Hi, Out of curiosity I took an online depression test and it says I am severely depressed and should seek immediate help. I answered it all very honestly but I thought it was just a rubbish test. I took 2 others and one said the same and the other said I have mild depression.
I am a bit worried, I feel low in mood most of the time but I feel fine.
How seriously should online tests be taken?
Thanks
(These are the ones that I took)
http://www.med.nyu.edu/psych/screens/depres.html
http://testyourself.netdoctor.co.uk/interactivetests/goldberg.php
http://www.mentalhealthchannel.net/HealthProfiler/depression.shtml
The tests are similar to a questionnaire a doctor would give to roughly assess your level of depression. They are not very accurate as the questions are quite vague and open to interpretation.
You obviously felt the need to take a test which means you probably suspect you are depressed. My advice would be to go to your doctor and just talk about your symptoms and how you have been feeling. They will be able to help you to determine what is wrong and can offer suggestions as to how to help.
G Stokes - if you think you are depressed you are, but you may not be clinically depressed and/or your depression may not have a medical cause. But that doesn’t matter. Depression doesn’t have to be "clinical" to ruin your life or drive you to suicide. Don’t let this go! If you can’t afford professional counseling, start with a clergy person at a big church. They should be able to point you in the right direction for help, or even provide the help themselves. But whatever you do, do it now!
My doctor actually GAVE me one of those tests in his office, so they must be quite accurate.
I don’t think you should use any of those sites, questions are not really specific, answers are the same but results are quite rough!But i might be wrong.
The people that failed all committed suicide so I don’t know.
I did the one on the second link and got this:
”You have the symptoms of severe depression. The condition seems to cause serious problems in your everyday life, and you should consult your doctor immediately.”
I’m allreadly seeing my doctor about some things related to this. I don’t think they are that reliable to be honest. The best thing to do would be to go to your doctor if you are feeling unhappy a lot (and for a long time) and let them decide what’s going on. Also after you’ve done the test you just know that you might suffer from depression…you would have to go to the doctor for treatment anyway.
I would go talk to someone just to make sure your alright.