With Mayo Clinic psychiatrist Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.

Information on depression is seen almost daily in the media. The World Health Organization projected that depression will rank second in worldwide disease burden by 2020. Heart disease will remain first.

Depression is recognized as the leading cause of disability measured in disability adjusted life years (DALYs). DALYs are defined as the sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability.

Depression screening is just as important as it is for other medical diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

Last week, we talked about the American Heart Association's new recommendation to screen all patients with cardiac disease for depression. The month of October was designated as national depression screening month several years ago. If you are concerned that you or a loved one may be depressed, get screened.

This can be done on-line or in with your health care provider. The PHQ-9 is one of the many self-rated depression screening tools. It asks you to rate different symptoms of depression over the last 2 weeks and takes just a few minutes to fill out. The link is posted below with the PHQ-9 and information on the total score.

A depression screening online is not the same as a professional diagnosis. If you are having frequent thoughts of death, that life is not worth living, or suicidal thoughts, seek medical attention immediately. Remember, depression can be treated.

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• Depression self-assessment

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