Can I take an anxiety and depression test?

I would like to take a test to see if I have anxiety. I've felt like this since the pandemic and was also dealing with family issues. I have trauma from when I was a child that I've never spoke about.
Asked by Dea
Answered
05/17/2022

First, I want to thank you for reaching out with thought a thoughtful question. It is not always easy to share such intimate details about ourselves, even with the anonymity that these question forums are structured to have. I am so sorry to hear that you have suffered severe childhood abuse and of the lasting effects that you are experiencing to this day.

With regard to your question around whether or not you will be able to take an anxiety or depression test to identify whether or not you have either of these (or similar) diagnoses, the answer to that is yes and no. BetterHelp does off some basic questionnaires to identify the severity of depressive or anxious symptoms. However this is not to be confused with a formal diagnostic assessment. Clinicians and therapists are not permitted to provide formal diagnoses through this site.

That being said, there are a lot of benefits that BetterHelp offers as well! Some of the things that BetterHelp provides which would be different from a typical in-person therapy session include app resources such as group therapy in addition to individual therapy, journaling features that allow you to write your thoughts and feelings and share them with your therapist or keep them private for your own self to look back on as needed. Another feature which is unique is the ability to connect with your counselor in between sessions via the messenger component of the app. I find that people really enjoy this feature, in that they are not needing to cram an entire week's worth of events or feelings into one 45 minute session. Instead, they can report on a particularly bad day, or even a really great day, and get feedback, guidance or insight from their counselor before their next session. The level of communication that the BetterHelp app allows far exceeds that of a typical client-therapist relationship. 

The clinicians on BetterHelp can serve to provide counseling and education as well as skill building and development of coping strategies to help with some of your symptoms. I do feel that this could be beneficial to you in addition to reaching out to a medical provider for formal diagnosis. Essentially, there may be several routes you can go here. Formal diagnostics, pharmacological treatment as well as counseling, processing and development of coping skills can truly create a variety of tools and resources that allow you to manage and live with the challenges you are facing.

It IS possible to have a functional, happy and rewarding life while living with anxiety or depression. It IS possible to get to a point where you are able to process and heal from past traumas and learn ways to navigate difficult family issues that may be ongoing.

I wish you the best in your journey as you explore and navigate these options I have outlined in this answer.