Am I depressed quiz

Are you depressed?  Sometimes, it can be hard to know if what you are experiencing is Depression or just sadness or something else.  This is because many people are not exactly sure what depression is.  Often, people expect that it is just sadness, but, as we will discuss, depression has many symptoms.  This “Am I depressed Quiz” is not a substitute for medical advice or advice from experienced mental health professionals.  However, it should give you a sense of whether or not it is time to head off to see the health professionals.

For a more detailed article about the symptoms of depression, what causes depression, and some tips on how to deal with depression alone, click here.

If you are unsure, see a doctor

If you want to determine the definitive answer to the question, “Am I depressed?” this page strongly recommends that you go see your physician or one of several other health professionals who is qualified to diagnose you.  There are depression tests that they can administer that are more reliable than the basic one in this guide.  One of the most popular depression tests is called the Beck Depression Inventory II, often referred to as the BDI II (the II  is a 2 in roman numerals and just refers to the fact that it is the second revision of the test).  The BDI II is an official depression test that should only be administered by a qualified mental health practitioner.  Also, there are some sites where you can pay to take it online.

Seek help immediately if you need it – national suicide prevention and international suicide prevention

However, even without an official depression test, you can get a fairly good idea whether or not you are depressed from the results of the following “Am I depressed quiz”.   However, very importantly, if you are having thoughts of death or suicide, please seek help immediately.  I have created this page that provides resources for national suicide prevention as well as international suicide prevention: Suicide crisis lines.

Am I depressed Quiz (a depression quiz):

1. Do you feel sad or hopeless?
2. Do you feel angry, irritable, or hostile? (Often this is a symptom of depression in men and gets overlooked.)
3. Do you cry often or feel like you can’t cry even though you are full of emotions?
4. Have you withdrawn from social activities or your family?
5. Have you lost interest in activities you previously enjoyed?
6. Has your job or school performance declined?
7. Has your appetite increased or decreased lately? (Either can be a symptom of depression.)
8. Are you unable to sleep or sleeping all the time? (Again, either of these can be a symptom.)
9. Do you feel restless/agitated?
10. Do you feel worthless?
11. Do you feel excessively guilty?
12. Have you lost enthusiasm/motivation?
13. Do you have a feeling of being lethargic or fatigued most of the day?
14. Do you have difficulty in concentrating?
15. Do you have unexplained aches and pains?
16. Are you experiencing houghts of death or suicide? (If so, please seek help immediately: Suicide crisis lines (national suicide prevention, etc.))

If you have been experiencing any of these symptoms for at least two weeks, you may be depressed.  If that is the case, this site strongly recommends that you visit your family doctor.  You can roughly gauge the level of your depression by how many of these symptoms you are experiencing, how long you have had them, and how severe they are.  Are they preventing you from participating in day to day life?  If not, that does not mean you are not depressed, but the less functional you are, the more depressed you are.

Two week minimum

Keep in mind that these symptoms have to have persisted for at least two weeks.  Your doctor, psychologist, counsellor, or psychiatrist will likely ask you about this.  If you are curious about what criteria doctors, psychologists, counselors, and others use to determine if you are depressed, click here for the official ICD-10 and DSM-5 symptoms of depression.

Although being depressed feels hopeless, there are steps you can take to make yourself feel better.  Often, part of depression is that people get trapped in a cycle of rumination where they obsess over asking themselves “Am I depressed?” and then, if so, “Why am I so depressed?” rather than taking a more mindful approach.

Mindfulness can help heal depression

In a mindful approach we accept that the depression is here and take some steps to improve things so that it will get at least a little better.  I strongly recommend the book, “The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself From Chronic Unhappiness”.  It is written by the current leading experts in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy .  What I like about the paperback edition over the kindle edition is that it comes with a CD that has guided meditations although I think you can download the meditations with the kindle edition somehow.  What I found revolutionary about this book is that, rather than fighting depression, it advocates a mindful approach that I think is more effective in the long run in achieving a peaceful relationship with oneself.

Conclusion

Based on this “Am I Depressed” Test, hopefully you now have a good idea whether or not you are depressed.  However, taking an “Am I depressed” quiz is just the beginning.  If you are depressed, now you must overcome your depression.

Again, this site strongly recommends that you start your mental health journey with a visit to see health professionals.  This is particularly imoprtant if your symptoms are serious or you have many of them.  Most health professionals, especially doctors, have a privacy policy that keeps your information very discreetly.  Unfortunately, in too many places people still feel a stigma attached to depression.  This is gradually becoming less common, which is good because when someone is in severe emotional pain, they deserve to receive help.  Even if you don’t feel like you deserve it, you do.

Although it is no substitute for medical advice, you can start helping yourself right away:

I have written a longer article that contains a depression treatment plan, some of which you can start right away.  It is not a substitute for the advice of health professionals, but rather something that might be helpful based on what I have learned up to this point in my counselling psychology education.

One of the things that depression does is that it robs you of hope and motivation.  Remember that this is the depression “talking”.  We take our thoughts and feelings for granted as being “truth”.  However, in this case, you have to realize that the depression is manipulating your thoughts and feelings.

There actually is hope even if it does not feel that way

Many people experience depression and the vast majority of them recover from it.  So, there truly is hope.  I cannot emphasize that enough.  As you probably noticed from the “Am I depressed quiz,” the very first question has to do with feeling hopeless.  It is probably the number one symptom of depression.

Just hold on

Sometimes, when you are deeply depressed, you need a single-minded focus.  You need to focus on just hanging on. Just taking it one minute at a time.  One breath at a time.  It would be good if you could do some of the things on the depression treatment plan, but if you lack the energy or the will to do so, definitely get some professional help, but while you are waiting for help, all you have to do, your only job, is to breathe in and breathe out.

(Did this “Am I depressed quiz” help you?  What would you like to see changed?  Please comment below.)

For a more detailed article about the symptoms of depression, what causes depression, and some tips on how to deal with depression alone, click here.