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take a screening

May 11, 2020  |  Anxiety, assessment, Counseling, Mental health month, Treatment
self-assessment screening

I never really thought I was depressed.

It just felt like a normal "down" feeling - something like I felt when I got a tough job review or someone said something negative about something I thought was a nice gesture. It didn't seem all that bad.

Until it lasted for weeks on end.

One of my friends commented to me one morning that I seemed to be down on myself, and had been for awhile. She confided in me that she thought I might want to talk more, but didn't know how to ask. I was a little stunned, but I started thinking about what she said. It made sense, but was I really ready to talk about something I didn't really understand myself?

The hardest thing I ever did was really take some time to think about what I was feeling - and why I was feeling it. It meant taking a risk on myself, that just maybe I needed to fix something in my life that deep down was concerning me.

That's when my friend told me about a self-assessment tool that might shed some light for me. So, I took it. It didn't take long, but it gave me a little more food for thought. I took the information, made an appointment with a counselor, and talked through my feelings.

It all worked out for the best. After a few weeks of talking and some introspection, we figured out the root of the problem for me. Turns out I had some self-doubts about my abilities and I let almost anything that supported them in, turning away the positives.

Anyway, the point is - that self-assessment helped. I can't encourage one enough if you are having any mental health or substance use issue. Find out if it truly is something that might benefit from some therapy or counseling. There's a tool right here on the MHRB website to help. It's free and anonymous.

It helped me. It can help you, too.