This month is Depression Awareness Month and Skyline is offering free depression screenings to help you out with any problems you might be having. So to kind of let you readers in on how the screening went down, I personally had myself screened.

First off I had to fill out a term agreement that just stated the confidentiality between me and the person leading the screening. Then attached to the agreement was a survey filled with twenty or so questions related to depression and other concerning factors (i.e. lack of energy, less motivation and so forth) and you choose from zero to three. Zero being the “best choice” and three being the most negative.

When I finished the survey I handed it to the Psyche counselor, Beverly Muse, and we commenced with a short version of a therapist visit. We discussed the questions, how I rate on the depression scale (I’m pretty average for a college student) and what I can do to help solve my problems. Truthfully it did help a little and if you have some problems go to the psych counselor because they can help you.

Facts about depression

– Major depression affects nearly 20 million adults in the US a year- Half of people who’ve experienced an episode will experience at least one more in their lives- Depression can be caused by many things like that can be caused by biological, psychological, and environmental factors- Depression is TREATABLE- In 2005 45% of students said they were to depressed to function- Symptoms of depression can be: changes in weight, feelings of worthlessness, thoughts of suicide, or withdrawal from people