Anthony McMahon, Ph.D.

Q: My therapist recently asked me a series of questions from what I think was a questionnaire, and at the end they told me that I was depressed. I was surprised and a bit in disbelief. Is it possible that they made a mistake? I don’t really think of myself as depressed.

A: Therapists are trained to assess patients for a variety of psychological symptoms, including depression. There are many things that could be contributing to this disconnect between you and your provider, apart from misdiagnosis. For instance, many people habituate to their symptoms—think of the static/white noise that was common for older television sets that weren’t set to a working channel. You can hear the noise, but if its just left on day-in, dayout, you sort of start to become accustomed to the noise. Some psychological symptoms can operate the same way, where the condition has had a gradual onset and been present for some time that it goes somewhat unnoticed.

Similarly, there are different expressions of depression. Apart from the fact that many depressed individuals exhibit different sets of symptoms, there are different types of depression that often are underappreciated: major depression, persistent depression (what we used to call dysthymia), bipolar depressions, and more. I recommend asking your therapist to explain their reasoning, and feel free to ask as many follow-up questions as you need to really understand the diagnosis they’ve given to you.

PBHS offers a variety of services including individual psychotherapy, neuropsychological evaluations, medication management, and Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP). If you believe that these services could help, please call us to schedule an appointment.

Anthony McMahon, Ph.D.

Clinical Psychologist/ Director of Adult Services Premier Behavioral

Health Services 8701 Mentor Avenue Mentor, Ohio 44060

440.266.0770 www.pbhsohio.com