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The lowest score that you could possibly get is 0 and the highest is 60. Psychologists use the cutoff score of 16 to differentiate depressed persons from nondepressed ones. So, if your score is 16 or higher, you would be classified as depressed. Exactly how depressed depends on how high your score is; depression can range from quite mild (a score of 16 to 20) to moderate (a score of 21 go 25) to severe (a score of 26 to 60). Furthermore, unlike the happiness scale, the depression scale is acutely sensitive to your moods and to your general mental state, so that you would be expected to obtain different depression scores at different times, even as close as two weeks apart. If you are currently depressed of it you’ve ever been depressed, you are not alone. Studies show that 15 percent of people in the United States (and 21 percent of women) will become clinically depressed at some point during their lifetimes. Of the rest, half report experiencing mild depression occasionally, usually as a result of a major setback or crisis, be it a broken heart, the death of a loved one, a career failure, or a financial loss. Furthermore, the age at which people experience their first depressive episode has decreased dramatically during the last several decades. Incredibly, of all diseases, depression places the largest burden in the United States (and the fourth-largest disease burden in the world in terms of reduced years of healthy life, after perinatal conditions, lower respiratory diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and HIV/AIDS). The World Health Organization predicts that by the year 2020 depression will be the second-leading cause of mortality in the entire world, affective 30 percent of all adults.
Many experts believe that depression has become an epidemic. By some estimates, clinical depression is ten times more likely to torment us now than it did a century ago. Several forces may be behind this development. First, our expectations about what our lives should be like are greater than ever before; we believe that we can do anything, and we are profoundly disappointed when reality doesn’t meet or even come close to perfection. Second, our increasingly individualistic culture leaves us all alone to manage our everyday stresses and problems, compelling us to blame only ourselves for our shortcomings and failures. Increasing job insecurity also contributes to the many stressors of modern life. And perhaps most important may be the unraveling of the social fabric. Compared with previous generations, we feel far less belonging and commitment to our families and communities and are thus less buffered by social support and strong meaningful connections to others. All these factors may combine to make more of us clinically depressed than ever before.
If you have scored as depressed, I encourage you to see a mental health professional – a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, or licensed counselor with whom you can discuss your options for treatment, including psychotherapy and antidepressant medication. Moderate to severe depression, especially, requires urgent attention from a professional. If you are depressed, you will also likely greatly benefit from the happiness-increasing strategies described in Part II of this book. Additionally, if you have scored in the depressed range, be sure to skip ahead and read the “Postscript” chapter (“If You Are Depressed”) before continuing to learn about those strategies, as you will need to know how to adapt the happiness program to your unique symptoms, feelings, and needs.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes