Hi Mysterygirl. I'm curious as to why you would take a depression quiz if you didn't feel at least a little depressed? I've tried to take that same exact quiz on days when I am hypomanic (I'm bipolar), and I can't get through it. It seems so pointless, because I know that I'm going to answer most questions in a non-depressive way.

I would be concerned if you scored high on the quiz, even if you do not have clinical depression. The quiz screens for things like feeling like you are dead, feeling like you are a failure, feeling like you deserve to be punished, having suicidal thoughts, having severe concentration problems, anhedonia, severe hopelessness...as moody as teens are known to be, do you really think that most of your peers feel that bad? Yes, nearly everyone is struggling in some way. Yes, very few people are satisfied with themselves. But most people don't hate themselves. If you can relate to most of what the quiz probes for, even if you are not "depressed", you should still get help. You deserve to feel better than that.

I do not have enough information to comment on your mood swings. That part could simply be a teenage thing. Or it could be due to a personality disorder, rapid cycling bipolar disorder, or a cyclothymic temperament. I'm 20, so I'm pretty close to you in age. I had similar mood swings for years before I was diagnosed with bipolar. How happy and confident do you feel? Just "I can get an A on this test" high, or "I feel so euphoric I could be on heroin or coke. And by the way, I'm going to get an A on that test because I am a f-ing genius. I can't wait to win the Nobel Prize" high?

The depression test is designed to keep track of symptoms over time. You have to calibrate it to yourself; everyone answers these questions differently. I have to really, really agree with something to choose the most extreme answer. Thus, my scores will be lower than those of someone who clicks "very much" for every question that resonates with them. However, I can compare my scores against myself, and it is somewhat useful. When I'm mildly to moderately depressed, I score in the 40's. When my depression gets really bad, I score in the 50's. Just took the test and got a 53.

I hope that something in the mess I just wrote helps you.