Search ‘Depression’ and Google Will Offer You a Mental Health Screening

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about one in five Americans experience an episode of clinical depression in their lifetime, yet only about half of people with depression get treated for it. In hopes of helping more people seek treatment, the organization has joined forces with the world's most popular search engine. Starting soon, people in the US who use their phones to search Google for information about depression will have the option to take a depression-screening questionnaire.

Called PHQ-9, it's a short series of nine clinically-validated questions—it's not a substitute for a medical examination or a diagnosis, but can help determine the likely level of depression and whether an in-person evaluation is needed. When someone searches Google for depression information, the search engine will show a familiar box known as the Knowledge Panel containing a definition, description of symptoms, and a list of possible treatments. It'll also include an option to "Check if you're clinically depressed." Tapping that link will begin the self-assessment, which is anonymous.

GIF: Courtesy of Google

Google spokeswoman Susan Cadrecha told The Verge yesterday that the feature "will be fully rolled out on mobile in the US over the next day or so." The feature will only be available via mobile searches (ie, phones and tablets), not on desktop. We've reached out to Google for comment on this point and will update this post when we hear back.

NAMI notes that even among people who do seek treatment for their depression, there's often a long delay between the onset of symptoms and getting treatment—on average, it's a gap of 6 to 8 years. By putting screening tools directly in front of people who most need them, NAMI and Google hope to educate and encourage earlier treatment. (It's similar to the search engine offering suicide hotline numbers to people looking for information about self-harm.) While not a substitute for professional help, it's a step in the right direction.

Update 8/24/17: Cadrecha told Tonic that the feature will be available on mobile first but the company "look[s] forward to expanding to other platforms in the future." She added that Google is not planning to expand the feature to other countries at this time but hopes to do so down the road.

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