National Depression Screening Day
Today, Thursday October 11th is not only National Coming Out Day, it’s National Depression Screening Day. Take a moment to educate yourself on depression here. Statistics show that 9.5% of the population lives with depression, this means that one in every ten people you know, encounter, ride the train with or work near, live their life daily with symptoms such as:
Depressed mood & other emotional problems including: persistent sadness, inappropriate crying, feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, emptiness, misery or guilt, a loss of confidence, loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed, sluggishness, agitation, irritability, being restless, lack of energy or being tired, thoughts of death or suicide, anxiety, despair worsening at night or suicide attempts.
A change in eating patterns - appetite loss, weight loss, overeating or weight gain
A change in sleeping patterns - difficulty falling or staying asleep, oversleeping, waking too early
A change in mental state - forgetfulness, difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions, fearing the future
A change in social actions - relationship difficulties, isolation, alcohol, drug or sex problems, a sudden loss of interest in sex, a loss of enjoyment in recreation activities, general social withdrawal
Physical problems - headaches, backaches, stomach aches, joint or muscle aches, general body aches, constipation
On Thursday, millions of local screenings will be offered for free to those who are interested. If you are, please check out Mental Health Screening to see where you can go near you to have yourself (or a loved one) checked out.
If you can’t get into a free screening, there are hundreds of free screenings online that you can do. Check out these:
Other Resources
Somebody Heal Me’s National Depression Screen Day 2007 post
Depression Screening.org is a free confidential depression screening
New York University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry Depression Screening Test
Discovery Health Depression Inventory (Test)
Lessons For Living’s Depression Test
National Coming Out Day, National Depression Screening Day, depression, depression tests, symptoms of depression
Online Test for Depression - seems as though this site also offers online counseling
October 12th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Isn’t it weird that they don’t include anger in the list of symptoms? Perhaps you could tackle that subject next!
October 18th, 2007 at 8:01 am
[...] listed while other don’t. I would say that if you aren’t normally angry, anger can be a sign of depression. This lead me to read more about anger and I was intrigued, as the body seems to react the same way [...]