How Severe is Your Depression?
You doctor, if he or she is like most others, will be very wary of your using an online depression test to self diagnose, and for good reason. These types of tests can of course be very useful, but not if they are done instead of seeing your doctor! So by all means use them, but do realise that your symptoms may be because of medical reasons, or even because of other psychological conditions.
Most psychologists are familiar with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and with its developer, Aaron T Beck. Beck devised a form of therapy called Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, which is now under considerable attack because of its claimed ineffectiveness. His company actually charged other psychologists a fee each time they used the BDI, so it's not surprising, for several reasons, that new and better testing was required.
A BETTER TEST FOR DEPRESSION
The Lifeworks Joy Inventory is a preferred test for depression because in addition to being highly accurate, it begins to move the client toward an expectation of good results from therapy. While the BDI was very negative (eg getting the client to rate the statement "I feel sad most of the time") the Lifeworks Joy Inventory has positive statements which the client is asked to rate (eg "I enjoy my sexuality").
Both clients and clinicians can be confident of using the Lifeworks Joy Inventory because it has correlated well not only with the BDI, but with the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and each client's own Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)
A real advantage of using the Lifeworks Joy Inventory is that it was developed as a gift to the field of mental health and there is a commitment to continue providing it completely free of charge.
If you or a loved one suspect depression, go ahead and click the link below so you can take the test online and also read about what else you can do to investigate whether a diagnosis of depression is appropriate.
One of the factors we address in the test results is that of extreme scoring. In either case, whether a score is extremely high or extremely low, other health problems quite apart from depression are also suggested.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AFTER YOUR TEST?
Regardless of your test results, if you suspect that you may be depressed, it's very important to make an appointment with your doctor so that he/she can ask the right questions to determine if there's a medical reason for your depression symptoms (such as an endocrine disorder), as well as checking exact symptoms in relation to digestion, sleep, skin and hair, sexual dysfunction, stress factors, and a range of other matters.
Once you have a proper diagnosis of depression you can embark on treatment knowing that any other medical issues have also been identified and will also be treated.
In following the advice of your health professional, I must nonetheless exhort you not to believe anyone who tells you that you have to learn to live with depression, or that it's difficult to treat. Quite the opposite is the case, as demonstrated by research world wide, and particularly Australian research. You can resolve depression very rapidly indeed, without medication.
While it's possible to get a complete cure for depression in just days, in order to achieve that it's essential to attend to the 17 lifestyle factors that we know can create or maintain depression, as well as the thinking styles that become a habit when the person has been depressed for a while. Using modern therapy techniques, even those can be resolved very rapidly, often in just minutes.
With a quality lifestyle and strong and healthy thoughts and feelings, the depression rapidly evaporates and the patient quickly moves into a more powerful and satisfying way of life.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
You might like to take the online, interactive test for depression and receive your results and the meaning of your score instantly. Make sure you pick up your free copy of "17 Solutions" once you've completed your depression test.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE links (without "nofollow" tags).
by: ChristineSutherland
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