DO I (OR SOMEONE I CARE ABOUT) HAVE DEPRESSION?
NOTE: You may find it useful to print out this questionnaire, complete it and bring it to your psychologist or doctor.
Answer the following questions based on how you, or someone close to you, have been feeling most of the time over the past 2 weeks. Answer as quickly as you can, so you do not become confused by conflicting thoughts.
Symptoms of Depressive Illness Questionnaire
For most of the time over the past two weeks | |||
1. | Have you had trouble keeping your mind on things you were reading, or watching on television? |
YES |
NO |
2. | Have you had more trouble with your memory than usual? | YES | NO |
3. | Have you feeling unusually tired every day? | YES | NO |
4. | Have you found it hard to enjoy life? | YES | NO |
5. | Have you had a lot of different physical symptoms or unusual pains? | YES | NO |
6. | Have you been feeling emotionally numb, not caring, sad, unhappy or miserable? | YES | NO |
7. | Have you been feeling more pessimistic or negative than usual? | YES | NO |
8. | Have you lost interest or enjoyment in the things you normally do? | YES | NO |
9. | Have you been less motivated, less productive, or found it more difficult to cope than usual? |
YES |
NO |
10. | Have you been sleeping worse than usual? | YES | NO |
11. | Have you been less interested in talking to people or mixing with people than usual? |
YES |
NO |
12. | Have you been more worried, nervous or uptight than usual? | YES | NO |
13. | Have you been more easily tearful, or crying more than usual? | YES | NO |
14. | Have you enjoyed your food less than usual? | YES | NO |
15. | Has your sexual interest been less than usual? | YES | NO |
16. | Have you been less self-confident than usual? | YES | NO |
17. | Have you been more anxious, nervous or worried than usual? | YES | NO |
18. | Have you been more easily annoyed or more impatient than usual? | YES | NO |
19. | Has life seemed meaningless? | YES | NO |
20. | Has dying looked like a good option? | YES | NO |
RESULT: Answering ‘Yes’ to more than 2 or 3 questions suggests you could have depression. Answering ‘Yes” to lots of the questions makes it increasingly likely you do have depression, the illness that can cause lots of suffering for you (and lots of worry for those close to you) but the illness can be very effectively wiped out.
If in fact you find you have a large number of symptoms, it makes the diagnosis of your illness more certain, and it also provides a bigger chemical target for antidepressant medications to assist you.
Academic note: This is a clinically derived questionnaire, which has not been statistically investigated.
Important Disclaimer: This site is medical information only, and is not to be taken as diagnosis, advice or treatment, which can only be decided by your own doctor.