Continuing from where we left off last time: we decided to engulf deeper in the issue of testing and present you with small psychologist helper that was renown worldwide AND does not include patient being avalanched with dozens of questions.
Without further ado, PHQ-9
Depression, a common mental issue, can be tough to figure out. But there’s a simple tool called the PHQ-9 test that can guide doctors in understanding how serious it is. It was developed by Drs. Robert L Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke and their colleagues.
Simply put: it’s a quiz with just 9 short questions concerning your status of the last 2 weeks. The questions inquire about:
- Whether or not you have little interest or pleasure in doing things
- If you’re feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
- If you have troubles falling asleep or sleeping too much
- If you have been feeling tired or little energy
- Whether you had poor appetite or in contrast have been overeating
- Did you felt bad about yourself — or considered yourself a failure in some way or another
- If you had trouble concentrating on things, such as reading news or articles
- If you moved or spoke so slowly that other people could have noticed the change. Or the opposite — you have been so fidgety or restless that you have been jumping all around.
- And last yet very important: if you had thoughts about committing self-harm or even thought about taking your own life away.
Yes, that might sounds scary to even read, let alone — share.
Yet these questions help doctors understand how bad your depression might be and what can be done to help you. Each question gets a score from 0 to 3. By adding up the scores, we get an idea about how bad the depression is:
0–4 points: No or very little depression, maybe no treatment needed
5–9 points: Mild depression, might want to do the test again later
10–14 points: Moderate depression, talking to a doctor is a good idea
15–19 points: Kind of serious depression, needs active help like medicine or talking to someone
20–27 points: Really serious depression, needs quick treatment, maybe medicine or talking to someone
This PHQ-9 test has been tried on over 6,000 people. It’s been shown to be really good at figuring out if someone has depression. The questions in the test cover everything doctors need to know, like a checklist.
With the test results, doctors not only get a number but also ideas about what might help you. This means you can start the right treatment quickly and get better sooner.
The PHQ-9 test is a simple but powerful way to find out if you have depression. It helps doctors understand how much you’re struggling and suggests the best way to help. If you think you might be dealing with depression, talking to a doctor and taking the PHQ-9 test can be a big step towards feeling better.
We hope that you learned something interesting from our Article. We try to simplify and make mental health diagnostics as accessible as possible. And truly believe in our goal. Hope to see you more on our journey where we discover new interesting facts about peculiarities of psychology.
Next Article theme will be — Fears and how to Navigate Safely!
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