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How Do You Know if You Have Depression?

You doctor, if he or she is like most others, will be very wary of your using an online depression test to self diagnose, and for good reason. These types of tests can of course be very useful, but not if they are done instead of seeing your doctor! So by all means use them, but do realise that your symptoms may be because of medical reasons, or even because of other psychological conditions.

Most psychologists are familiar with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and with its developer, Aaron T Beck. Beck devised a form of therapy called Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, which is now under considerable attack because of its claimed ineffectiveness. His company actually charged other psychologists a fee each time they used the BDI, so it's not surprising, for several reasons, that new and better testing was required.

A BETTER MEASURING TOOL FOR DEPRESSION

Nowadays psychologists and other health professionals are moving toward the use of the Lifeworks Joy Inventory which is seen as superior to the BDI for several reasons. One of these is that the test is positively focussed, so although the test is still extremely accurate, it prepares the client to shift his/her focus to solutions rather than problems.

Both clients and clinicians can be confident of using the Lifeworks Joy Inventory because it has correlated well not only with the BDI, but with the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and each client's own Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)

A real advantage of using the Lifeworks Joy Inventory is that it was developed as a gift to the field of mental health and there is a commitment to continue providing it completely free of charge.

You can find a link below in order to grab a copy of the test, and or even take the test online.

One of the factors we address in the test results is that of extreme scoring. In either case, whether a score is extremely high or extremely low, other health problems quite apart from depression are also suggested.

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AFTER YOUR TEST?

Despite your suspecting that you may have depression, it's possible your test results show as "normal ups and downs of life". If that's the case for you, it's still essential that you see your doctor so that he/she can do a thorough physical exam and check to see that your lifestyle is supporting your optimum physical and mental health.

Once you have a proper diagnosis of depression you can embark on treatment knowing that any other medical issues have also been identified and will also be treated.

In following the advice of your health professional, I must nonetheless exhort you not to believe anyone who tells you that you have to learn to live with depression, or that it's difficult to treat. Quite the opposite is the case, as demonstrated by research world wide, and particularly Australian research. You can resolve depression very rapidly indeed, without medication.

While it's possible to get a complete cure for depression in just days, in order to achieve that it's essential to attend to the 17 lifestyle factors that we know can create or maintain depression, as well as the thinking styles that become a habit when the person has been depressed for a while. Using modern therapy techniques, even those can be resolved very rapidly, often in just minutes.

After all, if your lifestyle is healthy and truly "life sustaining", and you feel mentally strong and optimistic, depression simply cannot co-exist with that state of affairs. You have a whole life to get on with.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

You might like to take the online, interactive test for depression and see your results and the meaning of your score range instantly. Make sure you pick up your free copy of the book "17 Solutions" once you've finished your depression test. Get a totally unique version of this article from our

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