Beck's Depression Inventory

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was developed by the American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck in 1961. Today, this technique is one of the most commonly used psychometric tests to determine the degree of depression and the dynamics of its change.

Unlike his predecessors, Aaron T. Beck focused on systematizing the symptoms and complaints that specialists received from the patients themselves. This made it possible to identify a number of significant symptoms of depression that, previously, were not given due attention (for example, loss of interest in sex).

Beck also suggested that it is negative thoughts and negative attitudes towards oneself that lead to depression, and are not a consequence of it, as was previously thought.

The development of the BDI became a significant event in the history of the development of psychology and marked a significant shift in both the diagnosis and treatment of depression. Beck's work was able to change the view of depression, forcing many professionals to move away from the classical understanding of depression according to Freud, and begin to study thoughts and feelings of the patients themselves in more detail. The BDI has formed the basis of many modern psychometric questionnaires for both adults and children/adolescents.

There are three versions of the questionnaire - the original one of 1961, the revised version of the BDI-1A that was published in 1978, and the latest version of the BDI-II that dates back to 1996. Shown here is the original 1961 version of the BDI.

Source:

• Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression.