The truth about psychological testing for depression

Self-diagnosis can only take you so far. If you want to be able to access a full range of treatment services, get your insurance to pay for it, and check out other conditions whose symptoms often overlap with depression at anxiety, you will eventually need to have formal testing.

There are several types of professionals who can provide this testing, each with some clearly defined strengths. I know it can be a little scary, but overall I believe that psychological testing leads to positive outcome for most people.

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Disclaimer: This content is not intended to be a replacement for receiving treatment. It is purely educational in nature. My relationship with you is that of presenter and audience, not therapist and client.

But I do care.

[lailanitukuafu]

I agree that getting tested and treated is the best option and incredibly helpful in the long run. I also really love mental health labels for exactly those reasons.

However it really hasn't been easy for me to seek help, for a few reasons. The biggest thing is that I have ADHD and navigating the healthcare system is kind of a nightmare. So many appointments, so much paperwork, so many fiddly logistical steps to stress about. I also hate asking for help, especially when I find a not-so-great provider that isn't willing to actually listen to me unless I really insist on how broken I am. And I've had to adjust to new providers several times for several reasons, which is a pain because it takes a while for me to warm up to a new person. So I do have to complain a little bit about how needlessly complicated this process has been 😅. But again, I'm very grateful for the help I've received and I believe it's more than worth it :)

[NetflixTopVideos]

In UK right now getting to help is taking mouths, i really don't know where i would be now without you! Thank you so much Dr Scott. 😊😊😊😊😊😊

[saeveth]

My treatment got 100% better when I got tested instead of having a GP just tell me I had depression and throw a random medication at me. Absolutely worth getting tested if you struggle with this.

[angelam]

I agree 💯 about labels. I’m in the process of trying to get a label and be put in a box.

[nicholasgoh]

There has been a lot of talk about mental health down here but I think it is often mixed up and confused with mental illness. When someone is encouraged to go see a psychiatrist, he/she will likely to walk out of the clinic with a label and some medication. The psychiatrist is there only to dispense medication and not counselling and he will dispense some medication just in case

[maddgun]

I had anxiety symptoms and now i have depression symptoms on and off. My doctor suggested i see a therapist

[kynziwilliamson]

I was wondering when you know medication is working well enough? I still have a lot of symptoms of depression but since starting Effexor I am not suicidal. Not having SI seems like a huge win, but I still wish I had a little more relief for the low moods and trying to be consistent in life. Anyway, is this the best I can expect? When do you know to adjust meds?

[cboyer]

I've been watching videos on YouTube since the day their website launched back when internet was dial-up but I've never commented on a video until now. (so go easy on me trolls) You mentioned that diagnostic imaging tests aren't part of the process of getting tested for depression/anxiety(or any mental health condition). Why is psychology the only specialty in the entire medical field that does not use imaging(or anything) to physically look at the part of the body it's treating? Especially with our increased understanding of how the brain works & the breakthroughs in recent years in imaging technology and the studies showing how beneficial of a tool it is for clinicians? That's like a neurosurgeon trying to find the vein that's causing an aneurysm by cutting random holes through a patient's skull and sticking his finger in to see if the bleeding stops. Seriously though there's no other field of study in science that does not use every tool it can to better understand its subject, it really is more like throwing darts while blindfolded.