Beck Depression Inventory Health Article

Definition

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a series of questions developed to measure the intensity, severity, and depth of depression in patients with psychiatric diagnoses. Its long form is composed of 21 questions, each designed to assess a specific symptom common among people with depression. A shorter form is composed of seven questions and is designed for administration by primary care providers. Aaron T. Beck, a pioneer in cognitive therapy, first designed the BDI.

Purpose

The BDI was originally developed to detect, assess, and monitor changes in depressive symptoms among people in a mental health care setting. It is also used to detect depressive symptoms in a primary care setting. The BDI usually takes between five and ten minutes to complete as part of a psychological or medical examination.

Precautions

The BDI is designed for use by trained professionals. While it should be administered by a knowledgeable mental health professional who is trained in its use and interpretation, it is often self-administered.

Description

The BDI was developed in 1961, adapted in 1969, and copyrighted in 1979. A second version of the inventory (BDI-II) was developed to reflect revisions in the Fourth Edition Text Revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, a handbook that mental health professionals use to diagnose mental disorders).

The long form of the BDI is composed of 21 questions or items, each with four possible responses. Each response is assigned a score ranging from zero to three, indicating the severity of the symptom. A version designed for use by primary care providers (BDI-PC) is composed of seven self-reported items, each correlating to a symptom of major depressive disorder experienced over the preceding two weeks.

Individual questions of the BDI assess mood, pessimism, sense of failure, self-dissatisfaction, guilt, punishment, self-dislike, self-accusation, suicidal ideas, crying, irritability, social withdrawal, body image, work difficulties, insomnia, fatigue, appetite, weight loss, bodily preoccupation, and loss of libido. Items 1 to 13 assess symptoms that are psychological in nature, while items 14 to 21 assess more physical symptoms.