F2F Class Notes (Raph)[R]

Vocabulary

Depression (n): 1- a mental illness in which a person is very unhappy and anxious (= worried and nervous) for long periods and cannot have a normal life during these periods.
E.g.: Tiredness, loss of appetite, and sleeping problems are all classic symptoms of depression.
E.g.: If you suffer from depression, it’s best to get professional help.

Hormone (n): 1- any of various chemicals made by living cells that influence the development, growth, sex, etc. of an animal and are carried around the body in the blood.
E.g.: Her doctor said the problem was caused by hormone imbalance.

Onset (n): 1- the moment at which something unpleasant begins.
E.g.: The new treatment can delay the onset of the disease by several years.

Puberty (n): 1- the stage in people’s lives when they develop from a child into an adult because of changes in their body that make them able to have children.
E.g.: At puberty, pubic hair develops and girls begin to menstruate.

Side effect (n): 1- an unpleasant effect of a drug that happens in addition to the main effect.
E.g.: Does this drug have any side effects.

Google Will Check To See if You Are Depressed
(Source: breakingnewsenglish.com/1708/170826-depression.html)

The search engine Google will soon start a service that lets people check their mental health online. People searching for “depression” on Google’s search page will get a link to a questionnaire along with their search result. The questionnaire will check to see if you could be suffering from depression. There are nine questions on the self-assessment. Google has partnered with America’s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on the project. A NAMI spokesperson said Google users can take the private questionnaire to help them find out how depressed they are. He said this could help people decide if they need to see a doctor. The questionnaire will initially only be available for Internet users in the USA.

Google’s blog said the questionnaire could help people get treatment for depression more quickly. It said: “Statistics show that those who have symptoms of depression experience an average of a six- to eight-year delay in getting treatment after the onset of symptoms. We believe that awareness of depression can help empower and educate you, enabling quicker access to treatment.” However, Dr Aaron Balick, an expert on how websites can help people, said Google’s questionnaire was the same as reading any online information about depression. He told the BBC: “A better approach would be…offering [people] resources and a direct line – perhaps a chat box – to local psychological services.”

Grammar

I go to Okinawa. – I went to Okinawa.

Pronunciation

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