No need to take an automated online depression test

Discover now if you’re really depressed

I suspect you’re feeling pretty lousy since you’re looking to take an online depression test.

On this page, you’ll find the depression checklist I’ve used throughout my 25+ years as a qualified counsellor. The questions will help you to identify your specific issues and determine whether you’re suffering from depression.

Wondering if your partner or spouse is depressed?

If you’re here because your partner hasn’t seemed quite themselves lately, you might want to share this page with them.

Giving them the opportunity to think about their feelings in light of the questions below can be a great first step.

You may also be interested in:

• How to help a depressed partner or spouse
• Signs of depression in men

Just before we get started…

I want to talk about the word ‘depression’ – it can be a scary word conjuring up all kinds of thoughts about a difficult recovery. Probably most people also immediately think they’ll have to start taking antidepressants to get better. 

But, try to remember, it’s just a word. And essentially, it just means that – for whatever reason – you’re feeling really low at the moment. And that you might need a little help to get better. It doesn’t have to mean anything more than that.

Full online depression test

Your first step:

1. Prepare yourself and your environment, so you’re as comfortable as possible while going through the questions
2. Make sure you won’t be disturbed
3. Consider arranging for someone to talk to after taking the test.

I know it can be hard to concentrate when you’re feeling below par – so take your time. There’s no rush. Don’t beat yourself up if you have trouble coming up with any answers. Nobody’s watching or judging you. 

Ready? Let’s go. 

About your sleep

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

Do you:

• Find it hard to fall asleep?
• Have wild, vivid and often disturbing dreams?
• Wake up in the night by constantly whirring thoughts?
• Often wake up very early in the morning?
• Wake up in the morning feeling exhausted, as if you’d had no sleep?
• Find it difficult to get going and motivate yourself to you get up?
• Sleep excessively – even during the day?

Your day-to-day life

Perhaps you’re struggling more than usual. Maybe things you previously did on autopilot now require a monumental effort.

Do you:

• Find it hard to deal with the simplest of tasks?
• Feel that everything is just ‘too much’
• Feel as though you just ‘can’t be bothered’ with it all?

Your activities / interests / hobbies

Engaging in various enjoyable activities and hobbies is vital to overall well-being and satisfaction.

• Have you stopped doing the things you used to enjoy?
• Are you struggling to motivate yourself?
• Are you increasingly withdrawing from people and activities around you?
• Do you feel guilty about increasingly ‘letting people down’?

Your friends and family

Depression can be challenging for people around you, too – at home, work, and socially. 

Are you:

• Snapping at everyone and then feeling guilty about it?
• Avoiding your friends?
• Constantly angry with your partner/children for next to nothing?
• Avoiding people in general?
• Finding it harder to ‘connect’ with people?
• Easily agitated or very irritable?

Depression is like a prison, where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer.”

Dorothy Rowe, clinical psychologist and writer

Your thoughts and feelings

Questions about your thoughts and feelings form the most important section of this online depression quiz.

Do you:

• Feel miserable as sin? Low, listless and lost?
• Worry about the slightest thing (or just everything)?
• Feel ‘cut off’ from your feelings, or like you’re ‘living in a bubble’?
• Feel guilty a lot of the time?
• Think a lot about death and dying lately?
• Feel you’re out of control of your emotions?
• Feel overwhelmed by everything?
• Cry at the drop of a hat?
• Feel sad a lot of the time?
• Find it hard to make a decision – any decision?
• Feel hopeless?
• Lose your self-esteem and self-confidence?
• Want to hide behind the sofa rather than open the front door?
• Avoid answering the ‘phone or opening the post?
• Lose your sense of humour? (Or have you lost it altogether?)
• Feel lonely?
• Unable to think straight?

Your work

Needless to say, the effects of depression will be noticeable in the workplace too.

Are you:

• Snappy with your colleagues?
• Being less productive than you used to be?
• Finding it difficult to concentrate?
• Becoming very forgetful?
• Worried that people can ‘look in’ and discover that you’re not your usual self?
• Often on the verge of tears at work, or even crying?
• Lacking decisiveness and worrying about what people might think of you?
• Starting to avoid particular situations?
• Finding it hard to find any enthusiasm for the job (if, indeed, you had any before)?

Other depression warning signs and symptoms

In general, have you noticed that:

• Your weight has dramatically increased or dropped because you’ve lost interest in looking after yourself? (Antidepressants can also cause weight gain.)
• Your appetite has changed? (You’re not hungry or eat all the time?)
• You’re feeling weary and tired much of the time?
• You’ve become generally overactive or underactive?

The results of this depression quiz or test

The more questions you answered with a ‘yes’, the more likely you’re depressed.

The good news is that you’ve already made a step toward your recovery by taking this test. You’ve taken action by discovering for yourself what’s going on. Without knowing what’s wrong, you can’t fix it.

And in my professional experience, most of my clients with depression were able to fix themselves once they understood what was happening and what depression really is. They seldom needed medication.

I’m not saying the road to recovery is easy, but by investing time and energy in yourself, you can heal yourself.

New! Let us know…

Discover you’re not alone – see what’s troubling other people.

It’s confidential, and I don’t need your email address.

You don’t have to do it alone

You may need a helping hand to get rid of that depression – there is no shame in this.

If you have friends and family to support you, don’t be afraid to lean on them.

Consider also getting some therapy. Talking therapy is a really effective treatment for depression. Hop over to my page about online depression counselling to see how you can get therapy from the comfort of your own home.

Finally

I know you’re feeling pretty lousy right now – otherwise, you wouldn’t have been here.

Of course, I hope this depression test has given you a chance to familiarise yourself signs and symptoms of depression.

But, more importantly, I hope you’ll feel encouraged that you will be able to beat that depression.

As a therapist, I know you’re far stronger and more resilient than you probably give yourself credit for. You can do this!

References

*Webber, C. Depression – how it affects sex and relationships. Via NetDoctor