Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Checklist for Depressive Symptoms

I just found a one-page, 27-item questionnaire that is available free online. It was designed for doctors to help them screen their patients, but It's really an interesting tool for anyone who wants to know if they are showing symptoms of the four most common psychiatric illnesses. It's validity has been confirmed in a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

"Results of the My Mood Monitor (M-3) Checklist" was published in the March/April 2010 issue of Annals of Family Medicine. The checklist was developed by M-3 Information of Bethesda, Md., and is available at www.mymoodmonitor.com (click on the headline of this blog post for the link). I took this test and found it very easy and informative. Obviously, if you have any issues it's going to direct you to your doctor, but it is possible to learn about how you are feeling and whether or not these feelings are "normal."

The lead author of the report says that about one in 10 Americans who suffer from depression and anxiety-related mental health disorders never receives treatment because they don’t understand what’s wrong, and when they go to their family doctor these treatable illnesses are too often missed.

Dave

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