4 ms·
My point is that it is very easy to misinterpret these questions and/or the scale 1-4. ‘Criticising yourself’ is to me an absolutely normal action, and this who
by claudius 13y ago
My point is that it is very easy to misinterpret these questions and/or the scale 1-4. ‘Criticising yourself’ is to me an absolutely normal action, and this whole quantify-yourself-and-your-actions idea is basically about criticising and improving yourself.
Similarly for ‘worrying’ – does it mean ‘anxious’ or merely ‘concerned’? Taken to an extreme, I worry about my health when crossing the road. ‘Loss of interest in work or other activities’ also matches nearly everyone, given that people will lose interest in specific activities over time.
Certainly, such a questionnaire with a standardised interpretation and scale will be helpful, but you will need a professional to do such an assessment. To me, it looks as if it will over-diagnose people as unhappy/depressed.
Loss of sex drive is also something that can happen for a multitude of reasons – satisfaction found in work, for example, or other sources of stress.
- eatitraw 13y agoI don't know about this questionnaire(and I don't have enough time to check right now), but similar ones are quite reliable tools for self-assessment. They are _designed_ to be used without presence of mental health professional, and they work. Most of your criticism is valid though, and scores may be distorted, but I am quite skeptical that this effects leads to many false positives. Also, I am not saying that criticising yourself is not normal, I'm saying that spending all time criticising and blaming is not normal. By the way, if your score actually more than 10, try other tools, Beck Depression Inventory for example. And try reading the book, you may find it useful even if you aren't clinically depressed. BTW, there is a chapter on perfectionism(which is quite common attitude in depressed individuals).
- claudius 13y agoI am quite happy actually and somewhat busy with other work, so I’ll pass on the books, nevertheless thank you. But I guess it is valid to ‘over-diagnose’ here, i.e. err on the side of caution, so it might even make sense to put in things that make sure anyone not absolutely fitting the standard ‘happy’ bill might be compelled to seek professional attention.