Scales, and where to find them

[COXblocker]

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I need some help. I am a PGY2, working on a research project and no one at my institution seems to know the answer to this (the only "research" our attendings do is case reports and reviews). Where can I find rating scales? I want a scale of borderline personality disorder (ZAN-BPD? are there other/better ones), a scale for depression (HAM-D or MADRAS, or PHQ-9?) a scale for mania (YMRS?) and scale for schizophrenia (PANSS?). Is there a good resource that covers these scales, and more importantly, where to actually find them to make copies and administer to patients.

The other option is SCID, which I have no experience with.

 

[splik]

All of these things are available online. Which one you would use would depend on what you want to look at- for example the phq-9 is a good screener or a self report tool that maps onto what people use in real world settings whereas the Hamilton and MADRS were developed for measuring treatment response and the MADRS in particular was designed to be sensitive to change in treatment responsiveness. The objective ones also require some training in their use of using for research.

 

[tr]

What splik said, and also do you want a self-report scale (PHQ-9, patient fills out) or a clinician-rated scale (Dr asks the questions and makes the ratings, HAMD/MADRS)?

Most of the widely used short scales can be found for free on the general internet. Otherwise your institutional library should be able to help you access what you need.
There are lots of reviews that cover them but they are mostly broken down by diagnosis, so you won't find a single review that compares MADRS, YMRS, and PANSS because those are all assessing symptoms for different disorders.

SCID covers all your bases but is time-intensive (takes 60-90 minutes to complete) and requires extensive training to use appropriately (watch video tutorial, observe 3 SCIDs, perform one observed SCID). Also definitely not free.

 

[hamstergang]

Is no one at your institution using such scales clinically? It helps to have someone who's familiar with various scales to discuss the pros and cons of each based in your needs. We could do that here but you'd need to narrow your question first.

And then to find them, use Google. If that doesn't work then it's likely proprietary and has to be purchased if your institution hasn't done so already.

 

[Amygdarya]

Springer has a Handbook of Clinical Rating Scales and Assessments in Psychiatry Handbook of Clinical Rating Scales and Assessment in Psychiatry and Mental Health | SpringerLink which contains most widely used scales by disorder, as well as comments on their development and use.
If you're affiliated with a university, check out if your library has subscription to Springer Link, which permits free legal downloads of most Springer books (aside from this book, Springer has published a number of good practical books in psychiatry and neurology in the past few years, so this can be a great resource). If you can't access it, PM me 🙂

 

[WisNeuro]

A lot of just freely available, and many more can be had by simply e-mailing the corresponding author of the validation study for a particular scale. Some scales are proprietary, but in some circumstances you can get them for free, or deeply discounted, if you are using them solely for research purposes. As for which to use, what measures are being used in the research that you are building on. You generally want to remain consistent for comparison purposes, unless you have a good reason to deviate from that.

 

[COXblocker]

All of these things are available online. Which one you would use would depend on what you want to look at- for example the phq-9 is a good screener or a self report tool that maps onto what people use in real world settings whereas the Hamilton and MADRS were developed for measuring treatment response and the MADRS in particular was designed to be sensitive to change in treatment responsiveness. The objective ones also require some training in their use of using for research.

What are the tools for personality disorder? The book below doesn’t have much, and I find a lot of studies validating, but no actual scales.

Specifically, the ZAN-BPD or others for borderline personality...can’t find any

 

[WisNeuro]

What are the tools for personality disorder? The book below doesn’t have much, and I find a lot of studies validating, but no actual scales.

Specifically, the ZAN-BPD or others for borderline personality...can’t find any

If it's Axis II, honestly the best way is a good SCID. There is so much overlap and nuance with some of those symptoms and history that any questionnaire is going to lead to a large number of mis-diagnoses. Otherwise, you can go with the MCMI-III (proprietary) or the PAI (also proprietary) as your best bets. So, which do you want to give up, time, money, or accuracy?