Assessment of depression: comparison between Beck Depression Inventory and subscales of Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-rating and therapist rating in nonpsychotic patients with unipolar depressive disorders. We also wanted to find out whether the presence of personality disorders would influence the results. At admission and discharge 117 patients filled in the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and were rated by a therapist on the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS). Based on the CPRS-scores, two indices of depression were calculated: CPRS-dep and Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Sixty-three patients had DSM-III-R major depression, 30 had dysthymic disorder, while 24 had no depressive disorder. Eighty suffered from one or more personality disorders, mostly within cluster C. The self rating (BDI) and therapist ratings (CPRS-dep and MADRS) were strongly intercorrelated, with a nonsignificant tendency for weaker correlations in patients with personality disorders. All scales were useful to separate depressed from non-depressed, and to discriminate between major depression and dysthymic disorder, with a tendency in favour of BDI. As cut-off scores for major depression we recommend the sum score of 23 on the BDI, and mean scores of 1 on CPRS-dep and 1.1 on MADRS on a 0-3 scale. When these values are used, 70-79% of patients are correctly classified.

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