Depression is one of the most common mental-health problems.
The Center for Epidemologic Studies of the National Institute of Mental Health has developed a short self-report scale designed to assess symptoms of depression in the general population. This scale is shown below. It asks an individual to report the frequency with which each of 20 events was experienced during the previous week. Notice that these four items reflect positive experiences rather than negative ones. This scale should be used simply as an indicator of the degree of depression.