A Diagnostic Study of Depressive Disorders : Usage of the Yamaguchi Self-Rating Depression Scale

The usefulness of a new self-rating depression scale, the Yamaguchi Self-Rating Depression Scale (YSDS), was described here. The YSDS is composed of 16 questions, with four levels of response for each question. The options are ”a little of the time”, ”some of the time”, ”good part of the time” and ”most of the time”. The YSDS ratings of 220 out-patients were used to identify the relevant weights for each item and the pertinent cut-off point. The ratings of 111 out-patients on the widely-used Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), which was reported in our last study, were used as the control. The degree of the depressive state was estimated by psychiatrists using the Hamilton Rating Scale (HRS), a standard rating scale for depression. The reliability of the YSDS was similar to that of the SDS. The correlation between YSDS and HRS scores was stronger than that between SDS and HRS scores. This fact indicated the validity of using the YSDS to estimate the severity of depression. The capacity of the YSDS to differentiate between depressed patients and non-depressed patients at the out-patient clinic exceeded that of the SDS. In conclusion, the YSDS appears to be one of the most useful self rating screening tests for the depression.