Google Invites Users To 'Check If You're Clinically Depressed' (theverge.com) 124
Google will now invite U.S. users to "check if you're clinically depressed" by using a clinically-validated screening questionnaire. "The move announced on Wednesday comes out of work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and represents the first time that the search giant has promoted a mental health self-assessment tool in search results," reports Financial Times. From the report: The intervention by the world's most popular search engine comes as people increasingly seek medical advice online: Google says one in 20 searches are health-related, although it will not disclose what proportion are about depression. It is also the latest public move by a technology business to take greater responsibility for content that users see on its platform, after criticism that companies such as Facebook and Google failed to help people distinguish verified from false information. A box of verified information about symptoms and treatments for clinical depression already tops U.S. Google search results for "depression" or queries such as "do I have depression." Google does this for other common conditions, including flu and tonsillitis, and symptoms such as headaches, using information provided by the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit medical organization. But for depression it has added a link inviting users to "check if you're clinically depressed." This takes searchers to a questionnaire widely used by doctors to measure levels of depressive symptoms. People who complete the test get a score indicating the severity of their symptoms, which can aid a physician's diagnosis.
Great Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure they'll keep this information private and will in no way use this information to feed specific advertising your way or resell to third parties.
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My biggest worry is if this gets to insurance or potential employers. I got bum-rush-fired by one job because they found out I had depression.
I also was photographed by a friend in a humidor, and the pic ended up on Facebook. Week later, I had my health insurance company call and demand a full physical with bloodwork, else they would charge smoker's rates.
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Dang... You have all the luck...
Wondering out loud.... Are you SURE these two instances where not just coincidences?
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Wondering out loud... are you SURE you want to believe an anecdote posted by an Anonymous Coward actually happened?
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Look if you're going to argue rationally and bring up excellent points there's just no talking to you.
Re: Great Idea (Score:3)
Of course it did. You can't lie on the Internet!
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Of course it did. You can't lie on the Internet!
This sentence is a lie. :-)
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Norman, correlate.
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Are you SURE these two instances where not just coincidences?
Wondering out loud... are you SURE you want to believe an anecdote posted by an Anonymous Coward actually happened?
I guess the hint of sarcasm in my voice wasn't obvious....I was actually thinking that if the poster thought this was true, they really had paranoid delusions and thus mental issues.... In which case, I'm chalking the whole thing up to being coincidences...
Re:Great Idea (Score:5, Informative)
It's a self-administered test - you do NOT need to go through google. The link to the US National Library of Medicine paper with the test and how to score it is here [nih.gov]. The relevant section:
Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
0=Not at all,1=Several days,2=More than half the days,3=Nearly every day
1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things 0 1 2 3
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless 0 1 2 3
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much 0 1 2 3
4. Feeling tired or having little energy 0 1 2 3
5. Poor appetite or overeating 0 1 2 3
6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down 0 1 2 3
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television 0 1 2 3
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual 0 1 2 3
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way 0 1 2 3 The total is your score.
Interpreting the score:
The vast majority of patients (93%) with no depressive disorder had a PHQ-9 score less than 10, while most patients (88%) with major depression had scores of 10 or greater. Scores less than 5 almost always signified the absence of a depressive disorder; scores of 5 to 9 predominantly represented patients with either no depression or subthreshold (i.e., other) depression; scores of 10 to 14 represented a spectrum of patients; and scores of 15 or greater usually indicated major depression.
In other words, this is something that any web monkey could bang out in a really short time, so don't be too impressed with the Googles. With the ready availability of web-based tests based on the PHQ-9, there is absolutely NO need for yet another one, so it looks like this is just to start getting people used to the idea of handing over their medical info directly to Google.
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It's a self-administered test - you do NOT need to go through google.
If you click on a link on one of Google's pages to get there, they know you're interested enough to click. That's all they really needed to know: the people interested enough to click on a link labeled "check if you're clinically depressed" are probably feeling depressed. You already have gone through Google.
Google didn't have to administer the test themselves to find out more about you: just what you're interested in. They can then add that to your advertising profile, sell it to insurance companies, ha
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They need to keep it simple, otherwise how else can they reliably tell if we can be screwed over yet more, without freaking out and stringing them all up. A how far can they go meter, taking everything and leaving us nothing before we rise up and take them down.
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The original source (which I linked to) makes no mention whatsoever of "clinical depression". That's an error by the submitter or the editor. The name is "major depressive disorder" (and has been since 2012 with the DSM5).
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Friends don't let friends post pictures of them on Facebook.
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Today refusal to participate in social media activity marks one for social isolation or worse (No facebook? Strange. Dangerous) and in the near future it will make one a complete outcast. We lost. It's time to join the rest of the world.
I'm not so sure about this. From what I'm reading, the Gen-Zers are actively shunning Facebook, because their parents are on there, so they want nothing to do with it. At most, they'll put up a profile and use it to communicate with the other old people on there, and so em
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Your actions aren't determined by a democracy. And, for what it's worth, I've trained all my friends not to post pictures of me.
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Voluntary psychometric testing: an advertiser's wet dream.
The Onion was right [theonion.com]: the cartel of advertising companies that run the internet are far more effective than any 1984-esque government surveillance could have been.
Imagine if government agents knocked on your door and asked you to take a voluntary psychological assessment. Wouldn't you be a bit weirded out? Now an advertising company that also runs (and reads) your e-mail and decides what you see when you search the internet - that company is asking
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There's no way they'll resell it to third parties. Between data like this, and a bunch of people voluntarily giving them their DNA, they're going to be the most efficent insurer ever. Efficient meaning never paying out more than they take in from any given client.
Wouldn't it be easier (Score:4, Insightful)
To instead ask,
Are you NOT clinically depressed, and assume everyone else is?
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I'll never understand, why can't people just pull up their socks and stop being mental?
I wasn't depressed - at least not until I read the article and your comment.
Re: Wouldn't it be easier (Score:2)
I have dated crazy. Like, full blown crazy.
Sadly, I've seen people legitimately ask shit like that. "Why can't she just be happy? She should get a hobby."
It kinda is a bit depressing, when you witness that.
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You know what is really depressing? When psychotherapists think like that despite knowing it better.
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That would scare me. They probably should be in a different business.
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Amen to that.
Re: Wouldn't it be easier (Score:4, Interesting)
I know people that are on antidepressants and have been for a long time but the thing that I think is worse is that I know it will never help them. It won't make their boss less of a douche, their job less stressful, their spouse stop cheating, get them out of debt, give them a raise... sometimes you just have to divorce the cheater, find a different job, and file bankruptcy.
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Isn't that what alcohol is for? Sure, it's a depressant, but misery loves company, so might as well form your own support group at the local bar ... :-)
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I've known a few that dealt with their cheater by going out to the local bar and finding their own thing on the side... it didn't turn out well for them.
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It won't make their boss less of a douche, their job less stressful, their spouse stop cheating, get them out of debt, give them a raise... sometimes you just have to divorce the cheater, find a different job, and file bankruptcy.
I honestly wonder if a lot of people would be happier if we as a society could abandon the idea of monogamy. People who aren't content with a single sex partner end up lying because it's culturally expected to be monogamous and they can't get a date without professing to be monoga
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There are swingers all over you just don't have as a large of a field to play. I've known a few swingers often times it was the husband that convinced his wife and then it was also the husband that became jealous and territorial.
I never really got into it I've always figure if I was that unhappy or unfulfilled it would be time to move on. That's not to say I didn't order the sampler before I got married.
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There are swingers all over you just don't have as a large of a field to play.
Swingers are a subset of the whole non-monogamy movement, and really just in it for NSA extra-martial sex (other non-monogamists don't limit themselves this way). But overall, the entire movement is a tiny, tiny, tiny portion of the population.
I've known a few swingers often times it was the husband that convinced his wife and then it was also the husband that became jealous and territorial.
I've read that meme before: the husband
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One of the drummers in a cover band I played with in the 90s and a few other people I knew in other bands. They invited my wife and I but we never accepted. I don't really talk to any of them any more (not because of that I just moved away and got a job) so I have no idea if they are still doing it in their 40s and 50s but I wouldn't be surprised.
Monty Python enterprising undertaker (Score:2)
Are you nervy, irritable, depressed? Tired of life?
Keep it up!
https://www.bing.com/videos/se... [bing.com]
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Sample questions (Score:5, Funny)
34: Are you excited about Firefox 57?
45: Did you vote for Bernie Sanders?
57: Were you unable to view the total eclipse live?
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Surely #57 should be the one about Firefox 57, unless there are plans to make Firefox 57 porn-themed that I'm unaware of?
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23: How many times a day do you check Slashdot?
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Regarding #57, I almost missed it while stuck inside working and thought of this story: All Summer in a Day [btboces.org].
Too late (Score:1)
By clicking this article, you admitted that you care about clinical depression which means that you are clinically depressed. Off with you to google's blues offender list!
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Wait... Wait....
I care about depression because I have family members who suffer from it and I clicked on this story because I find what Google does interesting in a "Let's watch NASCAR for the crashes" sort of way.
I guess that makes me certifiable...
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Sure you do, I'm also just asking for a friend.
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LOL.. Well, If I'm depressed, you folks have some real issues...
This depresses me - (Score:1)
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Just because the media don't have to tell the same lies as the politicians doesn't mean they are in any way required to tell the truth.
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Sounds like a weekly meeting of some sort.
Depression isn't always a mental health issue (Score:1)
... You guys have Trump for president.
The fact that you are depressed about it is perfectly natural, and not an indicattion of mental illness.
It's if you aren't depressed about how your country is being run by somebody who feels that he's always right by virtue of simply being rich that you'd really have something to worry about.
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It's like the old quote from the 1960s. If you're not angry, then you aren't paying attention.
How's this a story... (Score:2)
When is Google going to figure out who's depressed by looking at their search history....
"Hey there Google user, we noticed that you might be depressed so here is a list of shrinks in your area that we urge you to call as soon as possible!"
THAT would be a story...
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Hi, I'm Clippy! I notice that you're taking a test for depression. Can I help? Here are some useful links to purchase Zoloft...
And when you get "diagnosed" then what? (Score:2)
All the TFS says is that
People who complete the test get a score indicating the severity of their symptoms, which can aid a physician's diagnosis.
Which basically means no support for people who are actually depressed.
I'd like top stay that the results are presented in a useful way but as I am at a desktop and this appears to only be presented to people on mobile devices I'm depressed that I can't look into this more.
BEHOLD (Score:3)
BEHOLD the powers of the Mighty GooglePsych AI (coming soon to a web browser to you). It diagnoses, it mediates, it gives you good advice. All behold the power of the AI.
*Warning GooglePhych AI is not an actual doctor and may cause nasuea, distopia, or general feeling of disgust *
*If this problem persists, please stop using GooglePsych AI immediately and go outside take a walk, or other outdoor activity as you have been sitting at the freaking computer too long reading internet trash, you bottom-dwelling troglodyte*
What will this mighty "Do No Evil" company not try and do. Does anyone else see potential issues with a company known for trying to influence the masses into their way of thinking, that now they go for a brainwashing..... errr... Psychiatric AI?
[and yes, there is quite a bit of /sarcasm in this one for those who do not recognize it]
Damsels in Distress (Score:2)
"Donuts are only for people who are clinically depressed. That means you've been to the clinic, and they said you are depressed."
(memory/paraphrase)
Just use this (Score:2)
Open a private tab and go here:
https://patient.info/doctor/pa... [patient.info]
Now you can take the test, through https and get immediate results without Google's involvement at all, and no tracking, no cookies.
How did I find it? With Google, of course :) But indirectly using http://startpage.com/ [startpage.com] in a private tab.
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I'm not sure (Score:2)
Does porn count as "health-related"?
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izzit just me? (Score:4, Insightful)
/ possibly depressed minds want to know
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One of the interesting things about all (or almost all) ``Clinical Scales'' is that they are all equally weighted when the scale/test is being scored. The difficulty and discrimination differences of each item are completely scrapped in favour of the a constant scaling of sum_{i=1}^{p}1*response_{i}. This is unfortunate, and seeing the ``clinically validated'' bit got me thinking about a fun study I could do. A very quick review however found this: An item response theory evaluation of three depression asse
Simple update (Score:2)
They should just add a new button (Score:5, Funny)
Issue: Where are the positive questions? (Score:2)
Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following problems?
1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much
4. Feeling tired or having little energy
5. Poor appetite or overeating
6. Feeling bad about yourself—or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite—being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way
You may have noticed something - where are the questions asking if you had, in the last few weeks, been interested in something, excited, enjoyed a meal, felt energetic etc: all the things that strongly indicate that you are not clinically depressed? Reading through that, it seems as if it is designed to make you think more about the bad things in your life, to make you think you are depressed.
Which isn't surprising - because, like most things in medicin
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What for? At best the so called balanced questions would help to detect bipolar or depressions with mixed features, which is not the point. Other than that they would be a waste of time.
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The reasoning behind using negative questions is to force your mind to consider the negative states honestly. Unless you are in a severely depressed state, the ability of the mind to promote positive aspects over negative aspects will skew the evaluation. Those positive questions you pose are being asked, just in a way that your mind is forced to be honest in evaluating it. That's what the 0 answer is for.
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I don't think health care providers really think about the questions they ask and the impact they have on the patient. For example, if you see a neurologist, they're going to ask about things like "have you had thoughts about suicide"? Getting asked that each and every time you see a neurologist, it starts to feel like a suggestion or you get the sense that you're beyond what they can treat to the point where many similar patients have attempted suicide that they're just waiting for a yes answer because i
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That may very well be true, but I think those types of questions have a negative impact on at least some patients. You get asked a lot of cookie-cutter questions before seeing a specialist, and then when the specialist finally shows up, they ask some more. It turns health care into a very impersonal process. Instead of talking to patients, you've got health care tech support.
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If you read the peer-reviewed article on the test from 2001, you'll find it actually correlates fairly well with clinically diagnosed depression in their tests.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
"In 580 patients who underwent a structured psychiatric interview by a mental health professional to determine the presence or absence of major depression using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria."
LOL, Google? (Score:2)
Do no evil (Score:2)
Test? (Score:2)
Just google "am I clinically depressed" to find out you're dying.
Do you ever feel tired? Does your nose ever itch? You have ___________. You're gonna fucking die.
Why? (Score:2)
comrade file cabinet (Score:2)
Before J Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union, he was a regional Party leader. During that time he had a nickname:. "Comrade File Cabinet". Named so for his habit of collecting files on everyone.
Something to ponder....
Can I make a prediction ? (Score:2)
Imagine we wouldn't care about health privacy. (Score:2)
Seriously, imagine that for a moment. Everybody saying "Yeah, whatever my disposition. Load it into the cloud and let an AI figure out my best diet, my acurate life expectancy and the best treatments for the diseases and health issues I should expect."
I'm not sure that would be a Really Bad Thing(TM). The most promising cancer treatment these days is chemo therapy combined with methadone to deal with the accompaning naussea. Imagine millions of cancer datasets from all cancer patients and their treatments a
Not a *test* but a *screening* (Score:1)
Screening tools like the PHQ-9 are a great way to narrow down the list of people who may be depressed or are at risk for depression, but they don't say definitively whether or not someone is actually clinically depressed. That takes a far more detailed process, usually conducted by a psychologist or psychiatrist. The point is to screen out those who are not at all likely to have the given condition and focus on those w
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Yes, thank you for that distinction. I get the feeling that a lot of comments on this story missed that.
Better questions (Score:2)
1) Are you still a Nothinghead?
2) Have you considered the advantages provided at your nearest Ethical Suicide Parlor?