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Depression is a common ailment in society today. If you feel you are suffering from depression, you are certainly not alone. It is estimated that up to one third of the population of the United States is suffering from this disease. There are three main things to consider when trying to self-evaluate whether or not you are suffering from Major Depressive Disorder (Depression), or simply "under the weather."

Step 1:

Consider what is or has occurred in your life. Sometimes a major life change can trigger a depressive episode. So have you recently lost a loved one, experienced a divorce or end of a relationship, suffered from an addiction, experienced abuse, a move, the loss of a job or decrease in livelihood, loss of pregnancy or even the birth of a baby? Any of these things are extremely difficult and life altering to deal with. If someone has experienced any changes such as these, their chances of suffering from depression are higher due to these occurrences.

Step 2:

Consider any and all symptoms you may have experienced for over a two-week period of time. The symptoms of Depression vary from person to person and can be few or many. The American Psychiatric Association has compiled a clinical guidelines test called the DSM-IV. It provides a list of possible symptoms. These symptoms include:

-daily depressed mood
-daily loss of interest
-recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
-lack of concentration or inability to make decisions
-feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
-daily loss of energy
-significant weight loss or weight gain
-feeling of restlessness or slowing down
-Sleep difficulties, loss of sleep or increase in sleep time.
If more then five of these symptoms are present, with at least one of the first two; daily depressive mood and daily loss of interest, Depression is diagnosed. So ask yourself if you are experiencing any of these symptoms, and if so, how many of them. This is another excellent indicator of your personal diagnosis of depression.

Step 3:

Try an online depression questionnaire (or several). Doctors, therapists, researchers and medical associations have all compiled their own specific questionnaires to determine both the presence and severity of Major Depressive Disorder. Go to your favorite search engine and enter "depression test."  I did it with Google and got over two million results! Try a few from the first page that comes up and this will solidify your previous conclusions.

Through these considerations, you will have been able to determine whether you need to seek treatment or at least seek a professional opinion regarding depression. All of your findings through these three steps should be discussed with a physician to determine what your best path of treatment should be.

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