Depression

Distinct from anxiety and from anger, and one of the strongest single indicators of general wellbeing.

High scorers feel down more often and take longer to lift. Low scorers rarely sink, and recover quickly when they do.

This is a personality measure, not a clinical screen. It describes a tendency, not a condition, and it cannot diagnose anything.

Four public-domain statements, answered on a five-point scale. Items marked − are reverse keyed: agreeing with them counts against the trait, which is what stops agreeing with everything from producing a high score.

• +Often feel blue
• +Dislike myself
• +Am often down in the dumps
• -Feel comfortable with myself

Four items is not many. A facet measured this way carries real uncertainty, which is why every score on this site is reported as a range rather than a single number.