World Mental Health Day: is it possible to self-diagnose depression?

A new Google tool allows users to 'self-diagnose' depression

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In 2017, everything is just one click away, maybe even a mental illness.

Google have partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to create a self-assessment test that enables US users to see if they should seek help for depression.

All you have to do is type “am I depressed?” into the search engine to find the “easy to use” questionnaire.

Although Google and the NIAM have stressed that the tool should not be relied upon as a professional diagnosis, the pragmatic concept arguably raises a number of concerns as it inherently simplifies a string of medical conditions which are by nature far from simple.

Should someone in a vulnerable enough state to take such a test be given the opportunity to diagnose themselves with depression in the same way that they might identify an ear infection?

Simon Gilbody, a psychological medicine professor at the University of York, recently voiced his concerns in the British Medical Journal, explaining that “false positive rates” from Google’s test were “high.”

It's certainly a controversial questionnaire.

Not to mention the fact that the symptoms you’re prompted to analyse in it (“feeling tired”; “little energy”; and “overeating”) reads more like a hangover than a mental illness.

Thanks to a string of prolific figures (Prince Harry and Lady Gaga to name a few) who have spoken about their own experiences, mental health has never been such a prominent talking point in the media.

Whilst it’s imperative that these conversations continue in the hope of addressing what is a severely understaffed and under-funded sector of the NHS, the ways in which these conditions manifest themselves in everyday lives in a clinical sense remains largely ambivalent.

How do you know if you're depressed or not?

When it comes to describing the human experience, we are a label-obsessed culture.

Married, single, bisexual, heterosexual, bipolar, depressed… if someone tells us that the thing we’re feeling or doing has a name; it legitimises it with a token of authority and in some cases, provides comfort via clarity.

"I think it's important to understand that mental health is a huge spectrum,” explains Claire Eastham, mental health blogger and author of We're All Mad Here.

"You can feel depressed and not have depression, or feel anxious but necessarily have anxiety.”

Vlogger and presenter Grace Victory, who has written about her own issues with PTSD and bullimia in her book, agrees.

"Whilst social media and online communities can help in making mental health issues less taboo and allowing sufferers to connect and be there for one another, we have to remain careful and vigilant,” she said.

“A bad day doesn't mean you have a bad life and young people especially should be aware of this.”

When should you seek professional help?

"It is a question of intensity of the abnormal emotion, the length of time the problem has been there, and how pervasive it,” explains Dr Rafael Euba, consultant psychiatrist at The London Psychiatry Centre.

"The crucial difference with depression is that the sadness permeates everything in your life for a prolonged period of time and you are not able to enjoy any of the positive things in your life.

“If you feel like this you should seek advice from your GP or a mental health professional,” he told The Independent.

Dr Rachel Andrew, clinical psychologist at Time Psychology, told The Independent that a clinical diagnosis also comes down to how much the symptoms are impacting your daily lives.

However, Euba revealed that the concept of “over-diagnosing” with regards to mental illnesses is something he rarely comes across.

"If anything people sometimes have a reluctance to accept that they may have a psychological problem rather than the opposite,” he said.

"If someone thinks they may be depressed, more often than not they are.”

After years of mental health issues being discussed as taboo, Euba doesn’t believe that the coverage of mental health in the media could have anything other than a positive effect.

"It’s encouraging more people to talk about it, and the more people talk about something, the more understanding there is in society as a whole. This can only be a good thing,” he added.