Rating Scales for Measurement-Based Clinical Practice of Depression

Yoon, Seo Young; Lim, Jae Hyung; Han, Changsu

Abstract

The goal of treatment for depression is remission, but many patients do not achieve complete remission, and few reach sustained remission. This article aims to introduce depression rating scales and to encourage using these scales for objective and accurate assessment of depressive symptoms. There are various depression rating scales which can be categorized into the observer-rated scales and the self-report scales; The observer-rated scales include Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale and the self-report scales include Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), BDI-II, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), GDS-15. Validated and standardized self-report scales such as BDI-II, PHQ-9 are cost-effective and useful when assessing many patients in limited time in daily clinic. Assessment of anxiety, somatic symptoms, drug adherence and using Clinical Global Impression Scale might be useful for the improvement of the depression care in the clinic.