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Do i have a depression – Self Assessment

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  • Post last modified:February 1, 2024

Depression

When we talk of depression, people think they require treatment like medication, therapies like clinical depression. There is another type of depression is a regular depression that anyone can experience in his or her life time.

There are different types of depression other than clinical depression.

1- Major Depressive disorder ( MDD)

Symptoms present for longer than 2 weeks

Features are:

  1. Depressed mood
  2. Lack of interest in activities normally enjoyed
  3. Changes in sleep
  4. Fatigue
  5. Changes in weight
  6. Thoughts of death and suicide
  7. Difficulty n concentration

2- Persistent Depressive Disorder ( PDD)

It is also referred to be a type of chronic depression because it last for more days like for 2 years. It is also called Dysthymia .

Features are:

  1. Feeling sadness
  2. Low self esteem
  3. Difficulty falling sleep
  4. Sleeping too much
  5. Fatigue and lack of energy
  6. Feeling of guilty
  7. Feeling of hopelessness

According to study women are suffering more than men.

3- Bipolar Disorder

The depressive episodes that often accompany the manias of bipolar disorder

Features are:

  1. Fatigue , insomnia and lethargy
  2. Unexplained aches , pains and psychomotor agitation
  3. Irritability and anxiety
  4. Indecision and disorganization

Risk of suicide is greater in bipolar disorder.

4- Postpartum Depression ( PPD)

Can occur soon after the delivery of baby. There are major hormonal shifts in the women due to pregnancy and it effects the woman’s moods.  In common language it is also called the “Baby Blues”   

Features are:

  1. Low mood , feeling of sadness
  2. Mood swings
  3. Social withdrawal
  4. Appetite changes
  5. Feeling of worthless
  6. Feeling helpless
  7. Anxiety and panic attack
  8. Thoughts of hurting yourself

5- Premenstrual dysphoric Disorder ( PMDD)

Major mood symptoms that occur during the menstrual phase

Common symptoms of pre menstrual phase are irritability , fatigue , anxiety , bloating, food cravings , aches and breast tenderness.

Features are :

  1. Mood swings , often with bouts of crying
  2. Self critical
  3. Feeling of stress or anxiety
  4. Extreme fatigue

 6- Seasonal affective disorder ( SAD)

Depression episodes that occur in the winter months.

These type of depression occur with season pattern. It is often treated with light therapy. Seasonal variation in night / day pattern can acuse the disruption which lead to depression.

7- Atypical depression  

Depressive episodes with reactive moods, increased appetite and sleep

Features are :

  1. Excessive eating
  2. Excessive sleep
  3. Fatigue , weakness and feeling
  4. Strongly reactive moods
  5. Intense sensitivity to rejection

Diagnosing depression can be a challenging process.

Depression can be manifested as a combination of a wide variety of symptoms and If you are concerned that you are experiencing symptoms of depression like :

  1. I feel hopeless , sad, guilty, loss of interest, anxiety and altered appetite.
  2. I have a trouble falling and staying asleep etc.

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale is a short self-administered survey to quantify the depressed status of a patient.

The aim of this test is to examine the symptomatic dimensions of depression by means of a factor analysis of the Zung self-rating depression scale.

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale  consists of 20 items with a Likert type scale after each item. The scores for each item range from 1 to 4 and the SDS ranges from a raw score of 20 to a raw score of 80. Some items are reverse scored (i.e., they go from 4 down to 1).

Then self screening helps you in assessing your symptoms and organizes them and helps you in talking to your doctor and further line of treatment.

It helps the person to address the symptoms which are overlooked and helps in improving.

Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale was designed by W.W. Zung to assess the level of depression for patients diagnosed with depressive disorder.

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale is a short self-administered survey to quantify the depressed status of a patient. There are 20 items on the scale that rate the four common characteristics of depression: the pervasive effect, the physiological equivalents, other disturbances, and psychomotor activities.

There are ten positively worded and ten negatively worded questions. Each question is scored on a scale of 1-4 (a little of the time, some of the time, good part of the time, most of the time).

The scores range from 25-100.

  • 25-49 Normal Range
  • 50-59 Mildly Depressed
  • 60-69 Moderately Depressed
  • 70 and above Severely Depressed
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