Journal of Depression and Anxiety
Open Access

Abstract

Depression Thoughts Scale: Association with Depression Rating Scales

Adriana Munhoz Carneiro, Makilim Nunes Baptista and Ricardo Alberto Moreno

Background: Several studies have reported a strong relationship between distorted thoughts and Major Depressive Disorder, but there is a lack of tests that match these needs. Objectives: to investigate the psychometric proprieties of Depression Thoughts Scale – EPD with depressive symptoms scales. Method: a total of 367 subjects divided into non-depressed and depressed groups were assessed. The first group contained 338 (92.1%) subjects classified as having no reported diagnosis of depression, while the remaining subjects (n=29) comprised the second group containing subjects with clinically and SCID-confirmed diagnosis of depression. Data collection was performed by applying instruments assessing depressive symptoms including the Baptista Depression Scale -EBADEP-A and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression -HAM-D. Data was collected individually in the clinical group and collectively in the non-clinical group. Results: the data indicated that the EPD had moderate correlation with the HAMD (p= 0.001) and strong with EBADEP A (p=0.001), where depressives exhibited a greater number of distorted thoughts. Conclusion: the EPD proved a potentially useful tool for helping clinicians identify depressive thoughts, functioning as a complement to access specifically the cognitive factors related with depression.