The SMU Health Center took part in advertising free depression screenings as part of National Depression Screening Day on Thursday.

The day is an annual event held each October on the Thursday of Mental Illness Awareness Week. During this time, doctors and clinicians volunteer time to offer free health and educational screenings at malls, hospitals, offices and local clinics. In addition to obtaining a free depression screening, participants can find out where and how to access help, counseling and treatment.

Depression is a mental condition in which people who are afflicted by it often suffer feelings of fatigue, sadness and hopelessness. The symptoms can be attributed to distressing or saddening memories, presently troublesome circumstances and daily stress issues.

Sometimes depression can also occur because of chemical and hormonal imbalances in the body. If left untreated, depression can lead to suicide.

Psychological help, counseling and medicine are often used to combat symptoms of depression, but there are many other options that don’t require clinical help. Exercising and sleeping more has proven to greatly decrease feelings of depression in a short amount of time.

Also, participating in multiple activities and interests contributes to self-esteem and happiness in people and greatly reduces the risk of clinical depression as a whole. Eating healthy foods and consuming less sugar and caffeine-related items reduces the chance for chemical imbalances, which can also lead to various forms of depression.

This year, the SMU Health Center opted to use an online screening program instead of face-to-face screenings. The online screening programs can be found on the SMU Health Center’s main Web site, and they include not only depression screenings but other tests for mental conditions such as bipolar disorder, eating disorder, alcohol Abuse, Generalized Anxiety and Post traumatic stress disorder. These screening tests can be accessed at any time.

The SMU Health Center offers counseling and testing for each of these afflictions and others. Counseling and psychiatric services are available to both part-time and full-time SMU students. All services are confidential and free.

The SMU counseling center can be found on the second floor of the Health Center, or you can visit their Web site at smu.edu/healthcenter/counseling.