Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:56:30.836Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What Do Depression Rating Scales Measure?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Philip Snaith
Philip Snaith*
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, St James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A large number of rating scales have been devised to assess the clinical construct of ‘depression’. These scales have been universally used in research with little consideration of their content, or how they relate to accepted definitions of depressive disorder. The scales are often arbitrarily selected and used for the study on the assumption that all measure the same construct. The item analysis of a number of the most widely used depression scales reveals a variation in the areas of psychopathology they cover; some scales place greater emphasis upon the assessment of anxiety than upon depressed mood. Since disturbance in neurobiological systems is manifest by specific aspects of affective and behavioural malfunction, and since psychodynamic factors lead to particular cognitive sets, the advancement of research will depend upon the construction and validation of more refined measures than are provided by the present approach.

Type
Review Articles
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 293 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Bech, P., Gram, L. F., Dein, E., et al (1975) Quantitative rating of depressive states. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 51, 161–170.Google Scholar
Bech, P., Gram, L. F., Dein, E., & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1980) The use of rating scales exemplified by a comparison of the Hamilton and the Bech-Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 62 (suppl. 285), 128–131.Google Scholar
Bech, P., Gram, L. F., Dein, E., & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1986) The Melancholia Scale: development consistency, validity and utility. In Assessment of Depression (eds Sartorius, N. & Ban, T. A.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bech, P., Gram, L. F., Dein, E., & Rafaelsen, O. J., Allerup, P. Gram, L., et al (1981) The Hamilton Depression Scale: evaluation of objectivity using logistic models. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 63, 290–299.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., et al (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Weissman, A., Lester, D., et al (1974) The measurement of pessimism: the hopelessness scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 41, 861–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birley, J. L. T. (1990) DSM-III; from left to right or from right to left? British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 116–118.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J., Fielding, J. M. & Blashki, T. G. (1973) Depression rating scales. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 361–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carroll, B. J., Fielding, J. M. & Blashki, T. G., Feinberg, M., Smouse, P. E., et al (1981) The Carroll Rating Scale for Depression (CRS). British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 194–200.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J. & Fairburn, C. G. (1986) The depressive symptoms of bulimia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 268–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, C. G. (1992) Research on symptoms versus research on syndromes. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 304–308.Google Scholar
Cox, J. L., Holden, J. M. & Sagovsky, R. (1987) Detection of postnatal depression: development of the 10-item Edinburgh postnatal depression scale. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 782–786.Google Scholar
Cronholm, M. B. & Ottosson, J. O. (1960) Experimental studies of the therapeutic action of electroconvulsive therapy in endogenous depression. Acta Psychiatrica Neurologica Scandinavica, 35 (suppl. 145), 69–101.Google Scholar
Derogatis, L. R., Lipman, R. S. & Covi, L. (1973) The SCL-90: an out-patient psychiatric rating scale. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 9, 13–28.Google Scholar
Endicott, J. & Spitzer, R. L. (1978) The diagnostic interview: the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS). Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 837–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Robbins, E., Guze, S. B., et al (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 57–63.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–296.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. & White, J. M. (1959) Clinical syndromes in depressive states. Journal of Mental Science, 105, 985–998.Google Scholar
Hedlund, J. L. & Vieweg, B. W. (1980) The Brief Psychiatric Rating scale: a comprehensive review. Journal of Operational Psychiatry, 11, 48–65.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A. E. & Petti, T. A. (1982) Self-report and interview measures of childhood and adolescent depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23, 437–457.Google Scholar
Katz, M. M., Koslow, S. H., Berman, N., et al (1984) A multiadvantaged approach to measurement of behavioural and affect states for clinical and psychobiological research. Psychological Reports, 55, 619–671.Google Scholar
Lingjaerde, O. (1986) Standardised instruments used in the assessment of depression in Scandinavian countries. In Assessment of Depression (eds Sartorius, N. & Ban, T. A.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Lipman, R. S. (1986) Depression scales derived from the Hopkins symptom checklist. In Assessment of Depression (eds Sartorius, N. & Ban, T. A.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Marsella, A. J., Hirschfeld, R. M. A. & Katz, M. M. (1987) The Measurement of Depression. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Meyer, A. (1905) Discussant in the classification of melancholias. Journal of Nervous And Mental Disease, 32, 112–117.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. A. & Asberg, M. A. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 382–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Overall, J. E. & Gorham, D. R. (1962) The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Psychological Reports, 10, 799–812.Google Scholar
Rabkin, J. G. & Klein, D. F. (1987) The clinical measurement of depressive disorders. In The Measurement of Depression (eds Marsella, A. J., Hirschfeld, R. M. A. & Katz, M.), pp. 30–83. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rehm, L. P. (1988) Assessment of depression. In Behavioural Assessment: Practical Handbook (3rd edn) (eds Bellack, A. S. & Hersen, M.). New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Radloff, L. S. (1977) The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurements, 1, 385–401.Google Scholar
Sartorius, R. P. (1987) The concepts of mild depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 387–393.Google Scholar
Sartorius, R. P., Constantopoulos, A. A., Jardine, M., et al (1978) A clinical scale for self-assessment of irritability, anxiety, and depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 164–171.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robbins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–782.Google Scholar
Thase, M. E., Hersen, M., Bellack, A. S., et al (1983) Validation of a Hamilton subscale for endogenomorphic depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 5, 267–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Praag, H. M. (1990) The DSM-IV (depression) classification: to be or not to be? Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 178, 147–149.Google Scholar
van Praag, H. M. (1992) Reconquest of the subjective: against the waning of psychiatric diagnosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 266–271.Google Scholar
von Zerssen, D. (1986) Clinical self-rating scales of the Munich Psychiatric Information System (PSYCHIS München). In Assessment of Depression (eds Sartorius, N. & Ban, T. A.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Diseases. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Yesavage, J. R., Rose, T. L. & Lum, O. (1983) Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 17, 37–49.Google Scholar
Zigmond, A. S. & Snaith, R. P. (1983) The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, M. (1983) Self-report depression scales. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 1035.Google Scholar
Zitman, F. G., Mennen, M. F. G., Greiz, E., et al (1990) Different versions of the Hamilton Depression Scale. In The Hamilton Scales (eds Beech, P. & Coppen, A.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K. (1965) A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 63–70.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.