Measurement of depression and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Academic Article

abstract

• The validity of the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) as a measure of depressive symptomatology in schizophrenic patients is questionable since it was not developed for this purpose, nor has it been validated in a schizophrenic population. Accordingly, 80 schizophrenic inpatients were administered the HAM-D, the 18-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) at drug-free baseline and after 4 weeks of neuroleptic treatment. The findings revealed that the HAM-D total score was nonspecific, while individual HAM-D subfactors provided a better index of various symptom complexes. The HAM-D contained a depressive factor that correlated strongly with the BPRS depression factor and a negative symptom factor that correlated strongly with the SANS and the BPRS negative symptom factor. These findings suggest the need to utilize specific assessment techniques rather than global measures when assessing depression in schizophrenia.

authors

• Liberzon, Israel

published proceedings

• Psychopathology

author list (cited authors)

• Goldman, R. S., Tandon, R., Liberzon, I., & Greden, J. F.

citation count

• 45

complete list of authors

• Goldman, RS||Tandon, R||Liberzon, I||Greden, JF

publication date

• January 1992

publisher

• Karger Publishers  Publisher

published in

• Psychopathology  Journal

keywords

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Antipsychotic Agents
• Depression
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Mood Disorders
• Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
• Schizophrenia
• Schizophrenic Psychology

PubMed Central ID

• 1351305

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1159/000284753

start page

• 49

end page

• 56

volume

• 25

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000284753