C 2002 Wadsworth Group. Wadsworth is an imprint of the Wadsworth Group, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.

SELF-RATING DEPRESSION SCALE

Purpose: To give students an indication of how they score on a depression scale.

Directions:This is an individual assignment to be completed outside of class. For each question, choose the answer that best applies to your beliefs. Please answer questions to best of your ability. There are no correct answers on this assignment so the instructor will not read your specific answers but will evaluate whether you completed the assignment in atimely manner in order to assign points. Please score this assignment before submitting it.

Below is a list of ways that you might have felt or behaved. Please mark the column that best describes you.

N/L = None or a Little of the time

S = Some of the time

GP- Good Part of the time

M/A = Most or All of the time

N/LSGPM/A

  1. I feel downhearted, blue, and sad.______
  2. Morning is when I feel the best.______
  3. I have crying spells or feel like it.______
  4. I have trouble sleeping through the night.______
  5. I eat as much as I used to.______
  6. I enjoy looking at, talking to, & being with attractive ______

men/women

  1. I notice that I am losing weight.______
  2. I have trouble with constipation.______
  3. My heart beats faster than usual.______
  4. I get tired for no reason.______
  5. My mind is as clear as it used to be.______
  6. I find it easy to do things I used to do.______
  7. I am restless and can’t keep still.______
  8. I feel hopeful about the future.______
  9. I am more irritable than usual.______
  10. I find it easy to make decisions.______
  11. I feel that I am useful and needed.______
  12. My life is pretty full.______
  13. I feel that others would be better off if I were dead.______
  14. I still enjoy the things I used to do.______

SCORING SELF-ASSESSMENT OF DEPRESSION

Assessing depression is very important because of the strong link between depression and suicide. It is estimated that 80% of suicidal patients are depressed. According to Durand & Barstow (2000), as many as 60% of suicides are associated with a mood disorder (up to 75% for adolescent suicides).

Zung (1965) developed the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) to measure both the typical mood and feelings associated with depression and the biological factors that accompany it (e.g. loss of libido, psychomotor retardation, and sleep/appetite disturbances). The SDS has been found to be both reliable and valid.

Score N/L=1, S=2, GP=3, & M/A=4 to the following items: 1, 3, 4, 7-10, 13, 15, & 19. Score the remaining items in reverse order. The SDS is scored by adding the sum of the raw scores on individual items. The resulting scores should fall between 20 & 80. Zung (1965) reported that a group of 31 depressive patients had a mean score of 59, with a range from 50-72. A control group of 100 people had a mean score of 26, with a range from 20-34.