Google Invites Users To 'Check If You're Clinically Depressed' (theverge.com)

Google will now invite U.S. users to "check if you're clinically depressed" by using a clinically-validated screening questionnaire. "The move announced on Wednesday comes out of work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and represents the first time that the search giant has promoted a mental health self-assessment tool in search results," reports Financial Times. From the report: The intervention by the world's most popular search engine comes as people increasingly seek medical advice online: Google says one in 20 searches are health-related, although it will not disclose what proportion are about depression. It is also the latest public move by a technology business to take greater responsibility for content that users see on its platform, after criticism that companies such as Facebook and Google failed to help people distinguish verified from false information. A box of verified information about symptoms and treatments for clinical depression already tops U.S. Google search results for "depression" or queries such as "do I have depression." Google does this for other common conditions, including flu and tonsillitis, and symptoms such as headaches, using information provided by the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit medical organization. But for depression it has added a link inviting users to "check if you're clinically depressed." This takes searchers to a questionnaire widely used by doctors to measure levels of depressive symptoms. People who complete the test get a score indicating the severity of their symptoms, which can aid a physician's diagnosis.

Comments

Great Idea

[yorgasor]

I'm sure they'll keep this information private and will in no way use this information to feed specific advertising your way or resell to third parties.

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

My biggest worry is if this gets to insurance or potential employers. I got bum-rush-fired by one job because they found out I had depression.

I also was photographed by a friend in a humidor, and the pic ended up on Facebook. Week later, I had my health insurance company call and demand a full physical with bloodwork, else they would charge smoker's rates.

Re:Great Idea

[bobbied]

Dang... You have all the luck...

Wondering out loud.... Are you SURE these two instances where not just coincidences?

Re:Great Idea

[93 Escort Wagon]

Wondering out loud... are you SURE you want to believe an anecdote posted by an Anonymous Coward actually happened?

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Voluntary psychometric testing: an advertiser's wet dream.

The Onion was right: the cartel of advertising companies that run the internet are far more effective than any 1984-esque government surveillance could have been.

Imagine if government agents knocked on your door and asked you to take a voluntary psychological assessment. Wouldn't you be a bit weirded out? Now an advertising company that also runs (and reads) your e-mail and decides what you see when you search the internet - that company is asking you for a voluntary psych profile.

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if this is more a ploy to find out who is liberal and who is conservative...

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Look if you're going to argue rationally and bring up excellent points there's just no talking to you.

Re: Great Idea

[KGIII]

Of course it did. You can't lie on the Internet!

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I also was photographed by a friend in a humidor

You keep your friend in a humidor? Is your friend a mummy?

Re:Great Idea

[BarbaraHudson]

It's a self-administered test - you do NOT need to go through google. The link to the US National Library of Medicine paper with the test and how to score it is here. The relevant section:

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
0=Not at all,1=Several days,2=More than half the days,3=Nearly every day

1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things 0 1 2 3
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless 0 1 2 3
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much 0 1 2 3
4. Feeling tired or having little energy 0 1 2 3
5. Poor appetite or overeating 0 1 2 3
6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down 0 1 2 3
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television 0 1 2 3
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual 0 1 2 3
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way 0 1 2 3 The total is your score.

Interpreting the score:

The vast majority of patients (93%) with no depressive disorder had a PHQ-9 score less than 10, while most patients (88%) with major depression had scores of 10 or greater. Scores less than 5 almost always signified the absence of a depressive disorder; scores of 5 to 9 predominantly represented patients with either no depression or subthreshold (i.e., other) depression; scores of 10 to 14 represented a spectrum of patients; and scores of 15 or greater usually indicated major depression.

In other words, this is something that any web monkey could bang out in a really short time, so don't be too impressed with the Googles. With the ready availability of web-based tests based on the PHQ-9, there is absolutely NO need for yet another one, so it looks like this is just to start getting people used to the idea of handing over their medical info directly to Google.

Re: Great Idea

[BarbaraHudson]

Of course it did. You can't lie on the Internet!

This sentence is a lie. :-)

Re:Great Idea

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Friends don't let friends post pictures of them on Facebook.

Re:Great Idea

[Actually, I do RTFA]

There's no way they'll resell it to third parties. Between data like this, and a bunch of people voluntarily giving them their DNA, they're going to be the most efficent insurer ever. Efficient meaning never paying out more than they take in from any given client.

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a self-administered test - you do NOT need to go through google.

If you click on a link on one of Google's pages to get there, they know you're interested enough to click. That's all they really needed to know: the people interested enough to click on a link labeled "check if you're clinically depressed" are probably feeling depressed. You already have gone through Google.

Google didn't have to administer the test themselves to find out more about you: just what you're interested in. They can then add that to your advertising profile, sell it to insurance companies, hand it over to government agencies, resell it to third party background checks who will resell it to future employers, or just hold on to it for future reference.

Re:Great Idea

[rtb61]

They need to keep it simple, otherwise how else can they reliably tell if we can be screwed over yet more, without freaking out and stringing them all up. A how far can they go meter, taking everything and leaving us nothing before we rise up and take them down.

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome post. You get karma big time for that. Also, screw google...

Re: Great Idea

[93 Escort Wagon]

Norman, correlate.

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

If you click on a link on one of Google's pages to get there, they know you're interested enough to click. That's all they really needed to know: the people interested enough to click on a link labeled "check if you're clinically depressed" are probably feeling depressed....

And /. nicely helping along to steer people to that link... now there's a reason to feel even more depressed...

Re: Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to think the same. Unfortunately that ship sailed a long time ago. The majority voted and the outcome was: no privacy. Today refusal to participate in social media activity marks one for social isolation or worse (No facebook? Strange. Dangerous) and in the near future it will make one a complete outcast. We lost. It's time to join the rest of the world.

Re:Great Idea

[Cley Faye]

Ok, now I have to read the full paper to see how to interpret high score while not feeling so bad :\

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the help Google provides is that someone who has "Little interest or pleasure in doing things", "Feeling tired or having little energy", " Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television" or "Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way " might google "depression" but not have the energy/clarity to find the questionnaire.

People who are depressed need help, mate. Making this pop in front of their face is help.

Re: Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

s/correlate/co-ordinate.

Re: Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually saw a doctor on Monday regarding depression and had to do this exact test in the examination room. Walked out of there with an actual diagnosis and a prescription (I've been treated for depression in the past, just had no insurance to see a doctor again or to be able afford meds).

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Google should buy an insurance company. Knowing what they know, they would be unbeatable in establishing the highest margins possible. They are wasting their time not doing so.

Re:Great Idea

[bobbied]

Are you SURE these two instances where not just coincidences?

Wondering out loud... are you SURE you want to believe an anecdote posted by an Anonymous Coward actually happened?

I guess the hint of sarcasm in my voice wasn't obvious....I was actually thinking that if the poster thought this was true, they really had paranoid delusions and thus mental issues.... In which case, I'm chalking the whole thing up to being coincidences...

Re: Great Idea

[Grishnakh]

Today refusal to participate in social media activity marks one for social isolation or worse (No facebook? Strange. Dangerous) and in the near future it will make one a complete outcast. We lost. It's time to join the rest of the world.

I'm not so sure about this. From what I'm reading, the Gen-Zers are actively shunning Facebook, because their parents are on there, so they want nothing to do with it. At most, they'll put up a profile and use it to communicate with the other old people on there, and so employers don't think they're a weirdo, but it's not where they actively spend their time. They do use other social media of course, but it won't be venues where employers and other old people can see what they're really up to.

Honestly, I wonder if this idiotic "I don't care about privacy" thing isn't mostly confined to the Gen-Xers, which is the generation of morons I got born into, plus a lot of the Millennials (Gen-Z is not Millennial BTW, for people who don't realize this, the Millennials are all out of college now and about half of them in their 30s; Gen-Z is college-age and younger).

Personally, I have a FB account, but like I said about the Gen-Zers above, it's mainly a placeholder and used on rare occasions to communicate with Boomers and Xers older than myself who insist on using it, and also because some bands I follow use it (sounds like what MySpace used to be popular for).

Re: Great Idea

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Your actions aren't determined by a democracy. And, for what it's worth, I've trained all my friends not to post pictures of me.

Re:Great Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?

0=Not at all,1=Several days,2=More than half the days,3=Nearly every day

4. Feeling tired or having little energy 0 1 2 3

I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "clinical depression". There's major depression where you simply can't complete the tasks of daily living (going to work, taking your kids to school, cooking dinner for the family, etc.) and are at high risk of successfully committing suicide. And then there's feeling tired on a regular basis. Not exactly the same. That's not to say that even low level depression shouldn't be cause for taking action. But you don't need a Google survey to tell you when you have major depression. :)

Re:Great Idea

[BarbaraHudson]

The original source (which I linked to) makes no mention whatsoever of "clinical depression". That's an error by the submitter or the editor. The name is "major depressive disorder" (and has been since 2012 with the DSM5).

Wouldn't it be easier

[bobstreo]

To instead ask,

Are you NOT clinically depressed, and assume everyone else is?

Re:Wouldn't it be easier

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll never understand, why can't people just pull up their socks and stop being mental?

Re:Wouldn't it be easier

[BarbaraHudson]

I'll never understand, why can't people just pull up their socks and stop being mental?

I wasn't depressed - at least not until I read the article and your comment.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[KGIII]

I have dated crazy. Like, full blown crazy.

Sadly, I've seen people legitimately ask shit like that. "Why can't she just be happy? She should get a hobby."

It kinda is a bit depressing, when you witness that.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[dunkelfalke]

You know what is really depressing? When psychotherapists think like that despite knowing it better.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[pr0fessor]

I know people that are on antidepressants and have been for a long time but the thing that I think is worse is that I know it will never help them. It won't make their boss less of a douche, their job less stressful, their spouse stop cheating, get them out of debt, give them a raise... sometimes you just have to divorce the cheater, find a different job, and file bankruptcy.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[BarbaraHudson]

Isn't that what alcohol is for? Sure, it's a depressant, but misery loves company, so might as well form your own support group at the local bar ... :-)

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[pr0fessor]

I've known a few that dealt with their cheater by going out to the local bar and finding their own thing on the side... it didn't turn out well for them.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[Grishnakh]

It won't make their boss less of a douche, their job less stressful, their spouse stop cheating, get them out of debt, give them a raise... sometimes you just have to divorce the cheater, find a different job, and file bankruptcy.

I honestly wonder if a lot of people would be happier if we as a society could abandon the idea of monogamy. People who aren't content with a single sex partner end up lying because it's culturally expected to be monogamous and they can't get a date without professing to be monogamous, and then when in a relationship they end up cheating. If they could just be honest about it, and it wasn't shunned, more people would be OK with it, they'd be able to find relationship partners who accept it or practice it themselves, and this whole "cheating" thing would become a historical curiosity instead of something that drives a gigantic legal industry (divorce lawyers, plus PIs).

As for the job problems, I think a UBI would fix at least some of that. With a UBI, a lot of people wouldn't bother with bullshit jobs or jobs they really hate, so the BS jobs would evaporate to hopefully be replaced with something more meaningful, and shitty companies and bosses would have a hard time competing for workers (as they're competing with "do nothing and collect a small check"; if your immediate choice is between that and "work for a horrible boss and get more money", some people are going to pick the former, reasoning that their sanity and stress level is more important than the extra money, unlike today where the choice is between that and being homeless).

Personally, I think antidepressants are massively overused, and cause at least as many problems as they solve. For some small fraction of users, they're really helpful because the alternative is much worse, but for most users, I think they're just a band-aid for mental problems caused by living in a shitty society with too much stress. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn't live like this, and didn't have remotely as much stress.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[pr0fessor]

There are swingers all over you just don't have as a large of a field to play. I've known a few swingers often times it was the husband that convinced his wife and then it was also the husband that became jealous and territorial.

I never really got into it I've always figure if I was that unhappy or unfulfilled it would be time to move on. That's not to say I didn't order the sampler before I got married.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[KGIII]

That would scare me. They probably should be in a different business.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[dunkelfalke]

Amen to that.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[Grishnakh]

There are swingers all over you just don't have as a large of a field to play.

Swingers are a subset of the whole non-monogamy movement, and really just in it for NSA extra-martial sex (other non-monogamists don't limit themselves this way). But overall, the entire movement is a tiny, tiny, tiny portion of the population.

I've known a few swingers often times it was the husband that convinced his wife and then it was also the husband that became jealous and territorial.

I've read that meme before: the husband initiates it, then the wife find she loves it and won't give it up. Be careful what you wish for....

How did you ever know any swingers anyway? Usually, they keep their activities very private except to others in the swinging community, because they don't want their neighbors/coworkers/relatives/etc. to know this about them, since it's so poorly looked upon by general society. They're generally not at all open about their activities.

Re: Wouldn't it be easier

[pr0fessor]

One of the drummers in a cover band I played with in the 90s and a few other people I knew in other bands. They invited my wife and I but we never accepted. I don't really talk to any of them any more (not because of that I just moved away and got a job) so I have no idea if they are still doing it in their 40s and 50s but I wouldn't be surprised.

What's the name of the Quiz?

[Anonymous Coward]

I looked for it on the links, even googled for it, but I couldn't find it! So sad! Now I'm really bummed out....

Re:What's the name of the Quiz?

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't seem serious at all, but just in case, it's called the PHQ-9 (9 question Patient Health Questionnaire)

Re:What's the name of the Quiz?

[Terkanil]

Best as I could gather, it's part of a long document referenced as PHQ-9: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... The actual questionnaire is down in the Appendix.

Sample questions

[fahrbot-bot]

34: Are you excited about Firefox 57?

45: Did you vote for Bernie Sanders?

57: Were you unable to view the total eclipse live?

Re:Sample questions

[Gavagai80]

Surely #57 should be the one about Firefox 57, unless there are plans to make Firefox 57 porn-themed that I'm unaware of?

Re:Sample questions

[BarbaraHudson]

Re: #57 - I viewed it last week when I downloaded the latest Eclipse updates. Oh, you mean the solar eclipse? Nah, if you've seen one eclipse, you've seen them all. Literally nothing new to see there.

Re:Sample questions

[Anonymous Coward]

#58 Is your penis smaller than the monkey that flung poo at you when you were at the zoo?

Re:Sample questions

[Anonymous Coward]

23: How many times a day do you check Slashdot?

Re:Sample questions

[NicknameUnavailable]

58. Do you like Donald Trump?

59. Does your employer feel the same?

60. Would your employer change their mind if pressured by the public?

61. Do you like your job?

Re:Sample questions

[chihowa]

Regarding #57, I almost missed it while stuck inside working and thought of this story: All Summer in a Day.

Too late

[Dirk Becher]

By clicking this article, you admitted that you care about clinical depression which means that you are clinically depressed. Off with you to google's blues offender list!

Re:Too late

[bobbied]

Wait... Wait....

I care about depression because I have family members who suffer from it and I clicked on this story because I find what Google does interesting in a "Let's watch NASCAR for the crashes" sort of way.

I guess that makes me certifiable...

Re:Too late

[Opportunist]

Sure you do, I'm also just asking for a friend.

Re:Too late

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait... Wait....

I care about depression because I have family members who suffer from it and I clicked on this story because I find what Google does interesting in a "Let's watch NASCAR for the crashes" sort of way.

That's the whole point of watching races, bro. Ask Nelson Piquet [he's said that about Indy].

Re:Too late

[bobbied]

LOL.. Well, If I'm depressed, you folks have some real issues...

This depresses me -

[bwd777]

Google staffers had at least 427 meetings at the White House over the course of the Obama presidency.

Re:This depresses me -

[reboot246]

What's really depressing is that information didn't make into the mainstream media. Our press may be free, but it's extremely biased - a fifth column so to speak.

Re:This depresses me -

[Opportunist]

Just because the media don't have to tell the same lies as the politicians doesn't mean they are in any way required to tell the truth.

Re:This depresses me -

[sysrammer]

Sounds like a weekly meeting of some sort.

ha ha

[Anonymous Coward]

little pleasure reading slashdot and the fucking shills here...
ha ha you make depressed lol...

Depression isn't always a mental health issue

[Anonymous Coward]

... You guys have Trump for president.

The fact that you are depressed about it is perfectly natural, and not an indicattion of mental illness.

It's if you aren't depressed about how your country is being run by somebody who feels that he's always right by virtue of simply being rich that you'd really have something to worry about.

Re:Depression isn't always a mental health issue

[Anonymous Coward]

It's like the old quote from the 1960s. If you're not angry, then you aren't paying attention.

Re:Depression isn't always a mental health issue

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound depressed

Re:Depression isn't always a mental health issue

[Anonymous Coward]

Depression is an internal issue and really doesn't depend on external factors. One can be happy in the most dire of environments, ie see Man's Search for Meaning about Victor Frankl finding happiness in a concentration camp. The beginning of Logotherapy.

How's this a story...

[bobbied]

When is Google going to figure out who's depressed by looking at their search history....

"Hey there Google user, we noticed that you might be depressed so here is a list of shrinks in your area that we urge you to call as soon as possible!"

THAT would be a story...

Re:How's this a story...

[sysrammer]

Hi, I'm Clippy! I notice that you're taking a test for depression. Can I help? Here are some useful links to purchase Zoloft...

And when you get "diagnosed" then what?

[OzPeter]

All the TFS says is that

People who complete the test get a score indicating the severity of their symptoms, which can aid a physician's diagnosis.

Which basically means no support for people who are actually depressed.

I'd like top stay that the results are presented in a useful way but as I am at a desktop and this appears to only be presented to people on mobile devices I'm depressed that I can't look into this more.

Re:And when you get "diagnosed" then what?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing you get targeted advertising for razor blades and sleeping pills?

what if...

[Anonymous Coward]

What happens if we are clinically depressed because of Google?

BEHOLD

[rholtzjr]

BEHOLD the powers of the Mighty GooglePsych AI (coming soon to a web browser to you). It diagnoses, it mediates, it gives you good advice. All behold the power of the AI.

*Warning GooglePhych AI is not an actual doctor and may cause nasuea, distopia, or general feeling of disgust *

*If this problem persists, please stop using GooglePsych AI immediately and go outside take a walk, or other outdoor activity as you have been sitting at the freaking computer too long reading internet trash, you bottom-dwelling troglodyte*

What will this mighty "Do No Evil" company not try and do. Does anyone else see potential issues with a company known for trying to influence the masses into their way of thinking, that now they go for a brainwashing..... errr... Psychiatric AI?

[and yes, there is quite a bit of /sarcasm in this one for those who do not recognize it]

Damsels in Distress

[porges]

"Donuts are only for people who are clinically depressed. That means you've been to the clinic, and they said you are depressed."

(memory/paraphrase)

Just use this

[markdavis]

Open a private tab and go here:

https://patient.info/doctor/pa...

Now you can take the test, through https and get immediate results without Google's involvement at all, and no tracking, no cookies.

How did I find it? With Google, of course :) But indirectly using http://startpage.com/ in a private tab.

Re:Just use this

[Snotnose]

Thanks to Mark's link I'm a 4, which means I'm normal on the edge of depressive. Considering my life I'll take that as a win.

Re:Just use this

[rholtzjr]

Dang, I am there as well. I like how the test puts you right on the edge to "Light Depression". Kind of makes you go, "Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do differently to put myself over that last 1 point"? But considering the goings on in this day and age, isn't pretty much everyone on edge lately?

Re: Just use this

[Anonymous Coward]

I scored 19! yay.. Oh.

Emacs did it first

[Anonymous Coward]

Emacs has had a built in psychotherapist for decades.

I'm not sure

[DontBeAMoran]

Does porn count as "health-related"?

Re:I'm not sure

[dddux]

Of course, because it's healthy and it makes you feel good. It's a natural anti-depressant.

izzit just me?

[Snotnose]

or do non of the linked articles actually lead to the test.

/ possibly depressed minds want to know

Re: izzit just me?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://patient.info/doctor/patient-health-questionnaire-phq-9

Re:izzit just me?

[semper_statisticum]

One of the interesting things about all (or almost all) ``Clinical Scales'' is that they are all equally weighted when the scale/test is being scored. The difficulty and discrimination differences of each item are completely scrapped in favour of the a constant scaling of sum_{i=1}^{p}1*response_{i}. This is unfortunate, and seeing the ``clinically validated'' bit got me thinking about a fun study I could do. A very quick review however found this: An item response theory evaluation of three depression assessment instruments in a clinical sample Mats Adler, Jerker Hetta, Göran Isacsson and Ulf Brodin[0] an open access and from a quick glance, fairly well done, demonstrating that the conventional scaling is wrong. I have some personal differences I would have applied, but it happens.

[0] https://bmcmedresmethodol.biom...

A label

[Anonymous Coward]

... added a link inviting users to "check if you're clinically depressed".

Depression is a serious health issue that needs more support and acceptance and it's good to see this contribution from Google. I am somewhat a disbeliever of this good news: Will a depressed person complete this questionnaire?

Google on the way down?

[Anonymous Coward]

Google has gone from "Do no evil" to "Do any evil to make money"?

Re: Google on the way down?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is very depressing.

Re: Google on the way down?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an app for that!

It said

[Anonymous Coward]

I was autistic and psychotic, bitch

Re:It said

[Anonymous Coward]

I was autistic and psychotic, bitch

The referrer part of the http header told then that when you hit the site.

Simple update

[Snufu]

"I'm feeling depressed..."

Re:Simple update

[Anonymous Coward]

Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they tell me to take you up to the bridge.

They should just add a new button

[AtlantaSteve]

"I'm Feeling Unlucky"

Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[robbak]

Here are the questions that the questionnaire asks:

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much
4. Feeling tired or having little energy
5. Poor appetite or overeating
6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way

You may have noticed something - where are the questions asking if you had, in the last few weeks, been interested in something, excited, enjoyed a meal, felt energetic etc: all the things that strongly indicate that you are not clinically depressed? Reading through that, it seems as if it is designed to make you think more about the bad things in your life, to make you think you are depressed.

Which isn't surprising - because, like most things in medicine, this questionnaire was written by a company selling depression medication.

So while a questionnaire about depression would be a good idea, it needs to be one that is much more balanced than this.

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here are the questions that the questionnaire asks:

Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?

1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things

2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless

3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much

4. Feeling tired or having little energy

5. Poor appetite or overeating

6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down

7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television

8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual

9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way

You may have noticed something - where are the questions asking if you had, in the last few weeks, been interested in something, excited, enjoyed a meal, felt energetic etc: all the things that strongly indicate that you are not clinically depressed? Reading through that, it seems as if it is designed to make you think more about the bad things in your life, to make you think you are depressed.

Which isn't surprising - because, like most things in medicine, this questionnaire was written by a company selling depression medication.

So while a questionnaire about depression would be a good idea, it needs to be one that is much more balanced than this.

I could go 8/9 every day for the past 5 years, but I'm still a highly functional, highly paid asshole.

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[dunkelfalke]

What for? At best the so called balanced questions would help to detect bipolar or depressions with mixed features, which is not the point. Other than that they would be a waste of time.

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[bruce_the_loon]

The reasoning behind using negative questions is to force your mind to consider the negative states honestly. Unless you are in a severely depressed state, the ability of the mind to promote positive aspects over negative aspects will skew the evaluation. Those positive questions you pose are being asked, just in a way that your mind is forced to be honest in evaluating it. That's what the 0 answer is for.

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[OhPlz]

I don't think health care providers really think about the questions they ask and the impact they have on the patient. For example, if you see a neurologist, they're going to ask about things like "have you had thoughts about suicide"? Getting asked that each and every time you see a neurologist, it starts to feel like a suggestion or you get the sense that you're beyond what they can treat to the point where many similar patients have attempted suicide that they're just waiting for a yes answer because it's inevitable. It gets to the point where it's so disturbing that you don't want to seek treatment anymore. Who wants to invite that kind of cynical thinking into their life?

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[Anonymous Coward]

Very, very few people hide that they're suicidal. They don't go promoting it to the world, but when asked if they're considering suicide almost all of them will say yes (some last ditch effort of your primitive brain trying to get help?). As an extreme introvert with social anxiety and no friends, the two people who did ask me before I attempted suicide thought I was joking when I answered that I was. Those simple questions: Are you thinking about suicide? How would you kill yourself? Would the world be better off without you? give you a quick and easy way to determine how suicidal someone actually is and strangely the more suicidal they are the more likely they'll answer truthfully.

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[OhPlz]

That may very well be true, but I think those types of questions have a negative impact on at least some patients. You get asked a lot of cookie-cutter questions before seeing a specialist, and then when the specialist finally shows up, they ask some more. It turns health care into a very impersonal process. Instead of talking to patients, you've got health care tech support.

Re:Issue: Where are the positive questions?

[Obfiscator]

If you read the peer-reviewed article on the test from 2001, you'll find it actually correlates fairly well with clinically diagnosed depression in their tests.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...

"In 580 patients who underwent a structured psychiatric interview by a mental health professional to determine the presence or absence of major depression using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria."

Monty Python enterprising undertaker

[Latent Heat]

Are you nervy, irritable, depressed? Tired of life?

Keep it up!

https://www.bing.com/videos/se...

Dont need

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't need that... i've a psychiatrist and i'm taking Pristiq/Ativan/Lyrica/Desyrel as medication.

LOL, Google?

[p51d007]

Like they don't know everything about you anyway! Considering people HAND OVER their privacy every time they install software, apps, and what not, figured google would send YOU an email saying "from the activity and posts we have found on the web, we have declared you clinically depressed. We also note that you have many sharp objects, firearms and small children. The appropriate agencies will be in contact with you to provide: corks for all sharp objects, removal of all firearms & children from your home".

Do no evil

[AndyKron]

Sure I'll take the test, what could possibly go wrong?

Test?

[Chewbacon]

Just google "am I clinically depressed" to find out you're dying.

Do you ever feel tired? Does your nose ever itch? You have ___________. You're gonna fucking die.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Now...

[Anonymous Coward]

...just give me some damn Adderall!

beautifull girl

[Anonymous Coward]

http://beautifulhotladys.blogspot.com/2014/01/jordan-carver-beach-life-photos-new_2959.html

Why?

[troll -1]

Why do they call people who are different, ill?

This is nothing new

[Anonymous Coward]

I took an online survey nearly 20 years ago that told me I was clinically depressed and was offered a free month's supply of prozac shipped from some shitty 3rd world country. I guess it took a while for them to figure out selling boner pills is more profitable.

Data Mining AND Political Correctness?

[NicknameUnavailable]

Yeah, no. Fuck Google. Giving a company dedicated to pushing a political agenda personal details about yourself is dumb.

Custody of Carl's Junior

[Anonymous Coward]

Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl's Jr.!

comrade file cabinet

[Reverend Green]

Before J Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union, he was a regional Party leader. During that time he had a nickname:. "Comrade File Cabinet". Named so for his habit of collecting files on everyone.

Something to ponder....

Can I make a prediction ?

[LordHighExecutioner]

Since only people who feel depressed will be motivated to take the test, they will discovered that about 100% of google users are affected by depression.

Imagine we wouldn't care about health privacy.

[Qbertino]

Seriously, imagine that for a moment. Everybody saying "Yeah, whatever my disposition. Load it into the cloud and let an AI figure out my best diet, my acurate life expectancy and the best treatments for the diseases and health issues I should expect."

I'm not sure that would be a Really Bad Thing(TM). The most promising cancer treatment these days is chemo therapy combined with methadone to deal with the accompaning naussea. Imagine millions of cancer datasets from all cancer patients and their treatments and the success of those treatments bundled and processed by a single medical AI. Said chemo+methadone fine-tuned to your exact physicallity and disposition and cancer type. Turning many types of cancer into something that's easyer dealt with than dengue fever. Aweseome!

Imagine being able to recognise clinical depression and proneness to drug abuse just about instantly and suggest/enforce treatments, habitual changes and career moves to that. They already can deduct depression from your surfing habits, so they say.

Now imagine the next step, an AI analysing your habits, you're mental and genetic makeup and dedcuting the right type of job and partner for you.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss all this as a nightmare. Perhaps more of a Brave New World that is actually better than anything Huxley could've imagined. If we had a society that would agree on that everybody get's the health treatment they need - you know, sort of a bit like Germany today and just about the total opposite of the US today - then making each and everybodies health data fully accesible to medical AI might actually be a very very neat solution in helping humanity move towards massive increases in overall quality of life.

Just sayin'.

My 2 eurocents.

Re:Imagine we wouldn't care about health privacy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Now imagine the next step, an AI analysing your habits, you're mental and genetic makeup and dedcuting the right type of job and partner for you.

Yeah, and imagine being fucked in the ass by Long Dong John.

Re:Imagine we wouldn't care about health privacy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps you missed this post up near the top?

Not a *test* but a *screening*

[obenchainr]

There's an important difference between screening for a condition and testing for it.

Screening tools like the PHQ-9 are a great way to narrow down the list of people who may be depressed or are at risk for depression, but they don't say definitively whether or not someone is actually clinically depressed. That takes a far more detailed process, usually conducted by a psychologist or psychiatrist. The point is to screen out those who are not at all likely to have the given condition and focus on those who are more likely to have it. In this case, many organizations (Kaiser does this when I visit my psych for my ADHD meds refill) administer a screening tool like the PHQ9 to prospectively identify patients who might be depressed and get them to resources that can help.

Think of it as a Tier-1 tech support checklist - it's not likely to tell you what's actually wrong, but it can narrow things down a bit to determine whether or not you really need to talk to Tier-2.

As an example: during the outbreak a few years ago, many places including airports screened for Ebola using a simply checklist (have you traveled to the outbreak regions recently, do you have a fever, etc.). Anyone who was identified as at-risk of actually having Ebola then underwent diagnostic testing for the disease; most didn't actually have it, of course, and some people who were screened did have it but were asymptomatic at the time and thus were missed by the screening process (the couple of individuals who ended up infected in the US, for example). Screening isn't perfect, but it's about probabilities; diagnostic testing is far, far more accurate but also more intensive (both personally and in terms of resources).

An example of bad screening is the blood donation restriction for Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). In reality, the screening should be related to most recent HIV test, most recent unprotected sex or intravenous drug use, and any other specific at-risk behavior (regardless of sexual orientation). A gay man in a multi-year monogamous relationship is still actively having sex with men but poses far less an HIV risk than a straight woman who has sex with multiple partners in a year.

(Disclosure: I am the honest broker for a database of patient responses to screening and satisfaction questionnaires, including the PHQ-9.)
(Second disclosure: I'm also annoyed with the FDA, in case you couldn't tell.)

Re:Not a *test* but a *screening*

[Obfiscator]

Yes, thank you for that distinction. I get the feeling that a lot of comments on this story missed that.

Better questions

[cellocgw]

1) Are you still a Nothinghead?
2) Have you considered the advantages provided at your nearest Ethical Suicide Parlor?

Science of Depression

[Anonymous Coward]

Just figured I'd share this lecture about depression by Robert Sapolsky. He packs a lot of information in this episode from his Human Biology 160 course on
Stanford University Channel on YouTube. I don't know a lot about depression, but I found this very helpful when navigating life in the wake of my wife's clinical depressive episode where, like the example provided in the lecture, my wife experienced hallucinations which supported her depressive point of view. Being aware of this and other mechanisms related to depression was a balm for me.
 
For example, in counselling it came up that while I believed I had always been a steadfast and faithful husband who took his marital vows with deep sincerity, my wife was convinced I was having an affair with the Duchess of Luxembourg despite my never leaving the American Midwest and having no opportunity to meet the royal family or any connection what so ever. Depression is a very bizarre mental phenomenon and all advertising concerns aside, it's helpful to be informed should you or a loved one experience this very common debilitating condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAgplgTxfc

Re:Science of Depression

[Anonymous Coward]

...an affair with the Duchess of Luxembourg despite my never leaving the American Midwest...

Ah, but has the Duchess ever visited the American Midwest? :)

Thanks for the Sapolsky link, I'll plan to watch later when I'm not at work.

24/27 Beat That

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I already knew.

Those last three points? I'm not suicidal.