Science Self-screening urine test for depression and other mental illness developed in Japan

Self-screening urine test for depression and other mental illness developed in Japan​

Although progress is being made, mental illness still carries a stigma in Japan, making it harder for many people to seek the help they need. It’s especially a problem among the older generation, but when the bulk of the population is elderly, it becomes everyone’s problem.

Luckily, one potential solution has arrived in a test kit developed by Cellspect, a medical equipment supplier in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. From late August, these kits will be made available online and at drugs stores in the six prefectures of the Tohoku region (Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata) for between 3,000 and 4,000 yen each.

Those who purchase the test must first collect a urine sample and then submit it either by mail or directly at participating drug stores. The urine will then be analyzed to assess the owner’s risk factors for mental illnesses such as depression and the results can be sent directly to their smartphone.

It’s important to note that these tests do not diagnose mental illness but instead gauge a person’s potential for developing one. If a high risk is found, then that person should seek a professional diagnosis to know if they are currently suffering from such an illness or what steps they should take to prevent it in the future.

Urine tests to detect mental illness symptoms themselves are not new and are somewhat controversial as to their effectiveness. However, as a discreet way for people take that first step into examining their own mental health, these self screen kits could make a significant difference in Japan.

Some readers of the news were also tempted to try one, despite being confused about how it works.

“Why don’t they do that with the urine test at my annual physical?”

“I kind of want to try this…”

“Companies should just install these kits directly in their toilets.”

“Huh, this could be good.”

“They can do that with urine?”

“Isn’t it just a test for anti-depressant drugs?”

“Is depression such a thing? I didn’t think you could detect mental things with urine, but if a medical supply company can do it, I guess it is possible.”

Some of the confusion displayed in the comments show how mental illness is often misunderstood as not even a medical problem, making proper treatment that much more difficult. This uncertainty combined with a sense of embarrassment would often have people resort to self-diagnosing online among all its misinformation.

This new kit gives that same sense of privacy but from a more reliable source that can also help people get on the right track to proper mental health. It may not change the world, but every little bit counts.

Source: Saga Shimbun, Otaku.com

 

[totallyrandomusername]

These seems like a scam. The metabolome related to depression is just starting to be understood. It will be at least 5-10 years before there is even a test like this is pre-clinical trials.

 

[NekoRightsActivist]

Soon this will spread to the whole world. Time for exposure, kiwifarm autists who previously managed to went under radar.

 

[Billy Beer]

This just detects the amount of soy in your system, the higher it is, the more depressed you are.

 

[Mr. Skeltal]

You know it's bad when your piss is depressed.

 

[Mealy Mouth Spittle]

If this becomes a thing, will employers still be able to ask you to pee in a cup to check for drugs if they could also find out your mental health status?

 

[XANA]

If this becomes a thing, will employers still be able to ask you to pee in a cup to check for drugs if they could also find out your mental health status?

It's Japan, so probably.... Although given the state of their country and how Japan refuses to change despite people being crushed by salarymen work culture or isolating themselves as hikikomoris, just about every young person would be flagged positive.

I'm not sure how true this is, but I remember a casual one-on-one interview video with a salaryman by Paolo from Toyko describing that salarymen are expected to stay with the same company for just about most of not all of their life. How depressing.

 

[Calculus]

I'm not sure how true this is, but I remember a casual one-on-one interview video with a salaryman by Paolo from Toyko describing that salarymen are expected to stay with the same company for just about most of not all of their life. How depressing.

Yes, young people get recruited before they graduate without actually knowing what they will be doing in the company and then are expected to stay for life. The companies never fire people and instead just make people they don't like work in unbearable conditions to pressure them to quit (which they won't) or at best give them a window seat with no work. Seniority is decided by age. People mostly only socialise with the group who joined the company at the same time as them. It's common to marry someone from the same company due to lack of socialising elsewhere due to long hours it being frowned upon to ever take time off. Basically the company is your life and must come first.

 

[PFM]

It's the Covid PCR test but for depression. They saw an opportunity to capitalize on bunk tests

 

[Jewthulhu]

I remember looking into urine-based NT assays and I can say pretty confidently that they are basically a scam; or at the very least built on faulty science. TLDR they can only measure the metabolites of the brain neurotransmitters, but the metabolites of neurotransmitters are often the same as the metabolites of the amino acids they're based on.

 

[moocow]

Damn, that has to suck. You're feeling like garbage already, so you take an in-home test to see if you might be depressed. It says you are. Well great, now you feel even worse.

[Motivation to seek outside help reduced by half]

 

[LordofTendons]

Imagine when they start giving you pee tests for depression at work.

 

[Calandrino]

I thought they were saying that depression was developed in Japan. Like it escaped from their experimental mental illness lab or something. I could see that.

I suspect this is a trick to get girls to pee on things and mail them to you.