The beck depression contrast (BDI) is a system of gauging depression among people. In this system, the interviewer asks the candidate a set of 21 questions. Each set of the question gives five things that describe the feelings of the candidate at the present moment. The answer is graded on a scale of one to three. Three represents the highest score while one is the low. The total in each set of question is added, giving out the level of depression at that particular time for the patient. The higher the score means that the patient is most depressed at that particular time. (Moreno, 1993)
Over the time there has been an adjustment on the mode of operation of the BDI. The first system uses the sum gotten as the final score of the degree of depression. The second method of the BDI commonly known as Beck depression inventory-II uses basically the same figures in conducting the test but the final score is gauged by a summary ranging from 0-63. However both measures give almost an identical value with a minimal difference. This means that both measures almost correlate in terms of the final score. (Welch, 1990)
The second difference between the two modes of the BDI is in the methodology of conducting the survey. The first mode is based on trust. This is where the interviewer first gets the history of the patient to try and get the origin of the problem. In BDI-II however, the survey is gotten in a form of group administration. This is where a survey is conducted to a group of people say like college students. There are downfalls and advantages of these two modes of study.
Since the first one is based on trust, there will be a clear understanding between the two on what the patient really wants. This will make the patient open up and avoid any avenue for telling lies. On the other mode however the interview is done in a group. People are not told that they have a problem and hence they will not feel demoralized in telling people that they have a problem. This is helpful in a time like today where people are finding it hard to trust strangers. (Welch, 1990)
The third major difference was the study done on the rate of depression on women. The study on the original BDI was done on women only while on BDI-II it was performed on both men and women. Though the first and second studies were almost identical on the score the second gave a more thorough result on the Cognitive-Affective factor and the Somatic-Affective Factor. The original BDI had 18 items on the Cognitive-Affective Factor and 10 on the Somatic-Affective Factor against ten and eleven respectively on BDI-II. This was due to the fact that the second test concentrated more on the important issues that cause depression that the first. (Moreno, 1993)
The original BDI version was a good method of testing depression among people of different age groups. However the updated version commonly known as the Beck Depression Contrast-II has brought tremendous changes on the way this method is implemented. Where the original method used trust as a method of making patients open, up the latter version used a different mode of conducting this survey. This has been necessitated by the change in lifestyle where people find it more difficult to trust strangers. Where as the first mode did a study only on women on the Cognitive-Affective Factor and the Somatic-Vegetative Factor the second study included men as well. This has made it more acceptable than the first hence a method that should be used by all.
List of reference
Moreno, J., Fuhriman, A., & Selby, J. (1993). Measurement of Hostility, anger, and depression in depressed and nondepressed subjects, Journal of Personality Assessment, 61, 511-523.
Welch, G, Hall, A., & Walkey, F. (1990). The replicable dimensions Of the Beck Depression Inventory, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46, 817-827.