A Method for Measuring Depression: Validity Studies on a Depression Questionnaire

Abstract

In previous papers (Pilowsky, Levine and Boulton, 1969; Pilowsky and Boulton, 1970; Pilowsky and McGrath, 1970) we have described the development of a depression questionnaire and its use in the classification and identification of depressed patients. In order to increase the flexibility of the questionnaire as a research tool we have derived a depression scale from the items in it and have investigated its validity as a measure of the depth of depression. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the depression scale and report the results of validation studies.