Beck Depression Inventory Essay
Added on 2020-10-04
7 Pages2240 Words79 Views
Critically discuss the ethical andmethodological issues inherentin the assessment one of thefollo
Depression is an acute stage of mental disorder where the individual is in constantdepressed mood. There are various tools that are used by the doctors and psychiatrists toascertain the intensity of depression being faced by the individuals (Depression: Causes,symptoms, and treatments, 2017). The essay makes a comprehensive discussion on differentmeasures that can be used by the psychologists which are, Beck Depression Inventory andPatient Health Questionnaire 8 and 9 (PHQ – 8, 9). In order to make the understanding concretevarious advantages and disadvantages of these measures will be discussed in the essay.Depression is a metal health disorder there the individual feel persistently depressedmood and loss in the interest of activities. It causes severe impairment in the daily life activitiesof the individual. There are various psycho meters that are used by the doctors in order to assessthe intensity of depression (Norton and et.al., 2013). Some of the common symptoms ofdepression includes, constant depressed mood, insomnia, reduce in the interest of pleasureactivities, loss in the energy, feeling worthless or sense of guilt, recurrent thoughts of suicide etc.According to Wang and Gorenstein (2013), one of the important measure that is used by theresearchers for depression is Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). BDI was developed by Aaron TBeck. It is a 21 question multiple choice self report inventory which used as a psychometric testin order to measure the severity of depression. It is considered as a common measure ofdepression test where characteristic attitude and symptoms of depression are measured. In orderto assist its efficiency, a research was conducted in Finland which proved that the instrument isvalid enough in order to diagnose depression in people. There are two types of scales in BDIwhich are, affective and somatic. The affective scale consist of eight elements that are taken intoconsideration to assess the severity of depression. These sub scales are pessimism, past failures,guilt, feeling of being punished, self dislike, being critical on oneself, thoughts to commit suicideand worthlessness. However, in case of somatic scale there are thirteen core elements which are,sadness, loss of pleasure, agitated behaviour, loss of interest, incapability in decision making,loss of energy, change in the pattern of sleep, easily getting irritated, loss of appetite, difficulty inconcentration, tiredness or fatigue and loss of interest in sex. It is considered as an importantevent of psychiatry and psychology. It is considered as a competitive measure to assess theintensity of depression. However, in contrast to this, as per the views of Brouwer, Meijer andZevalkink (2013), the scores given by the individual can easily be exaggerated or can beminimized by the individual in completing the questionnaire issued to him. Further, there can be
adequate deviation in the results if the depression patient is asked to fill the form in social places.It can force him to tick the wrong answer. Further, the answers can also be deviated if theindividual is asked to fill the questionnaire in different situations such as in happy or depressedmood.According to Cooney, Dwan and Mead (2014), there are various studies that havereflected uniformed results regarding the output received from depression patients. A study wasconducted which revealed that there is a good reliability and validity of BDI which was assessedthrough clinical and non clinical samples both. It is an effective instrument to rate oneself andasses the intensity of depression. Another study was conducted in Korea where validity of themethod was assessed through ascertaining the depression in adolescent and adults. UsingCronbach's alpha, it was inferred that BDI is a reliable tool in order to measure the severity ofdepressive symptoms in Korean adolescents. Prevalence rate of the disease can be easilyassessed through this test. However, in contrast to this, as per the views of Bringmann and et.al.(2015), the method can only be used to assess the severity of the disease and hence can not beused as the diagnostic tool by the psychologists. Proper medical tests are required to assess thecondition because the state of mind can remain deviated due to suffering from other diseaserather than depression.According to Kung and et.al. (2013), the second measure that can be adopted for thepeople suffering from depression is Patient health Questionnaire 8 and 9. The method has beencopyrighted by Pfizer Inc. It is another type of method or screening test that is used to ascertainthe severity of the patients who are suffering from depression. The test is conducted underprimary care setting which consist of 9 questions ascertaining the depression scale. The tool iswidely adopted to diagnose the depression in patients. It is a short questionnaire and hence donot consume time of the patient. It only takes 3 minutes to complete the questionnaire if it is readand understood at medium speed by the reader. Doctors and other primary health centres use it asa diagnostic tool to make assessment of depression in the patients. The tool is ideal to calculatemood, anxiety level, alcohol intake, eating and somatoform disorder. There are various elementsthat can be assessed in the PHQ, there are, feeling of being depressed, change in sleep cycle,fluctuations in energy level, change in eating habits, self perception, ability to concentrate,change in speed of functioning things and thoughts of suicide.
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.
Related Documents
Impact of Yoga on Depression and Anxiety Symptoms among Womenlg...
|6
|1642
|242
Psychiatric Disorders: Types, Symptoms, and Treatmentlg...
|6
|2068
|4
Depression the Psychological Disorder Presentation 2022lg...
|10
|490
|21
Case Study of Mental Health and Physical Healthlg...
|14
|4050
|102
THE DEPRESSION DISORDERlg...
|7
|1433
|20
Postpartum Depression: Symptoms, Treatment, and Impactlg...
|9
|2857
|29