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Why am I Depressed Quiz: The Pie Chart is Better Than the Score

If you are wondering if you are depressed, you can easily find an “Am I Depressed?” quiz on many websites.  Here, I would like to offer some tips for those who are want a “Why am I Depressed?” quiz.  Keep in mind that depression can be a serious a medical condition and I recommend having a psychologist to discuss the meaning of any online quizzes.

There are many different types of depression and there are also several causes.  To make it  more complicated, there is rarely just one cause.  It’s more like a pie chart of different causes, some related to each other and some not.  You have to have a high degree of self awareness and objectivity to make an intelligent guess as to how big each slice of the pie should be.   Balanced self-awareness and objectivity are notably in short supply if you are in, in fact, depressed.

Nevertheless, if you think of the following “Why am I Depressed Quiz” as a thinking tool to get you started, it may help you have more questions to ask a professional if you have a proper evaluation.  Sidenote:  Always remember that most types of depression make you want to run and hide:  stay in bed, avoid socializing, “hide” in your cubicle at work, avoid conversations, etc.  Resist this urge!!  Depression thrives on isolation.  Unless you love misery, get an evaluation by a psychologist or other mental health professional.  Engage with people around you.

 

Why Am I Depressed Quiz

An Emotional Intelligence Exercise

The purpose this “Why am I Depressed” Quiz is be a thinking tool to give you better insight.

PART A     Answer yes or no to each of the following questions:

  1. Have you recently had a major loss in your life?  You may be grieving a tangible loss or something hoped for in the future.
  2. Does the mood you are experiencing remind you of numerous other times throughout your past?
  3. Prior to feeling depressed, did you have a period of two or more months of high, uninterrupted stress?
  4. Have you been diagnosed with a serious medical condition that is chronic?
  5. Have you had an overwhelming experience that terrified you to point of thinking you might die?  Or, have you witnessed someone else having such an overwhelming experience?  The may be recent or in the distant past.  If it is in the past then there may have a recent event that triggered the return of the emotions from that past experience.
  6. Do you experience panic attacks or some other serious anxiety condition such as agoraphobia or obsessive compulsive disorder?
  7. Do you have one or more relatives that have experienced serious mental health conditions or depression?

PART B   Draw a pie chart of your answers to the seven questions:

Collect your YES answers to PART A and list the labels that correspond to each item number:

  1. GRIEF
  2. NUMEROUS
  3. PROLONGED STRESS
  4. HEALTH CONDITION
  5. TRAUMA
  6. ANXIETY DISORDER
  7. FAMILY HISTORY

Now get a sheet of paper and draw a pie-chart using only the labels corresponding to your “Yes” answers to each of the 7 questions in PART A.  Try to make the size of each slice of the pie in proportion to how much you think that particular item is causing your current depression.  The resulting pie-chart forms the results of this Why am I Depressed Quiz.

PART C     Make a appointment with a trained professional which whom you can discuss your results.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO READ FOOTNOTES:  You may be disappointed that this is not a Why Am I Depressed Quiz that gives you a score.   This is very intentional on my part.  Depression tests that provide a score can be very misleading if not interpreted properly.  First, there must a be careful explanation of what the numbers mean and the possibility for error in drawing conclusions from the scores.  Second, there should be an explanation of the nature of the depressed quiz.  For example, it is a depression questionnaire?  Or, is it a depression checklist? Is it a depression test or a depression quiz?  Is it a formal rating scale suitable for making a diagnosis or is a quick-and-dirty screening tool?  Third, has the quiz or test been tested for accuracy?  How did each question find it’s way into the test for depression?  Do other mental health professionals agree that the depression test measure what it is supposed to be measuring?  Is there a detailed presentation of research results showing the degree of accuracy for that depression test.  An important related question is whether or not the person interpreting the depression test (you?) has an adequate understanding of statistics, research methods, and mental health diagnostics to draw reasonable conclusions from the “score” of the depression test.  For all these reasons and more, I usually prefer a tool that is along the lines of a depression checklist without any scoring where the emphasis is on getting you to think more deeply about what is going on inside you.