Symptoms can be different for men

This self-assessment is specifically geared around how depression appears in men and acts as a first step to check in with your mental health.

Studies have found that existing tests don’t always accurately gauge depression in men. Typically-assessed symptoms are things like persistent sadness, poor appetite, or a loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities, but depression in men may also appear as heightened irritability, emotional withdrawal, or increased use of alcohol or drugs.[1]

To help address this discrepancy, the Male Depression Risk Scale (MDRS) was developed as a screening tool that specifically examines six key indicators of men’s mental health: emotion suppression, drug use, alcohol use, anger and aggression, somatic symptoms, and risk-taking.[2]

The assessment presented below is a shortened version of the full MDRS that consists of eight questions. After you finish it, you will receive an overall score, as well as specific advice dependent on how you respond to each question.

As you go through the assessment, answer as honestly as you can. Being honest with yourself about how you are doing is a key step toward improving your mental health.

Whatever your score is, there are ways to improve your life, and we’ll do our best to guide you. Taking this assessment on its own won’t lessen your symptoms, but putting the tips and advice we offer into practice will help you move forward on the road to recovery.

We often set aside our own health and prioritize things like work and other responsibilities, but depression is as real of an illness as any other, like diabetes or high blood pressure, and is best treated with support from a doctor and/or mental health professionals.  Delaying treatment when you need it only makes things worse.

Disclaimer

This assessment is based on a standardized and well established depression screening tool.[3] Though it is the same check often used by doctors and mental health professionals to help assess the presence and severity of depression, you should not use this assessment or any other quick assessment tool to make a diagnosis by yourself.

A score from this MDRS check is a general indication of how you are doing, not a label to judge yourself with. Men who’ve gotten the highest scores possible have recovered from depression. The MDRS helps provide an assessment of how you are doing right now – it does not predict how you will do in the future.

References

  1. Whittle, E. L., Fogarty, A. S., Tugendrajch, S., Player, M. J., Christensen, H., Wilhelm, K., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., & Proudfoot, J. (2015). Men, depression, and coping: Are we on the right path? Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 16(4), 426–438. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039024
  2. Rice, S. M., Fallon, B. J., Aucote, H. M., & Möller-Leimkühler, A. M. (2013). Development and preliminary validation of the male depression risk scale: Furthering the assessment of depression in men. Journal of Affective Disorders, 151(3), 950–958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.08.013
  3. Herreen, D., Rice, S., & Zajac, I. (2022). Brief assessment of Male Depression in clinical care: Validation of the male depression risk scale short form in a cross-sectional study of Australian men. BMJ Open, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053650