Diagnosis by tests
Increasingly, people around the world are being asked depression diagnosis, recognized by the psychiatrist. Moreover, it is this mental disorder that a person can to recognize yourself without the help of a psychiatrist, and, most likely, will not be mistaken.
“If a person comes to the doctor and says that he most likely has depression, the probability that he has diagnosed himself correctly is quite large,” says Beatrice Volel. – Of course, a person can have depressive symptoms, behind which there will be completely different mental disorders, but, for example, there is an American depression scalewhich consists of two questions:
-
Are you experiencing depression?
-
During the past 2 weeks, have you experienced a lack of pleasure from things and activities that you were used to (anhedonia)?
– If a person answers the word “yes” twice, then the likelihood of depression is very high, says the psychiatrist. – In general, the correct diagnosis of depression can be made by the patient himself, and any doctor can easily cope with this – including on the basis of professional self-questionnaires.
But the various psychological tests that can be found on the Web or magazines compiled by non-professionals should not be taken seriously, the expert says.
– If these are tests of the level of daily astrological forecasts, this is rather entertainment, – Beatrice Volel is sure. – Something to understand about a person can only be verified by serious personality psychometric tests.