What is The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
Written By Fouzia Sultana
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur
Bahawalnagar Campus
The Beck Depression Inventory was first published in 1961 and later revised in 1971 (BDI-IA). In 1978 it was further revised (BDI-IA) and in 1996 (BDI-II) edition was developed for research purpose only by Aaron T. Beck, Robert A. Steer and Gregory K. Brown. The BDI-II edition consists of 21 items. These are following
1)Sadness 12) loss of interest
2)Pessimism 13) indecisiveness
3)Failure 14) Worthlessness
4)Loss of pleasure 15) Loss of energy
5)Guilt of feeling 16) Change in sleeping
6) Punishment felling 17) Irritability
7)Self dislike 18) Change in appetite
8)Self criticalness 19) Concentration difficulty
9)Suicidal wishes 20) Tiredness
10)Crying 21) Loss of interest in sex
11)Agitation
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a Self report instrument for measuring the severity of depression in adults, adolescents of age 3 years or older. It was developed for the assessment of symptoms corresponding to the criteria for the diagnosis of depression listed in the DSM by APA. Some older terminologies were also changed in the new BDI which are the following.
Old term use in BDI New term use in BDI-II
Body image Agitation
Somatic preoccupies Worthlessness
Work deficiency concentration difficulty
Weight loss Loss of energy
Score range of BDI-II test:
- Minimal lie in 0 to 13
- Mild lie in 14 to 19
- Moderate lie in 20 to 28
- Sever lie in 29 to 63.
