Guide to Assessment Scales in Major Depressive Disorder, 2015

This concise guide provides psychiatrists (including trainees) and general practitioners with a comprehensive overview of the most clinically relevant assessment scales and tools in order to assist with and enhance diagnostic outcomes in depression.

Depression is one of the most common mood disorders across the globe, with a lifetime prevalence across all people of 8-10%. Despite being relatively common, depression remains severely underdiagnosed across all age groups and nationalities.

George Alexopoulos, MD, is SP Tobin and AM Cooper Professor of Psychiatry, founder and director of the Weill-Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, and director of the Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research in Geriatric Mood Disorders at Cornell University, New York, USA. Dr Alexopoulos received his MD from the National University of Athens, Greece, trained at New Jersey Medical School, and completed his psychiatric residency at Cornell University Medical College, where he completed a research fellowship in Psychobiology. Dr Alexopoulos has made fundamental contributions to the study of the biology of late-life depression including identifying brain mechanisms contributing to poor response to antidepressant drugs, development of new treatments for patients with depression and severe medical illnesses, and improving the practice model for the identification and treatment of depression in primary care. Dr Alexopoulos has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health and has received four consecutive Center Grant Awards from the National Institute of Mental Health and numerous individual grants. He has been the Director of the T32 NIMH Research Fellowship in Geriatric Mood Disorders since 1989. Dr Alexopoulos is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, American College of Psychiatrists (ACP), and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He has received several awards, including an APA Presidential Commendation, the Research Award of the International College of American College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology, the APA Greenberg Award, the ACP Geriatric Research Award, the Joseph Zubin Research Award of the American Psychopathological Association, the APA Distinguished Psychiatrist Lecturer Award, and the Senior Investigator’s Award of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Dr Alexopoulos is the editor of the International Journal of

A guide to the recent developments in the assessment of major depressive disorder written by five highly respected authors in the field of psychiatry

Written for psychiatrists, clinical researchers, mental health nurses and other healthcare professionals who use rating scales in clinical practice

Provides clinically-evaluated rating scales that are applicable for general practice and hospital settings

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras