If you’re an adult over age 18, the answer is emphatically yes—at least once in your life. That’s true even if you feel fine and have no known risk factors.
So recommends the US Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group that has great influence over the practice of medicine—and what insurance companies will cover.
Their latest advice is to screen everyone. Why? Depression is so widespread that it is the leading cause of disability in the US. It also shortens lives through suicide and makes it harder for people with health conditions to take care of themselves.
The Task Force also advised that doctors screen all women who are pregnant or have recently given birth for postpartum depression. That’s new, too.
Depression sometimes drops down suddenly like a black curtain…but it can also creep up slowly. To learn more—and take a self-test—see Bottom Line’s Are You Almost Depressed? Continue reading with the Bottom Line Guide to Depression and How to Get Drug-Free Relief.