Comparison of Depression Inventories in a Clinical Population

Abstract

Summary Using a general hospital psychiatric population (CN =158) the following psychometric measures of depression were assessed: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, D. Scale; Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression; Beck Inventory for Measuring Depression; Wechsler Depression Rating Scale; and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. The patients were grouped according to diagnoses in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM II): Depressive Neurosis; Severe Depression (Manic-Depressive, Depressed and Psychotic Depressive Reaction); Schizophrenia and Organic Brain Syndrome; Personality Disorder; and Neuroses other than Depressive (mainly anxiety). A group comprising those who attempted suicide was also formed from the above groups. All the measures correlated well with one another. Younger patients tended to score higher on the Zung SDS and the Beck. Females scored higher on the D Scale (MMPI) and males scored higher on the Beck. The group of suicidal patients were predominantly young females. The Hamilton and the D Scale differentiated the groups clinically. These two scales and the Wechsler may be the inventories of choice, expecially since the Hamilton and Wechsler have the advantage of being completed by a psychiatrist.

Postnatal depression - myth and reality: maternal depression before and after the birth of a child

“…It is for this reason that we have presented the data with multiple cut-offs. As we have found and as Schnurr et al (1976) and Condon and Corkindale (1997) have noted, the relationships between different self-report measures of depression are moderate to strong. None of these measures provides the equivalent of a clinical diagnosis.…”

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale: Screening for Depression Among the Hong Kong Chinese Elderly

“…Emptiness (18) .77 Hopelessness (14) .68 1.32) 1.48 (0.74) 2.22(1.13) 1.67 (1.1 1) 2.67(1.29) 1.47 (0.88) 1.73 (0.97) 1.44(0.68) 1.84 (0.99) 2.28 (1.17) 2.04(1.04) 1.59 (0.75) 3.25 (0.83) 1.33 (0.56) 1.92 (1.06) 3.26 (1.03 The reliability of the SDS short form was satisfactory (alpha coefficient = .89) and the correlation between the long and short forms was high (J. = .96, P < -01).…”

On the Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory

“…Hesselbrock et al [17] 250 alcoholics DSM-III 0.33 2 Davies et al [43] 72 depressed Hamilton-D 0.73 0.56 Bailey and Coppen [44] 42 depressed 0.68 Schnurr et al [14] 155 patients 0.61 Rounsville et al [22] 64 drug addicts 0.71 Steer et al [45] 105 alcoholics 0.86 Steer et al [46] 300 patients 0. [55] 170 students 0.64 Rholes et al [56] 104 students 0.73 Tanaka-Matsumi and Kameoka [32] 391 students 0.71…”

“…The validity in differentiating between patients with anxiety disorders and depressives cannot definitively be judged, since only a few studies on this issue have been carried out. [14] 155 patients 0.55 Blatt et al [15] 83 patients 0. 44 Harrell and Ryon [16] 114 patients 0.89 Hesselbrock et al [17] 250 drug abusers 0.59 Ross et al [18] 23 depressed patients 0.56…”

“…Seitz [19] 30 male depressives SDS 0.83 0.74 Mendels et al [13] 100 female patients 0.79 Schnurr et al [14] 155 patients 0.70 Reynolds and Gould [20] 32 heroin addicts 0.57 Blatt et al [15] 68 [38] 91 patients 0.65 Pichot [39] 19 patients 0.41 Seitz [19] 30 depressed 0.19 Lukesch [40] 60 patients 0.90 1 Rounsville et al [22] 64 drug addicts 0.60 Strober et al [41] 78 adolescents 0.67 Feinberg and Carroll [42] 97 endog. depr.…”