BECK INVENTORY TO ASSESS DEPRESSION

Several groups of statements appear in this questionnaire. Please read each of them
carefully. Below, indicate which of the statements from each group best describes your
feelings during the last week, INCLUDING TODAY. THERE ARE NOT RIGHT OR
WRONG ANSWERS. Remember that your answers are confidential, so please answer
freely.

Birthdate: .......................................... Age: ..................................... Sex: (F) (M)

Civil status: Single ( ) Married ( ) Cohabiting ( ) Divorced ( )
Degree of instruction: Primary ( ) Secondary ( ) University ( ) Technical ( )
Occupation: .............................. Place of origin: Lime ( ) Province ( )

A. 0 I don't feel sad.

1 I feel reluctance or sadness
2nd I always feel reluctance or sadness and I can't do it remedy
2b I'm so sad and I feel so miserable that I suffer a lot
3 I'm so sad and I feel so miserable that I can not stand further

B. 0 I am not particularly pessimistic nor do I feel very discouraged with

regarding the future
1st I feel discouraged about the future
2nd I feel like I don't have to wait any longer
2b I feel like I will never be free of my sorrows and worries.
3 I feel that my future is hopeless and that my situation will not improve
C. 0 I don't feel like a failure
1 I feel more like a failure than other people.
2nd I feel like I have done very few things in life that are worthwhile.
2b If I think about my past life I see that I have only had failures
3 I feel like he has completely failed as a person (father, husband, wife).

D. 0 I'm not particularly unhappy

1st I almost always feel bored
1B I don't enjoy things like before
2 There is nothing at all that gives me satisfaction
3 I am dissatisfied with everything

E. 0 I don't feel particularly guilty

1 Most of the time I feel bad or unworthy
2nd I feel guilty
2b I feel bad or unworthy practically all the time
3 I consider that I am bad, that I do everything very badly and that I am absolutely
worthless.
nothing

F. 0 I don't feel like I'm being punished

1 I have the feeling that something bad may happen to me
2 I feel like I am being punished or that I am going to be punished
3rd I feel like I deserve to be punished
3b I wish to be punished

G. 0 I'm not dissatisfied with myself

1st I'm unhappy with myself
1B I don't like myself
2 I can't stand myself
3 I hate myself
H. 0 I don't feel worse than others
1 I take into account my own faults and my own defects
2 I blame myself for everything that doesn't go well
3 I have the impression that my defects are many and very big

I. 0 I do not think, nor does it occur to me, to harm myself.

1 Sometimes itIt occurs to me that I could take my life,but not could do it
2nd I feel that dead would be better
2b I feel that my family would be better off if I were theredead
3rd I have definite plans to commit suicide
3b If I could, I would kill myself

J. 0 I don't cry more than usual

1 Now I cry more than I cried before
2 I spend all my time crying and I can't stop doing it.
3 Now I can't cry anymore, even if I wanted to like I did before.

K. 0 I don't feel more irritated than usual

1 I get angry or irritated more easily than before
2 I am constantly irritated
3 Now even the things I used to get angry about don't irritate me anymore.

L. 0 I have not lost interest in others

1 Now I'm less interested in everything else than before.
2 I have almost completely lost interest in others and have little sympathy for them.
others
3 Others don't interest me at all and everyone is completely uninteresting to me.
indifferent

M. 0 I have the same facility as before to make decisions

1 Now I struggle to make decisions
2 I have great difficulty deciding
3 I feel incapable of making decisions of any kind

N. 0 I don't have the impression that I look worse than usual.

1 I fear that my appearance will make a bad impression or that I will appear old.
2 I have the impression that I look worse and worse
3 I have the impression that my appearance is ugly, unpleasant and repulsive

O. 0 I work with the same ease as always

1st Now it costs me more effort than before to get to work
1B I don't work as well as before
2 I have to make a great effort
3 I feel unable to do any job, no matter how small.

P. 0 I sleep as well as before

1 In the mornings I wake up more tired than usual
2 I wake up an hour or two earlier than before and it's hard for me.
back to sleep
3 I wake up too early in the morning and can't sleep more than
five hours

Q. 0 I don't get more tired than usual

1 I get tired sooner than before
2 I get tired of doing anything
3 I feel too tired to do anything
R. 0 My appetite is no worse than usual
1 My appetite is not as good as before
2 Now my appetite is much worse
3 I have no appetite at all

S. 0 I have not lost weight, and if I have lost anything, it is only recently.
1 I have lost further of two kilos of weight
2 I have lost further of four kilos of weight
3 I have lost further of seven kilos of weight

T. 4 My health doesn't worry me any more than usual.

1 I worry more constantly about my physical aches and pains
2 My physical complaints worry me so much that it is difficult for me to think about
anything.
stuff
3 No I do nothing more, at all, than think about my physical discomfort
O
R. 4 No I have noticed that recently I have changed my interest in things sexual
1 No I am less interested in things than before related to sex
2 I I am interested now much less than before in everything what refers to
the sex
3 I have lost all interest in things of sex

CHECK IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED ALL THE QUESTIONS

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP
 BECK INVENTORY TO ASSESS DEPRESSION

The Depression Inventory was created by Beck in 1967, with the objective of
measuring depression, since it would offer, according to the author, some advantages: It
would avoid the variability of clinical diagnosis, it would provide a standard measure not
affected by theoretical orientation or Inconsistency of the person who administers it, in
addition, because it is administered, it would reduce the costs of training and time of the
professional, and finally it would facilitate comparisons with other data.

INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTION . The inventory is made up of 21 categories of symptoms or

attitudes, each of them is a manifestation, in some categories there are two alternative
answers and they are divided into a and b to indicate that it is at the same level, each item
has a score that It goes from zero (0) to three (3).
In the event that the patient expresses that there are two or more statements that
agree with his mood, the highest value will be recorded, and if the patient feels that he is
between two statements, being more in two than in three, the It will then register the value
two because it is closest.
The instrument is based on two assumptions:

a. First: According to the more severe depression, the greater the number of symptoms,
this progression allows us to differentiate between healthy people and patients who have
mild, moderate and/or severe depression.
b. Second: As the patient is more depressed, each symptom is felt more intensely or
frequently, which is why its design includes all the comprehensive symptoms of which it is
classified into five areas:

1. Affective Area (M) Indecision

(TO) Sadness (N) Deformed self image
(AND Feelings of guilt (T) Somatic Concerns
)
(J) Predisposition to cry (H) Self accusations
(K) Irritability
4. Behavioral Area
2. Motivational Area (L) Social Distancing
(D) Dissatisfaction (EI Delay to work
( YO Suicidal ideas THER)(Q) Fatigue
)
3. Cognitive Area 5. Physical area
(b) Pessimism about the future (P) Loss of sleep
(C) Feeling of Failure (R) Loss of appetite
(F) Expectation of Punishment (S) Weightloss
(G) self disgust (O Loss of sexual desire
R)
This prevalence of subjective, psychic affectivity is consistent with the theory
cognitive of depression maintained by the same author, according to which the affective
response
It is determined by the way the individual structures his or her experience. In Beck's theory,
he mentions: “It is possible that depressive episodes are precipitated by an external event;
the individual's evaluation of the event and the way they think about it, rather than the
event itself, may be what produces the Depression".

ADMINISTRATION. The Beck Depression Inventory was developed to be administered

individually or in groups. To be administered individually, a double copy of the response
protocol is used, one is given to the patient and the other is read aloud by the interviewer.
After announcing their statements that correspond to each item, the interviewee is asked to
indicate “Which of the statements best defines your state of mind, how you feel at that
moment.” At no time should the answer be suggested, and if the interviewee indicates that
there are two statements that correspond to the way he or she feels, then the higher
number should be recorded. The depression score is the sum of the answers ranging from
A to U.
The application time has no time limit and generally does not require more than fifteen
minutes to answer.

QUALIFICATION. The coding system takes into account the number of symptoms reported
by the patient since each of them has a numerical score, the intensity of each symptom has
been recorded by assigning graduated numerical values to each of the twenty-one
categories, or a zero. indicates that the symptom was not present, while increasing severity
is graded by one, two, and three, such that the patient's total score represents a
combination of the number of symptom categories and the severity of the particular
symptoms.
However, a total score from zero to ten indicates that there is no depression. Eleven to
twenty indicates that there is mild depression; the score ranging from twenty-one to thirty; it
means that there is moderate depression; But if it goes from thirty-one or more, it shows
that there is severe depression.

VALIDITY. In reviewing the validity of the Beck Depression Inventory, we began by briefly
discussing an experimental study before moving on to other methods. In 1977, Beck,
Kovaes & Hollan, studied forty-four outpatients who came for consultation on their own
initiative and met established criteria for the diagnosis of Depressive Neurosis (DSM II).
These patients presented moderate to moderate depression. intense, (according to Beck's
inventory).
The group was divided into two parts: The first group was made up of eighteen patients
assigned to cognitive therapy and the second was made up of twenty-four patients
assigned to pharmacological therapy. After the treatment, both groups showed a significant
reduction in depressive symptoms.
Regarding the correlation with other tests, in Peru Novara, Sotillo & Wharton (1985, cited
by Pimentel, 1996), carried out a study on a sample of one hundred and seventy-eight
patients diagnosed with depression, using the Zung scales. & Hamilton and Beck's
inventory; They used a control group of forty-nine patients and correlated the three tests
with each other, the correlation between Beck and the Hamilton scale was 0.72 and that of
Beck with the Zung scale was 0.76; highly significant coefficients.
At the Central Military Hospital, a correlation study was carried out between both
Beck and Zung scales in a sample of fifteen patients with a diagnosis of depression, finding
a correlation between both scales of 0.78. Beck's correlation with psychiatric diagnosis was
also carried out by Novara, Sotillo and Wharton (1985, cited by Pimentel, 1996), finding a
correlation of 0.75. The results of the studies cited allow us to say that the Beck inventory
has satisfactory validity and is useful for the purposes for which it was developed.

RELIABILITY . The reliability estimates are in relation to the respect that is assumed to
cause measurement error, which is why we find the following types of reliability.
a. Stability and Consistency of scores over time.
b. Equivalence. Consistency in scores on two equivalent forms of the test.
c. Internal consistency evaluates the degree to which the items of a test are related to the
total score Brown (1980, cited by Pimentel, 1996), this last form is characterized by being
obtained through a single application of the test calculated with the techniques separation
by halves (Holt Split Method), or homogeneity estimates (formulas: Kuder, Richardson or
Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient).
 On the other hand, a Reliability study was carried out at the Central Military
Hospital, which, although it is done in a small sample and does not allow generalization,
does shed light on the reliability of this Instrument, the Inventory of Reliability was
administered. Beck in fifteen patients with a depressive diagnosis and then a retest was
carried out with an interval of one week, obtaining a coefficient of 0.80. Likewise, with the
data from the first administration, internal consistency was calculated with Cronbach's
Alpha coefficient, obtaining a coefficient of 0.81.