Google offers mental health tests to users
Tech giant Google has joined forces with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to provide US users searching for the terms “depression” or “clinical depression" with a clinically valid questionnaire. The private assessment, called PHQ-9, can help individuals decide if they should seek medical assistance for their depression. The test should also help to raise awareness of the condition, which around one in five Americans experiences in their lifetime.

With technology at our fingertips, it’s easier than ever to find answers to questions — even medical ones. All you have to do is type your query into the Google search bar.

Thus, quite fittingly, Google has teamed up with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to give users more access to mental health information.

More specifically, the tech giant and NAMI are helping educate the population on depression.

When Google users in the United States search for “depression” or “clinical depression,” they will now see a box that reads “Check if you’re clinically depressed.”

Upon clicking on said box, they’ll be lead to the PHQ-9, a clinically validated questionnaire that tests a person’s level of depression. The assessment, which is private, can help individuals decide if they need to be evaluated in person by their doctor. It’s not, however, intended to serve as a singular diagnosis tool.

In today’s world, easy access to a tool like the PHQ-9 is greatly needed.

“Clinical depression is a very common condition — in fact, approximately one in five Americans experience an episode in their lifetime,” NAMI CEO Mary Giliberti wrote in a blog post about the collaboration. But only half of people who suffer from depression receive treatment, she added.

By teaming up, the organizations hope to increase awareness and aid people in getting proper assistance.

This isn’t the first time Google has dipped its toes into the world of healthcare.

Earlier this summer, it began removing people’s private medical records from its Search results. Just last month, it unveiled Glass Enterprise Edition, a new version of Google Glass that’s catered to the workplace. The technology has been of particular use to various hospitals and health systems, including San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Sacramento-based Sutter Health.

Photo: ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI, Getty Images