Internet giant Google will prompt its users in the United States to take a test to find out whether they are suffering from depression if they run a search using the keywords “clinical depression”. The company collaborated with the US National Alliance on Mental Illness on the initiative.
The test is currently available to the search engine’s users using cellphones. Google spokesperson Susan Cadrecha said the test was not meant to “subvert a medical evaluation”, but to “steer you to one if you appear depressed”.
In a blog post dated August 23, Nami’s Chief Executive Officer Mary Giliberti said users will be given the option “to check whether you are clinically depressed”. Selecting the option will offer them a PHQ-9, “a clinically validated screening questionnaire to test what your likely level of depression may be”, she wrote.
The programme is aimed at creating awareness about the common condition. “Approximately one in five Americans experience an episode [of clinical depression] in their lifetime.”
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