Some days you can name it and some days you just feel worn thin, but the low mood has outstayed its welcome either way. Perhaps your child has grown withdrawn and easily frustrated, or you are wondering whether this is more than a hard season. Our Depression Evaluations in Elm Grove, WI are designed to identify what is genuinely behind the low mood, and getting sarted requires no referral.
Each evaluation begins by establishing a baseline of cognitive and executive function, and from that footing we tailor the assessment to your concern, adding the mood and emotional measures that fit. The same licensed psychologist guides every stage, and since low mood so often has company, we screen carefully for the related conditions that tend to overlap.
Depression in children often wears the mask of irritability rather than obvious sadness. You may see a child who no longer reaches for favorite activities, whose sleep or appetite has shifted, who mentions frequent aches, who keeps to themselves, and whose grades have begun to fall.
In a teen, the signs can be a persistently low or irritable mood and a retreat from friendships and interests. Look for a fatigue that lingers no matter how much they rest, changes in sleep and eating, hopelessness in how they talk, and grades that have quietly declined.
As an adult, you might recognize a low mood that will not lift and a dwindling interest in things you once looked forward to. There may be constant tiredness, disrupted sleep and appetite, trouble concentrating, and the heavy feeling of merely getting through each day.
Everything starts with a one hour interview in which your psychologist builds a careful history, moving from your earliest experiences to the state of your mood, energy, and daily functioning today. This groundwork helps set depression apart from conditions that can present the same way, and it points toward the assessments that will be most revealing.
Your psychologist assembles a battery of mood and psychological assessments suited to you. Expect roughly 2 to 6 hours of in person testing across one or two days, along with self report questionnaires to complete at home and an optional one for someone close to you. If other conditions such as anxiety, ADHD, or bipolar disorder emerge, we screen for them as well.
The testing data, clinical observations, and questionnaire results are compiled into a full diagnostic report. Differential diagnosis anchors the work here, as your psychologist considers whether depression, another condition, or a combination of the two best explains your experience, and documents anything occurring alongside it.
Around two to three weeks afterward, you return for a feedback session. Your psychologist talks you through the diagnosis and provides individualized recommendations, spanning evidence based therapy options, lifestyle strategies, medication guidance where it fits, and next steps that reflect your particular needs.
You will not. A referral is never required at Core Spring Diagnostics. You are free to get in touch with us directly, for whatever reason brings you here.
The evaluation combines a clinical interview with a cognitive and executive function baseline, mood and emotional measures, and screening for related concerns like anxiety, trauma, and bipolar patterns, all overseen by a single psychologist.
A brief screening merely signals that a concern exists. A full evaluation uncovers what is truly happening, rules out the conditions that look like depression, and equips you with individualized recommendations to act on.
Absolutely. We work with children, teens, and adults, tailoring the approach to each developmental stage.
You will have a plain-language report and a feedback session that delivers individualized recommendations and a clear direction toward support.
Give us a call at (414) 387-2100 and we will arrange a time that fits your schedule, with no referral to gather first.
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