Sex differences on the revised Beck Depression Inventory for outpatients with affective disorders

The revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to 174 male and 276 female psychiatric outpatients diagnosed with affective disorders. The mean BDI scores, mean number of symptoms claimed, and corrected item-total correlations were comparable for both sexes, and the coefficient alpha for each sex was .88. Principal components analyses found four dimensions of depression underlying both sexes' BDI item-intercorrelation matrices. Although men and women had comparable dimensions with respect to weight loss, self-blame, and somatic-performance symptoms, men had affective and performance symptoms loading on the same factor, whereas women had affective and cognitive symptoms loading on the same dimension.     

Use of the Beck Scale for suicide ideation with psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia,schizoaffective, or bipolar disorders

To ascertain how useful the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSI; Beck & Steer, Manual for Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (1991)) would be for assessing the severity of suicidal ideation in patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or bipolar disorders, 142 inpatients were asked to complete the BSI. Eight (6%) patients refused, and four patients (3%) were unable to complete the BSI because they were unable to concentrate. Of the 130 patients who completed the BSI, 53 (41%) had schizoaffective, 37 (28%) had paranoid schizophrenia, 30 (23%) had manic bipolar, and 10 (8%) had depressed bipolar disorders. The coefficient alpha for the BSI was .96, and its one-week test-retest reliability for a subsample of 15 inpatients was 0.88, p < 0.001. The BSI total scores were positively correlated with having ever attempted suicide, r = 0.46, p < 0.001. According to the BSI, 36 (28%) patients were classified as current suicide ideators. The results were discussed as supporting the use of the BSI with inpatients who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or bipolar disorders.     

Psychotherapie und Internet

Zusammenfassung  Die Außendarstellung im Internet ist wichtig und in der Zukunft unverzichtbar. Jedoch hat die Liberalisierung des Werberechts der freien Berufe keineswegs zur absoluten Schrankenlosigkeit geführt. Vielmehr sind die zu beachtenden Regeln auf verschiedene Gesetze und Rechtsgebiete verstreut, so dass ohne fachkundige Hilfe—etwa durch die Kammern oder durch juristische Beratung—die Selbstdarstellung im Internet schnell zu einem bösen Erwachen führen kann.

Factorial validity of the Conners' Parent Rating Scale-revised: short form with psychiatric outpatients

To assess the factorial validity of the 27-item Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised: Short Form (CPRS-R:S; Conners, 1997), 100 (50%) male and 100 (50%) female psychiatric outpatients between 5 and 16 years old were rated by a parent. A confirmatory factor analysis of the 18 item ratings from the CPRS-R:S Oppositional, Cognitive Problems, and Hyperactivity scales provided only tentative support for scoring these scales as Conners (1997) recommended. However, an exploratory principal-axis factor analysis with all 27 item ratings found 2 dimensions: 1 dimension was composed of the 6 items in the Oppositional scale, and other dimension contained the remaining 21 items. An attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Total Symptoms scale was constructed by summing the ratings for these 21 symptom ratings, and this scale was found to be as effective as the Hyperactivity scale was in discriminating between youth who were and were not eventually diagnosed with an ADHD. We discuss the results as providing an alternate way of scoring the CPRS-R:S to screen for an ADHD in child and adolescent psychiatric outpatients.     

Physiological hyperarousal: construct validity of a central aspect of the tripartite model of depression and anxiety.

Physiological hyperarousal (PH) is an understudied component of the tripartite model of depression and anxiety. This study contributes to the literature on PH, the tripartite model, and anxiety and its disorders, using data from psychotherapy outpatients (n = 2,448), air force cadets (n = 1,335), and undergraduates (n = 284). Psychometrics and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that PH is a reliable, cohesive, discriminable, and valid construct. Compared with subjective anxiety, PH was more associated to panic versus mood disordered status, and to panic versus generalized anxiety disordered status. As hypothesized, an aspect of anxiety sensitivity (i.e., fear of body sensations) was particularly related to subjective anxiety in the presence of PH. Results support the PH construct as replicable, valid, and clinically important and support the utility of the tripartite and related models for understanding the relation of depressive and anxious syndromes.     

Victimization and PTSD in a Faroese youth total-population sample

Petersen, T., Elklit, A. & Olesen, J. G. (2010). Victimization and PTSD in a Faroese youth total-population sample. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 56–62.
The prevalence of twenty traumatic events and negative life events in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in a Faroese total-population sample of 687 eighth-grade students with a mean age of 14.2 years. Ninety-four percent of the females and 89% of the males were directly exposed to or had witnessed at least one traumatic event or a negative life event. The odds ratios for PTSD after direct and indirect exposure to specific events are described. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 20%, whereas another 14% reached a subclinical level of PTSD. After exposure, females had PTSD more than twice as often as males. Being exposed to multiple traumatic events, living with a single parent, and having experienced a traumatic event or a negative life event within the last year were all associated with PTSD and its subscales.     

The actual and retrospective-occupational self-concept dimensions of retired educators

A 20-item adjective checklist was used by 118 retired educators to describe their actual and retrospective-occupational self-concepts. The men made their retrospective ratings for middle-aged and preretired occupational roles. The intercorrelations among the self-concept ratings were multiple-set factor analyzed, and seven common dimensions were identified: (1) stability, (2) conventionality, (3) independence, (4) practicality, (5) status, (6) confidence, and (7) cleverness. The results suggested that the retired educators had used the same dimensions in describing their actual and retrospective-occupational self-concepts. The percentages of variance contributed by the dimensions within the self-concept structures were also reported and discussed within the framework of career development.     

Relationships between the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression in depressed outpatients

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) were used with 300 outpatients diagnosed with DSM-III major depression disorders. A principal-components analysis was performed on the intercorrelations among the 21 BDI and 24 HRSD symptoms. Three orthogonal components were found and interpreted as reflecting differences in self-report and clinical rating methods for measuring the severity of depression. The importance of using both self-reports and clinical ratings for evaluating depression in psychiatric outpatients was discussed.     

Use of the Beck Depression Inventory-II with depressed geriatric inpatients

To provide information about the clinical utility of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) [Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996b). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation] with geriatric inpatients, the BDI-II was administered to 130 psychiatric inpatients who were 55 years old or above and who were diagnosed with principal DSM-IV major depressive disorders (MDD) (N = 85, 65%) or adjustment disorders with depressed mood (N = 45, 35%). The internal consistency of the BDI-II was high (coefficient alpha = 0.90), and its total score was not significantly related to sex, age, or ethnicity. An iterated maximum-likelihood factor analysis found the Cognitive and Noncognitive dimensions which have been reported for the BDI-II by Steer and co-workers (Steer R.A., Ball R., Ranieri W.F., & Beck A.T. (1999). Dimensions of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in clinically depressed outpatients. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 55, 117-128) in a younger sample of clinically depressed psychiatric outpatients. The mean BDI-II total score of the 85 geriatric inpatients with MDD was also comparable to that of 42 younger (< or = 54 years old) inpatients with MDD. The results were discussed as supporting the use of the BDI-II with clinically depressed geriatric inpatients.