Depression Test
Find Out How The Depression Test Helps In The Diagnosis
Depression and stress are terms we hear all too often today. A large percentage of our population suffers from these issues. Children, young and old adults, men and womenare routinely affected by it in some form or other. This could be mainly attributed to the fact that the our current lifestyle is very stressful and most people are not capable of coping with the demands of that lifestyle. So the question presents itself - is there a depression test?
The Symptoms Of Depression
There are many types of depression and each one of these types is characterized by a defined set of symptoms. However, generally speaking a some of the symptoms will be common to almost all the types. Most people suffering from this illness would feel at one time or other some level of hopelessness and self dissatisfaction. They would also experience sleeping and eating disorders and they would be more likely to succumb to substance abuse problems. Sadness and despondent behavior is another common symptom.
As you can see, these symptoms are very common. Sufferers feel aimless, experience sleepless nights or have attacks of unexplained hunger at various times. Does it mean that all suffer from depression? In order to find out whether you are indeed suffering from this malady or not you would need to take the depression test.
The Goldberg Depression Test
The Goldberg depression test has been designed by Dr Ivan Goldberg to measure the degrees of depression that a person might be experiencing. There are in total eighteen questions in this test. The person is required to answer them selecting from multiple choice options which have been assigned points on a 0-5 scale. For example 0 – not at all, 1 – a little, 2 – somewhat, 3 – moderately, 4 – quite a lot and 5 – very much. In this manner, when you answer ‘not at all’ you score 0 points and similarly when you answer ‘a little’ you score 1 point and so on.
This depression test has been judged quite useful in measuring the level of depression the person is suffering from. The diagnosis depends upon the score achieved – 9 and below means there is no depression. Similarly a score of 10-17 indicates minor depression; 18-21 – slightly more serious depression; 22-35 – moderate depression; 36-53 – on the verge of severe depression and lastly above 54 – severe depression.
The Beck Depression Test
There is another popular depression test called the Beck depression inventory test which consists of 21 questions that follow similar patterns as the Goldberg test. Here too the answers are gradeded on a scale of five given answers which have been allotted point values ranging from zero to five. The total score would be an indication of how serious the depression has affected the person and indicate the manner of treatment that is indicated.