Confession time: When I was younger I used to take the women’s magazine quizzes –
- How to know if you have met your ideal partner?
- When to worry about your sex life.
It turned out that all kinds of interesting and complicated life questions could be boiled down to the answers to about 6 multiple choice questions.
Of course it was a bit silly, but back in the day I probably took these tests a bit more seriously than I should.
In the spirit of those quizzes, I offer the following from an article that recently appeared in the Journal of Affective Disorders (usually a much more staid publication than women’s magazines).
The article suggested that if you had three or more of these lifetime experiences and depression you were much more likely to have bipolar than unipolar depression….
Have you experienced three or more of these?
- Feeling more alert late at night and sleepier during the daytime (reversed circadian rhythm)
- High debts
- 3 or more car accidents where you were at fault (be honest)
- A talent for poetry
- Frequent book reading
- 3 or more religion changes
- 60 or more sexual partners
- Obsessive love 2 or more times
- Heavy use of profanity
- Extravagant dressing styles
Needless to say this list is a classic example of a list produced from a survey with hundreds of random questions… it has things that are pretty common and things that are pretty unusual and it just mixes them all into one survey.
So, it is a little bit more scientific than the women’s magazines, but not quite ready to replace a conversation with your health care provider….
Now to find out the 63 secrets to love that lasts….
Reference
Find the full study here: J Affect Disord. 2015 Sept 1;183:195-204. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.04.046).