs and symptoms

• Have you put on weight or lost weight?
• Has your appetite changed?
• Do you feel tired all the time?
• Have you become generally overactive or underactive?

I can't change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination" Jimmy Dean

Immediate help - start your recovery today

Hypnosis is a great way - safe, effective, relaxing and effortless - of tackling your symptoms of depression, as well as any underlying problems. 

You can start to deal with the signs of depression right now, without much of an effort - I know you probably just haven't got the energy right now - by getting the complete depression recovery programme.  All the interventions are based on research and are extremely effective.

If you are at all unsure about hypnosis - you are not alone.  I know that many people immediately bring to mind images of stage hypnosis 'victims', but therapeutic hypnosis is very different.  So, why not scroll back up and click on the links below the HypnosisDownloads search box for further information, if you haven't done that already.

Your mental and emotional well being

Now you may have some idea of what is wrong with you!  It matters not really how many questions you have answered with 'yes' in my depression questionnaire (you may have searched for the term: depression test).  To me, the very fact that you have wanted to look at a depression questionnaire means that you are in trouble (unless you are a professional - though you could suffer too!).

Do whatever you can to get better!  Explore the pages linked further down, contact me for counselling or write down your story to ask me a question right on this site.  Don't let yourself slip into an even deeper depression - heed the signs of depression and start your recovery today.

If you are the partner/spouse of someone who shows all the signs and symptoms of depression - my relationship advice is to do all you can to 'support', but not to take control of their well-being - however difficult that may be.

I believe that many people who become depressed are often very creative,
hence I include links to a fantastic 'artsy' site!

You may also be interested in:	Food affects your mood!
Signs of clinical depression Natural antidepressants Natural depression treatments Fish oil and depression and omega-3 side effects. Nervous breakdown Insomnia and treatments Physical effects of sleep deprivation Dealing with criticism Ending a long term relationship List of human emotions

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Other helpful links:

Mental Health America
World Health Organisation - depression
PubMed - A validation study on the Goldberg Scale

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Well-known people with depression:

Alistair Campbell

Images courtesy of: 1 Ron Jeffreys

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