Description
The MADRS was developed from Åsberg’s Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale, which was designed to evaluate psychiatric treatment. The items selected for the MADRS were those most frequently checked and those most sensitive to change (3; 4). The ten MADRS ratings are completed during a clinical interview, which moves “from broadly phrased questions about symptoms to more detailed ones which allow a precise rating of severity” (1, p387). Ratings may blend patient responses with information from observation or interviews with other informants. The MADRS is suitable for use by psychiatrists, general practitioners, psychologists, or nurses; interviews take 20 to 60 minutes. The ten ratings use 0 to 6 severity scales, with higher scores reflecting more severe symptoms. The topic of each rating is described, and definitions are provided for key scale steps (Exhibit 7.8).