This investigation compared the validities of three widely used self-report depression measures: the Beck Depression Inventory, the MMPI Depression scale, and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. Each inventory was administered to 101 inpatient psychiatric ward patients and to 99 chemical dependency ward patients. The three scales were correlated with clinicians' global ratings of depression, with scores on five Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980)-based, factor-analytic depression scales, and with an overall depression score based on the DSM-III criteria. In general, the Zung produced better validity coefficients than the Beck, which in turn yielded higher correlations with our criteria than did the MMPI Depression scale.

We compared the convergent validities of four commonly used post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) measures in 80 help-seeking Vietnam veterans by contrasting their intercorrelations. When scored as continuous severity or frequency measures, the Mississippi Scale for Combat-related PTSD's and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Interview's (PTSD-I's) concordances with other measures were similar to one anothers' and generally larger than those of either the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) PTSD module or the MMPI PTSD scale. However, when used only to identify stress disorder's presence or absence, the four techniques' concordances were nearly identical. This suggested that the four measures have similar convergent validities when used simply to identify PTSD, but that the PTSD-I and Mississippi scale offer better convergent validity than the MMPI or DIS instruments when used as severity measures.

In an effort to identify, organize, and operationally define the philosophies that underlie Albert Ellis' self‐defeating beliefs, the authors factored an 11‐item irrational‐values self‐report instrument given to 190 psychiatric patients. Four factors emerged and were named to reflect the contents of their items–“I need to control a dangerous world,” “Self‐assertion is painful,” “I need affirmation.” and “I lack control over my fate”.

An empirical Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scale was developed to separate brain-damaged from functional psychiatric patients. It consisted of 56 items, which significantly differentiated organic and functional groups in a psychiatric hospital and was named the Psychiatric-Organic (P-O) scale. Upon cross-validation it was found capable of separating organics from process and reactive schizophrenics, alcoholics, and neurotics, as well as patients with character disorders and affective psychoses. Additionally it was found that by using the scale in combination with a traditional brain-damage test (the Benton Visual Retention Test), better discrimination could be achieved than was possible with either measure alone. The comparative probabilities of functional and organic diagnoses for various P-0 scale ranges are presented.The literature on the separation of braindamaged from nonorganic psychiatric patients via measures of ability is generally unencouraging. Attempts to differentiate organics from schizophrenics with such instruments as

This study compared the abilities of the Shipley Institute of Living Scale and the Henmon‐Nelson Tests of Mental Ability to predict Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale‐Revised (WAIS‐R) scores in psychiatric hospital patients. The Henmon‐Nelson DIQs accounted for about 50% more WAIS‐R Verbal and Full Scale IQ variance than did the Shipley IQs, apparently because of their higher correlations with the Information, Vocabulary, and, perhaps, Similarities subtests. Because Henmon‐Nelson scores were more variable and generally higher than their WAIS‐R counterparts, statistical adjustments were needed to optimize Wechsler IQ estimates. Therefore, regression formulae and a conversion table for the estimation of WAIS‐R Full Scale IQs from Henmon‐Nelson and Shipley intelligence scores also are presented.