The Bech‐Rafaelsen Mania Scale and the Hamilton Depression Scale

Abstract

In a study of 18 patients with manic symptomatology and 31 patients with melancholic symptomatology the Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale (BRMS) and the Hamilton Depression Scale (HDS) have been compared. The results showed that the inter-observer reliability of the BRMS was adequate compared with the HDS. Both scales are constructed for assessing the severity of manic or melancholic states, and no difference was found in the total BRMS or HDS score between the various diagnostic groups, when the patients were classified by an index of the course and symptomatology otive disorder, using the Multi-axial Classificetion System for Affective Disorders (MULTI-CLAD). The homogeneity of the BRMS seemed more adequate than that of the HDS, when each item was correlated to the corresponding total score. Although the homogeneity of the BRMS needs to be evaluated by other statistical models than correlation analysis, our results seem to indicate that the improvement in assessing manic-melancholic states quantitatively is a matter of redefining items or incorporating new items in the melancholic rather than the manic part of these rating scales.

Elevated ambitions for fame among persons diagnosed with bipolar I disorder.

“…The Bech-Rafaelson Mania Scale (BRMS; Bech, Bolwig, Kramp, & Rafaelsen, 1979) was used to assess the severity of manic symptoms. This 11-item interview-based measure assesses the severity of manic symptoms such as elevated mood, decreased need for sleep, increased verbal activity, increased motor activity, flight of thoughts, and increased sexual interest.…”

Greater Cortical Gray Matter Density in Lithium-Treated Patients with Bipolar Disorder

“…The inclusion criteria were a DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar disorder, subtype I or II, as determined by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV) (First et al 1998), in any mood state, age between 18 and 65 years, and no lithium treatment for at least 1 month at the time of the MRI scan (for the untreated group) or receiving lithium for at least 2 weeks for the lithium-treated group. The Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale (Bech et al 1979) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (25-item version) (HDRS) (Hamilton 1960) were used to rate clinical symptoms and were administered within 1 week of the scan. All subjects had normal physical examination results and no history of neurologic problems.…”

Association between illicit drug and alcohol use and first manic episode

“…It has been a gold standard for the assessment of depression for more than 40 years (see Hedlund et al 1979 for a review of its psychometric properties). The Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale is an 11-item scale that evaluates symptoms of mania and hypomania such as elevated mood, pressure of speech, increased social contact, increased motor activity, sleep disturbances, social activities and distractibility, hostility and irritability, and increased sexual activity (Bech et al, 1979). The inter-observer reliability of this scale has been found to be high in a number of studies conducted in various countries.…”

“…Presence of an affective episode was confirmed at study entry and at point of recurrence using the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC; Spitzer et al, 1978) for all study subjects. Severity of index episode was determined using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS; Hamilton, 1960) for depression and the Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale (BRMS; Bech et al, 1979) for mania or mixed episodes. The HDRS is a 17-item rating scale that assesses mood, vegetative and cognitive symptoms of depression, as well as comorbid anxiety symptoms (Hamilton, 1960).…”