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im0ftheuniverse 
2:37pm, October 11, 2009
Tuesday my dad drove me to Oakland. The parking was paid for by the study team ($13.00!!!)! We arrived just before noon. We left around 3pm, maybe a bit later.
The woman from the phone was the one to do most of the interviewing for the evaluation. She gave me this huge booklet thing and we went over every single page describing the entire process and everything, initialed and signed and dated all of that.
She explained a few other options, too, including a separate study for DNA and gene testing (is there a depression gene?) and also for videotaping the session. The videotape is an educational tool to show those who are conducting the study good ways to complete the interview and ways to ask questions and such. I think. Anyways, I said, sure- why not. So she asked me EVERY question, even the ones she said she knew did not apply to me, for the sake of the video... things like are you hallucinating and do you think you have superpowers... It was fun. Also her pen was flying and marking things down way faster than I was giving my answers. It was hilariously cool.
She also asked me about my mood and such in the past 7 days. Also about my sleeping patterns. We did the most thorough history of my depression episodes evar...... beginning with being 15 years old the summer before 10th grade, then junior year before Tommy died, then some mild episodes in college, then the semester I fought with my roommate and things were pretty bad, then when I came home from France and things were TERRIBLE, then senior year where all my friends left me and I was swamped but still did okay, then the job hunt, then the migraines and the medications... and then going to the hospital, seeing new doctors, and finally stopping the drugs. FIOU!!!! Finally up to date.
She also did some other tests, to be sure I was right-handed, measured around my shoulders witih my arms folded up to be sure I would fit inside the machine, and a vision test to be sure I would be able to see the pictures in the study. One really hard part for me was she asked me to go backwards from 100 in increments of 7. I hate math! That's why we have calculators! WTF. I did just fine. Also I pronounced all these words on a sheet of paper... almost all of the words had silent letters and tricks to them, and actually many were derived from French words (or flat out were French but Anglophones use them sometimes). I nailed the whole thing... Yay I can read! ...Also I peed in a cup, so they can make sure I'm not drinking excessively or taking drugs.
I also did several questionnaires that asked a lot more detail about how I feel when I'm good and how I feel when I'm depressed, my sleep habits in meticulous detail, yada yada.
My dad through all this time just kind of walked around Oakland.. it actually sounded like he had a blast!! He was amazed at some Indian food buffet restaurant.... that man and his buffets.... CRAZY.
SOOOOOOOO it turns out that I'm depressed enough to participate. The study is going to analyze something like 40 people who are depressed, 40 who are bipolar, and 80 who are 'normal' or something. I'm so lucky to be in this thing!!
I received a payment card that you can use as a debit card or cash out at one of a few banks. It will come in handy for Christmas gifts... which I still have to get..............
ANYWAYS! YEAH!! w00h00! I get to have my brain scanned!! It's going to be for a couple of hours, at some hospital in the area -- not the same place as the questions, and I will get paid again. It's scheduled for 10am Friday December 19. That means I have to get my lazy ass out of bed! AHhhh!
It's worth it even if they don't discover anything right away. There is just SO much to learn about the brain!
Yay, science.
