If one of your parents has had a mental illness, it's natural to wonder if you'll have it too. A recent analysis of over 33 studies with more than 7000 participants examined the chances that children will have a mental illness, such as depression, bipolar mood disorder, psychosis, if their parents had a severe mental illness too. 

The Stress Questionnaire measures two types of stress: stress as load and stress as worry. Stress as load is about the number of things you have to get done at any given time. The more you have to do, the greater your stress as load becomes. Stress as worry is about worrying how you will get everything done in time, and what others will think about it. In other words, if you worry about not being able to finish your tasks, failing at them, or that no one will like what you did then you have a lot of stress as worry.

Take this quiz once a month to track how your stress is changing. 

Answer: Thank you for your question. The short answer to your question is: Yes, you need to talk to your doctor as soon as possible. Although everyone can feel sad or "down" from time to time, what you are describing are the symptoms of clinical depression and are not likely to go away on their own.

People who are depressed typically experience some of the following nine symptoms...