Are you feeling down, blue or just tired all the time? Do you no longer enjoy things that you once did? Are you having trouble sleeping? It's possible that you are suffering from depression, a medical condition that often requires professional treatment. On the other hand, your feelings may not be related to depression at all, but to another health condition or just everyday stress. This Depression Screen can help you sort out the possibilities.

Although only a licensed physician or mental health practitioner can diagnose and treat depression, you may find that taking our Depression Screen gives you more insight into your feelings and emotions. The information it provides might also help speed your recovery and/or enable you to find the right kind of treatment for your needs.

What is depression? Depression is a medical illness, and it is finally starting to get the respect it deserves as an illness. Depression primarily affects the emotional centers of the brain, "depressing" their ability to experience a normal range of feelings, particularly those associated with pleasure, happiness and motivation. Theses areas of the brain, through their connection to the rest of the nervous system, all of the body's organs, and the immune system, disrupt many of the body's physical functions as well. It's important to remember that depression is not just a bad mood or a sign of poor coping. Depression doesn't just feel bad: it's bad for your whole body.

Just about anyone can develop depression under the right conditions. As with any illness, susceptibility to it varies enormously from person to person. You are born with some degree of genetic vulnerability to it. Later, your childhood experiences, particularly your interactions with parents in the early years of life, but also your experiences later with peers, altered the wiring in your brain so as to make it easier or harder for you to get depressed. Traumas, losses, and life stresses may have added to the burden. Close, supportive relationships, meaningful work, exercise, and a good diet help protect against depression, while their absence makes it more likely.

Depression is treatable. Don't be afraid of being "labeled" as depressed, because depression can be cured. But it can't be treated at all unless it is identified. So if you suspect that you may have depression, take the Depression Screen to help find out. If it indicates that you may have depression, you'll want to gain more insight into your condition by taking our Depression Consultation, which goes into far more depth than this assessment.