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Rating scales for mood disorders: Applicability, Consistency and construct validity
Author(s) -
Bech Per
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1988.tb08567.x
Subject(s) - psychology , distress , rating scale , construct validity , clinical psychology , concurrent validity , melancholia , mania , mood , depression (economics) , psychometrics , scale (ratio) , bipolar disorder , anxiety , psychiatry , developmental psychology , internal consistency , physics , quantum mechanics , economics , macroeconomics
Rating scales for mood disorders have been reviewed with special reference to their consistency, applicability, and validity. Diagnostic scales with a biometric reference to antidepressants have been developed on the basis of the Newcastle Scales. This Diagnostic Melancholia Scale (DMS) includes two dimensions, one measuring endogenous depression, and one measuring reactive depression. These dimensions were found not to be mutually exclusive as 30% of the depressed patients scored high on both dimensions. Scales measuring outcomes of treatment were subdivided into (a) scales measuring disability of clinical depression (melancholia), anxiety, and mania, (b) scales measuring distress as a construct of sideeffects during treatment, and (c) scales measuring discomfort or quality of life. Disability, distress and discomfort should be separately validated as they reflect different aspects of outcome of treatment. Self‐rating scales have their main applicability in the measurement of discomfort.