The Revised Bdi Test Review.Doc

Running head: REVIEW OF THE REVISED BECK DEPRESSION INVENTORY

Testing and Assesssment: Comprehensive review of the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA)
Daniel Beaulieu
McGill University

The Revised BDI (1993)

Publication Dates: 1961-93
Authors: Aaron T. Beck and Robert A. Steer.
Acronym: BDI-IA
Price Data, 1994: $46 per complete kit including 25 record forms and manual ( '93, 24 pages); $25.50 per 25 record forms; 22.50 per manual

Introduction

The revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA), introduced at the Center for Cognitive Therapy (CCT) in 1971, is a 21 item self-report rating inventory which measures characteristic attitudes and symptoms for the purpose of assessing the severity of depression in adolescents and adults (BDI, 1993). The BDI "has become one of the most widely accepted instruments in clinical psychology and psychiatry for assessing the intensity of depression in psychiatric patients and for detecting possible depression in normal populations." (BDI, 1993, p. 1).
Theoretical Background
When Beck began studying depression in the 1950 's, the psychoanalytic theory prevailed, which viewed the syndrome as inverted hostility against the self. In contrast to this explanation, Beck (1967) observed that depressed patients could be more accurately described as having negative views of themselves, their present and future experiences. This lead Beck to propose his theory on negative cognitive triads (i.e.: negative thoughts are about the self, the world, and the future) as a framework for understanding the phenomenology of depression (Beck, 1967). The BDI clearly reflects this theory through a multitude of items represented in the test such as: "I feel that the future is hopeless and that things cannot improve" to reflect the future, "I feel I am a complete failure as a person" to reflect the self, and "I have lost all interest in other people" to reflect the world.
Secondly, the development of the BDI emerged to

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