National Depression Screening Day
Today is National Depression Screening Day. No, you don’t get the day off work. You get something possibly much more valuable: a free, anonymous screening session for clinical depression.
Clinical depression is a funny thing. If you don’t count behavioral changes observed by friends or family members, there often aren’t any outwardly visible symptoms at all. That means it’s difficult to tell if what you’re experiencing is part of the normal range of human emotions — feeling frustrated, down in the dumps, grouchy, moody — or if it’s something more serious.
Clinical depression will affect at least one in four women and one in ten men at some point in their lives. I say “at least” because nobody can even estimate how many cases of depression go undiagnosed and untreated.
But here’s the thing: Clinical depression can be treated. The professionals estimate that as many as eight out of every ten cases of clinical depression can be treated effectively with either medication, therapy or some combination of the two.
The group Screening for Mental Health has a Web page where you can find a free, anonymous screening for depression.