How will a psychiatrist determine whether I am clinically depressed?

How will a psychiatrist determine whether I am clinically depressed?

Christopher Reist (Academic Psychiatrist, Co-Author of “Psychiatry”) gives expert video advice on: How do I know if I need treatment for depression?; What are common treatments for depression?; Can I prevent my sadness from developing into depression? and more...

There are not specific psychiatric tests for determining clinical depression. The clincal depression diagnosis is based on the collection of information during psychiatric interviews, information based on a patient's family history and, if applicable, prior psychiatric treatment. Sometimes there are tools, such as different rating scales that can help the psychiatrist assess various symptoms in a systematic way in order to determine possible clinical depression, but this is just another aspect of the overall data that is considered.