Google has announced a new initiative to tackle the issue of depression. The search engine up has partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to offer users who might be battling depression some specific help. When users type in the phrase “clinical depression” they will be presented with a questionnaire that will help determine how much they are suffering.
In a piece posted on the Google blog earlier this week, they explained the new PHQ-9 quiz, which is described as “a clinically validated screening questionnaire which can help identify levels of depressive symptoms.”
“Clinical depression is a very common condition — in fact, approximately one in five Americans experience an episode in their lifetime. However, despite its prevalence, only about 50 percent of people who suffer from depression actually receive treatment. To help raise awareness of this condition, we’ve teamed up with Google to help provide more direct access to tools and information to people who may be suffering,” NAMI wrote in a statement.
While it is important to note that a self-diagnosis cannot be compared to one given by a doctor, Google is hoping that their new initiative will encourage people who may be suffering to acknowledge they are and take that step of asking for help.
This post was originally published on Grazia.
