Depression Screening Day and World Mental Health Day
A Check-Up for Your Mood
We schedule physicals, dental cleanings, and vision checks. A mood check belongs on that same list.
Thursday, October 8 is National Depression Screening Day, held during Mental Illness Awareness Week. Saturday, October 10 is World Mental Health Day. Both sit inside National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month. The point of the month is practical: mood disorders are common, they are treatable, and a confidential screening is a low-pressure way to find out whether what you are feeling deserves a closer look.
World Mental Health Day’s message is the one we want on the clinic door. Mental health is health. It is not a luxury, and it is not something you have to earn by falling apart first.
Mood disorders, in plain language
Depression is more than sadness. It is a change in mood, body, and motivation that hangs on. Other mood disorders matter this month too.
• Major depression. Low or empty mood, or loss of interest, most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks, with other symptoms that disrupt life.
• Persistent depressive disorder. A lower-grade depression that lasts years. People often call it “just my personality.” It is still treatable.
• Bipolar disorders. Episodes of depression plus periods of unusually elevated or irritable mood, less need for sleep, racing ideas, and impulsive decisions.
• Depression with anxiety, grief, or trauma. Mood symptoms often travel with worry, loss, or old wounds. Treating one and ignoring the others rarely works.
Hormones, thyroid disease, chronic pain, medications, and substance use can mimic or worsen a mood disorder. That is one reason a real screening beats a self-diagnosis from a social media quiz.
Signs and what to look for
• Sad, empty, or irritable mood most of the day.
• Loss of interest in people, faith life, hobbies, or sex.
• Sleeping much more or much less. Appetite or weight changes.
• Fatigue that rest does not fix. Moving or thinking more slowly, or feeling restless inside.
• Guilt, shame, or a harsh inner critic that will not quiet down.
• Trouble concentrating, remembering, or making ordinary decisions.
• Thoughts of death, wishing to go to sleep and not wake up, or thinking others would be better off without you.
In teens, watch for irritability, slipping grades, social withdrawal, and comments that life is pointless. In men, depression sometimes looks like anger, overwork, or drinking more. In older adults, it can look like memory trouble or “slowing down.”
How to help
• Name what you see without a lecture. “You have not seemed like yourself since summer.”
• Do not tell someone to snap out of it, pray harder, or be grateful. Those sentences add shame.
• Invite, don’t corner. “I can text the clinic with you tonight.”
• Ask about suicide directly if you are worried. Asking does not plant the idea. It opens a door.
• Keep checking. Depression lies and says no one will follow up.
How to get help — including a free screening
A screening is a short, confidential set of questions about mood, anxiety, and safety. It tells you whether a full assessment is a good idea. It is not a diagnosis, and saying yes to a screening does not lock you into weekly therapy.
Free confidential screening this October. National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month is the right time for a private check-in.
Stronger Mental Health is offering free confidential mental health screenings throughout October.
Call 205-265-2226, text 205-757-9872, or visit www.strongermhc.com and ask for a free screening.
A screening is a conversation and a few brief questions. It is not a diagnosis, and it is not a commitment to treatment. It is a starting point.
How to get help
Stronger Mental Health Counseling Services
Call 205-265-2226 · Text 205-757-9872
Facebook: Stronger Mental Health | Jasper AL · Also on Instagram and TikTok
Confidential appointments for children, teens, adults, and families in Walker County and surrounding communities.
Mention Depression Screening Day or World Mental Health Day when you call or text. We will take it from there.
If you are in crisis now, call or text 988. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
This post is for education only. It is not a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a substitute for care from a licensed clinician. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
Comments