Am I Depressed? Questions You Can Ask Yourself

Wondering am I depressed? Read the questions you can ask yourself, conditions that can mimic depression and how a professional assessment works.

You are sitting at your desk during your lunch break. Half your meal is still on the plate; you have no appetite. On your phone you are filling in a test you found online: "Over the last two weeks, how often have you..." While answering the questions, part of you is blaming yourself: "I'm probably exaggerating; everyone's tired at the moment." At the same time, a voice inside you is saying that something has not been right for weeks. The question "Am I depressed?" is often asked from right inside this dilemma. This article will not give you a diagnosis; only a professional can do that, through a comprehensive interview in person or online. But it will describe the questions you can ask yourself to see your situation more clearly, how you can evaluate your answers, and at what point it makes sense to seek support.

Asking "Am I Depressed?": Why This Question Matters

Everyone has periods when they feel sad, tired or unmotivated. Feeling bad after a disappointment, a loss or an intense workload is part of being human. These feelings usually ease as circumstances change, as we rest or as time passes.

Depression is different. The sadness or lack of motivation lasts for weeks, spreads to almost every area of life and begins to affect the person's work, relationships and self-care. What is more, depression also clouds the way a person sees themselves. Someone who is depressed often thinks not that what they are going through is a health problem, but that they themselves are "inadequate", "weak" or "lazy".

That is why asking this question matters. The fact that you have asked it shows that you are paying attention to yourself and have noticed that something has changed. This awareness is the first step towards seeking help.

Another factor in Turkey that makes it harder to ask this question is the feeling that "everyone is like this". Given the economic hardship, the earthquakes and the intensity of the news agenda, many people around you are also tired and anxious. This can lead you to belittle what you are going through. Yet the fact that difficult conditions are widespread does not mean that what you are experiencing is any less real or any less important.

The Limits of Self-Assessment

The questions below are not a diagnostic tool. Their purpose is to help you review what you are going through in a more organised way and to clarify what you will describe when you talk to a professional. The same symptoms can arise from different causes, so the final assessment needs to be left to a mental health professional. If you are curious about the overall picture of depression, our article on depression symptoms can be a good starting point.

Am I Depressed? Questions You Can Ask Yourself

When answering the questions, think about "the last two weeks" and be as honest with yourself as you can. If the answer to a question is "sometimes", note how often that is.

Mood

• Do I feel sad, empty or hopeless for most of the day?
• Is this feeling there almost every day, or does it come on certain days?
• Do I cry easily, or, on the contrary, can I not feel anything at all?
• Do I get irritated more quickly than before, become more intolerant?

Interest and Pleasure

• Can I no longer enjoy the things I used to love?
• Do meeting my friends, my hobbies and the series I love seem as appealing to me as they used to?
• Does planning anything feel pointless to me?

The Body: Sleep, Appetite and Energy

• Has my sleep changed? Am I having trouble falling asleep, waking up often during the night, or waking very early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep? Or, on the contrary, am I sleeping much more than usual?
• Has my appetite markedly decreased or increased? Has there been a change in my weight?
• Do even simple tasks exhaust me? Does my energy fail to come back even after resting?
• Is there a slowing down in my movements or speech, or on the contrary, a restlessness, an inability to keep still?

Thoughts

• Do I feel worthless, inadequate or like a burden to others?
• Do I feel excessive guilt about things I did or did not do in the past?
• Does the future look dark and unchangeable to me?
• Do thoughts about death, or sentences such as "I wish I wouldn't wake up", cross my mind?

Attention and Decision-Making

• Am I struggling to follow something I am reading, or to focus on what is being said in a meeting?
• Do even small decisions feel very hard to make?
• Have I become more forgetful?

Daily Life and Functioning

• Can I do my job, my studies or my household responsibilities as I used to?
• Am I putting off basic tasks such as showering, cooking or paying bills?
• Am I withdrawing from people, not answering the phone, turning down invitations?
• Do the people around me say they have noticed a change in me?

How Should You Evaluate Your Answers?

Having said "yes" to many of these questions does not mean that you are definitely depressed. Likewise, saying "yes" to only a few does not mean there is no problem. A few points need attention in the evaluation.

Duration. For a diagnosis of depression, symptoms need to continue for at least two weeks, on most days. A few days of feeling low and a picture that has lasted for weeks are not the same thing.

The two core symptoms. Low mood and loss of interest or pleasure are regarded as the two core symptoms of depression. The marked presence of at least one of these is assessed together with the other symptoms.

Functioning. The extent to which the symptoms affect your work, relationships and daily life is important. "I'm doing it, but I'm really struggling" is also a loss of functioning.

Change. Compare yourself not with others but with your own past. The difference between how you were a year ago and how you are today can tell you a great deal.

Observe Yourself for One Week

Answering the questions in your mood of the moment can be misleading; on a bad day everything seems heavier than it is, and on a good day lighter than it is. So try keeping a short note every evening for one week: What was my mood today on a scale of 0 to 10? How many hours did I sleep? Did I eat my meals? Did I enjoy anything during the day? Did I see anyone? At the end of a week, these notes give a far more realistic picture than a single test result. They also make it easier to describe what you are going through when you see a professional.

Online tests can give you an idea, but they often do not take into account the context, the duration or other possible causes. The scales used in clinical practice do not make a diagnosis on their own either; they are tools that support the professional's interview. We have discussed one of these scales in detail in our article on the Beck Depression Inventory.

Whatever a test result says, if you have not felt well for weeks, that is reason enough to talk to a professional.

Conditions That Can Be Mistaken for Depression

Symptoms that resemble depression can also appear in other conditions. This shows why a professional assessment matters.

• Grief: After the loss of a loved one, intense sadness, crying, and changes in sleep and appetite are expected reactions. Grief eases over time in waves; however, grief that is prolonged and seriously disrupts functioning should also be assessed.
• Burnout: This is more closely linked to work or a caring role; the person may recover somewhat when they step away from work.
• Physical causes: Thyroid hormone disorders, anaemia, some vitamin deficiencies, sleep apnoea, chronic infections and the side effects of some medications can create tiredness and lack of motivation that resemble depression. For this reason, a medical examination and, if considered necessary, blood tests are useful.
• Anxiety disorders: Long-term anxiety also causes tiredness, sleep problems and difficulty concentrating; it is also frequently seen together with depression.
• Bipolar disorder: If you have had periods when you needed very little sleep and were excessively energetic, talkative and impulsive, be sure to mention this to the professional. This information can change the direction of treatment.
• Seasonal changes: A low mood that becomes noticeable every year in the autumn and winter months and eases in spring may point to a seasonal pattern.

Depression Does Not Always Look Like Sadness

Many people who ask "Am I depressed?" assume the answer is no because they do not feel sad. Yet depression can appear with different faces.

Irritability and anger. Particularly in men and adolescents, depression can show itself less through sadness and more through flaring up quickly, intolerance and outbursts of anger.

Physical complaints. In Turkey, many people first experience depression in their bodies and go to the doctor saying "I have a headache", "my back hurts", "my stomach is upset", "I feel weak". Expressions such as "my nerves are shot" or "I feel a tightness inside" also often describe a depressive state. Complaints that persist even though test results come back clear may require a psychological assessment.

The smiling face. Some people keep going to work, laughing in social settings and fulfilling their responsibilities. But when they are alone, they collapse. We have discussed the details of this picture in our article on smiling depression.

Differences by age. In children and adolescents, depression may appear as a drop in school performance, shutting themselves in their room and irritability; in older people, as forgetfulness, withdrawal and physical complaints.

Let us say you are a working father of two. Nobody has seen you cry, and you do not describe yourself as "sad". But for the last two months, when you get home you cannot even bear the sound of your children's voices, you wake at three in the morning and stare at the ceiling until dawn, and you do not get off the sofa at weekends. This is a picture that should not be brushed off with "I'm just stressed."

When Should You Seek Professional Support?

If, after asking yourself these questions, one of the following situations applies to you, we recommend that you see a mental health professional:

• If the symptoms have continued for more than two weeks, on most days
• If you are having marked difficulty in your work, studies, relationships or household responsibilities
• If people around you say they have noticed a change in you
• If there are marked changes in your sleep, appetite and energy levels
• If you feel worthless, hopeless or like a burden

If thoughts of death or of harming yourself cross your mind, share them with a professional and someone you trust without waiting. In an emergency where you do not feel safe, call 112 (emergency services) or go to the nearest emergency department.

As a first step, an examination by a family doctor is also useful. The doctor can assess physical causes and, if necessary, refer you to a psychiatrist.

How Is Depression Assessed in Therapy?

The first meetings with a mental health professional are often an assessment process. The professional asks about the symptoms you are experiencing, how long they have lasted, how severe they are and how they affect your daily life. Alongside this, they also discuss whether you have had similar periods in the past, whether there is a history of mental health problems in your family, important events you have experienced recently, your sleep pattern, your alcohol and substance use and your physical health.

During this process, standardised scales are used if needed. Scale scores are not a result on their own; they are evaluated together with what you describe in the interview. At the end of the assessment, what the picture is, how severe it is and which approach would be suitable are discussed together. If the symptoms are moderate or severe, or if there is a possibility of a different picture such as bipolar disorder, an assessment by a psychiatrist is recommended.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is widely used in the treatment of depression. In CBT, the thought patterns and avoidance behaviours that maintain depression are worked on, and activities that bring pleasure and meaning to the person's life are reintroduced step by step. If deep and long-standing beliefs are involved, a schema-focused perspective can also be brought into the work. The therapy process in the area of depression and mood is planned specifically for you, starting from this assessment.

The assessment process sometimes also brings a person relief for the first time. Learning that what they thought for years was "laziness" or "weakness" has a name and can be worked on is the first step in hope beginning to grow again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are online depression tests reliable?

Online tests can help you review your symptoms and can encourage you to see a professional. However, they do not make a diagnosis; they do not take into account the duration, the context or other possibilities such as physical causes. Whatever the result, if you have not felt well for weeks, it makes sense to get a professional assessment.

If I go to work and can still laugh, can I still be depressed?

Yes. Some people maintain their functioning on the outside, but they spend an enormous amount of effort to do so and collapse when they are alone. Continuing to function does not mean that the distress you are experiencing is not real.

What should I note down before seeing a professional?

Noting when the symptoms began, how often they occur, any changes in sleep and appetite, important events you have experienced recently and any medications you are taking makes the meeting easier. If you have had similar periods before or there is a history of mental health problems in your family, mention this too.

Do I need a blood test for depression?

Depression itself is not identified through a blood test. However, your doctor may request tests to rule out physical causes that can lead to similar symptoms, such as thyroid problems, anaemia and some vitamin deficiencies. This is a useful step for the completeness of the assessment.

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• #psychological assessment

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Eda Erkan Alapala

Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.

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