How to tell if you have depression and what to do about it

Before taking a depression test, it is important to know:

Depression tests, just like medications, are undergoing clinical trials!

The purpose of online testing is to determine whether you are at risk and whether it is time for you to think about choosing an adequate treatment method.

Think before you take the depression test, are you ready for the next step? For example, to seek help from a specialist if the test result shows a high level of depression? (From personal experience, receiving test results confirming depression made me feel even worse, even more depressed)

Beck Depression Test.

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

One of the most widely used psychometric tests to assess the severity of depression. The scale was developed in 1961 by psychiatrist Aaron Beck based on symptoms that were common among depressed patients. Your psychologist or psychotherapist will most likely offer you this particular test, and it is in the old edition - the new edition of the test (BDI-II, 1996) is not very common in Russia. If you plan to subsequently share the result with a specialist, choose this test.

• Take the Beck Depression Test online:

Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II)

This scale for assessing the severity of depression was developed in 1996, taking into account comments from the American Psychiatric Association. Some items from the first edition of the test were removed, some were added or modified in order to more accurately and completely reflect the modern understanding of depression by the professional community and meet the requirements of the current editions of the DSM and ICD. In particular, this version of the test addresses a larger number of depression-specific, including atypical, symptoms and is based on an assessment of a person’s condition over the past two weeks (unlike the first edition of the test, where patients were asked to evaluate their feelings over the past week). If you are taking the test “for yourself,” then this is a good choice.

The Beck Depression Inventory-2 is suitable for testing depression in adolescents (from age 13).

• Take the Beck Depression Test-II online:

Physiological manifestations

An important sign of depression is the presence of the following health problems:

1. Sleep disturbance. Excessive drowsiness or insomnia.
2. Malfunction of the digestive system. Most often it is constipation.
3. Excessively increased appetite or its complete absence.
4. Libido problems: complete lack of interest in sex.
5. Increased fatigue. Habitual stress causes impotence.
6. There are unpleasant sensations or even pain in the muscles of the skeleton, stomach, and heart.

Zang Self-Rating Depression Scale.

This scale was developed by William Zang of Duke University and can be used effectively in a variety of situations: in clinical research, to monitor the effectiveness of various treatments and medications, and as a screening tool in general practice. The difference from other tests is that the Zang Depression Scale was originally developed for self-assessment of depression levels. In particular, the wording of the questions is more understandable to a “non-specialist.”

The Zang Scale is also a simple tool for monitoring changes in depression severity over time. The scale contains 20 questions, the test takes about 10 minutes.

• Take the Zang Depression Test online:

Emotional manifestations

Women are more emotional and prone to sudden mood swings, so you shouldn’t immediately mistake any weeklong blues for a mental disorder. When apathy and feelings of sadness are pronounced and do not leave you for more than two weeks, this may already be a sign of depression.

Main symptoms:

1. Depressed mood, melancholy.
2. Feeling of despair, loss of taste and meaning of life.
3. Significant worsening of fears and feelings of shame.
4. Anxiety, misgivings, tension.
5. Irritability, sudden changes in emotions, for example, from despondency to aggression.
6. Self-flagellation, continuous feelings of guilt.
7. Uncertainty, low self-esteem, dissatisfaction with oneself. Constantly looking for flaws in yourself. Fear of making mistakes.
8. Hobbies, favorite foods, TV series or music - everything that previously brought pleasure ceases to please.
9. Dullness of feelings, periodic apathy.

What is depression

Hamilton Depression Test.

The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale is the most widely used survey scale to measure depression in inpatient settings . It was developed in 1960 in the UK to measure a patient's degree of depression before, during and after treatment. Since then, many versions have been adapted, including structured interview guides, self-report forms, and computerized versions. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale contains a relatively high number of somatic symptoms and relatively few cognitive or affective symptoms.

The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was originally designed to be administered by an experienced clinician experienced in treating psychiatric patients. Currently, it is mainly used in medical institutions of the relevant profile and by pharmaceutical companies to analyze the effectiveness of antidepressants. (For reference, a change in test results by 3 points is proof of the effectiveness of the antidepressant.) Therefore, this test should not be recommended for self-testing, unless you have received instructions from a specialist to choose this particular test.

• Take the Hamilton Depression Scale test online:

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Test

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was developed for the purpose of rapid testing of clinic patients (hence why it is called the hospital scale) by doctors who are not specialists in psychology and psychiatry. It's no secret that our state of mind greatly affects our ability to endure pain, cope with the unknown and fight various diseases. And, it is reasonable to assume that if the doctor knows about our psychological state, he will be able to more accurately diagnose the underlying disease (as if by adjusting for our anxiety, pessimism, fear of the future, etc.) But the accuracy of the test turned out to be very, very high, therefore, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale has become widely used.

• Take the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale test online:

In addition, anxiety and depression often occur together. According to the monoamine theory of depression (and the entire antidepressant model is built on it), increased anxiety would be a consequence of low serotonin levels.

What to do after a depression test.

First of all, if your test result shows depression, do not rush to get upset.

In modern conditions, depression is quite well treated. Depending on the severity of your depressive disorder, experts recommend seeing either a therapist, a psychologist, or both.

In case of severe depression, it is difficult to manage without the medicinal help of a psychotherapist (antidepressants); most likely, you simply will not have the strength to work on yourself independently or to work with a psychologist. Subsequently, I recommend involving a psychologist in the treatment - statistically better (and faster) results are achieved by specialists using cognitive behavioral therapy methods.

For moderate to mild depression, you can choose the services of a psychologist as your first choice. But when making such a choice, be sure that you have ruled out possible somatic causes of depression - many diseases can produce symptoms similar to depression, and simply be its cause.

Know that you are not alone.

Only according to official statistics, according to data provided to WHO, in Russia 5.5% of the population suffers from depression. But, knowing how few people turn to doctors with their symptoms, many experts believe that this figure can be safely multiplied by two.

Think about it - about every tenth person in your circle is experiencing depression right now. Before my depression, I didn’t notice such people - they tend to be unnoticed. But after my recovery, I see them, I assume that I see them - there really are a lot of them.

Remember, or better yet, write down the result of your depression test.

They say depression has no color. Complete leaden greyness, hopelessness and gloom, through which not a single ray of hope can break through. Therefore, we often do not notice whether we are getting better or worse, even if we take some steps towards healing. But there are still shades of this grayness - if you are undergoing treatment, it makes sense to periodically (for example, once a month) take the selected depression test again.

Changing results may be the ray of hope breaking through the fog of depression. Even a small, but monitored positive change can have a large therapeutic effect.

General information

Depression is a persistent depressed mindset, a complete loss or decrease in pleasure from doing things you love, and a lack of motivation and goals.
Most often, it becomes a natural consequence of life shocks, chronic dramatic experiences, and losses. Articles on the topic

• What are the causes of stress and how to avoid provoking situations?

  27.09.2020

• Post-traumatic stress is a bomb that can destroy a person

  27.09.2020

• Main types and symptoms of stress

  27.09.2020

• Depression and apathy - what is the difference and how to avoid such conditions

  11.09.2020

Also, the cause of this condition is often:

1. Physical illnesses. For example, hormonal imbalance, endocrine pathologies of brain damage and others.
2. Long-term use of medications (as a side effect), such as benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, corticosteroids.
3. Alcohol and drug abuse.

The peak incidence is observed in adolescence, as well as in the second half of life. Moreover, women are more prone to this mental disorder.

The course of a mental disorder occurs individually in each case: from 2 weeks to several years.