Distributed in Several Different Ways in Order

¶ … distributed in several different ways in order to reach a larger population sample and therefore provide more insight into the topic of childhood depression. The first way in which the surveys will be distributed is through participating community programs. These programs provide both individual and group counseling and therapy to teenagers and adults who are likely to have suffered from childhood depression. Many of the participants in the community therapy programs are survivors of childhood abuse, trauma, illness, or other factors which would predisposition them to having experienced childhood depression. Additionally, support groups online -- which can be found in the form of Yahoo! Groups, MSN Communities, Livejournal Communities, Myspace Groups, and many other newsgroups, chat rooms, mailing lists, and message boards -- will be utilized. Messages will be posted after obtaining permission from the group moderators announcing the need for participants in this study. Individuals interested in participating will then obtain a copy of the survey questions from the community center or monitor of the online group.

The participants in this proposed study will include child, adult, and adolescent patients that have received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and patients that have not received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, but do exhibit symptoms. These patients which have not been diagnosed but do exhibit symptoms may be recovering from MDD and have symptoms lessening in severity, may be predisposed to MDD and have symptoms increasing in severity, or may be sufficiently affected that an evaluation by another professional would in fact give a positive diagnosis of MDD. Additionally, there will be participants that have not sought a diagnosis at all, and may or may not qualify as having major depressive disorder if examined by a professional. These participants may exhibit some symptoms that are consistent with a manifestation of MDD, however without a professional evaluation it is not possible to determine if these participants do in fact suffer from this disorder.

There will be two parts to the survey used in this study. Part one of the survey will be an overview of the current symptoms and mental/emotional state of the participant. This will include questions about current treatments, diagnoses, life situations, and other variables relating to the present. This part of the survey will be conducted by all participating age groups. However, the second part of the survey will only be completed by adolescent and adult participants. The second part of the survey will include retrospective questions about the individual's childhood experiences with causal factors, predispositioning factors, and correlative factors of childhood depression. Additionally, it will have questions relating to the symptoms and manifestations of depression experienced as a child, the treatments and medications used for childhood depression, and the reactions of others to the depressive symptoms. From this combination of focusing on both the present condition and the past history of the respondents, a greater understanding of the impact of childhood depression will be accomplished.

There will be several formats used for the questions in the survey. The first format used will utilize a Likert scale method. The second format will consist of simple "True" or "False" responses to statements. The third format will present a number of multiple choice answers, and the respondent will choose the answer that is closest to accurate in the particular situation, or choose the "None of the above" response for the questions that include this. Finally, there will be several free-form written responses that will allow the participant to respond without being confined by the limitations of multiple-choice answers. The free-form responses will be sorted into broad categories, and organized for the purpose of reference and data analysis.