Foulds' hierarchy: Validation of predictions in psychiatric and dermatological patients

Abstract

Foulds' inclusive non-reflexive law of symptom formation has been hitherto confirmed only on psychiatric or non-clinical persons. Given that respectively a yes-bias and a high frequency of non-classified patients may have inflated the rate of confirming protocols in these groups, a validation study was conducted with the Delusions-Symptoms-States Inventory (DSSI) on 188 psychiatric and 295 dermatological patients. Although non-classified patients were not included in the study (thus lowering the number of conforming patterns), both samples showed percentages of patterns conforming to Foulds' law which were above 85 per cent. No significant intergroup difference was found. The rate of conforming patterns in both groups was lower for members of the two psychotic classes (61-77 per cent). Foulds further hypothesized that the number of pathological sets within a given class grows if there is allocation into a superordinate class. This assumption was confirmed in both groups and for most of the inter-class comparisons. Suggestions were advanced to clarify the issue of the time span to be covered by Foulds' pyramid, to refine the instructions and the response format of the DSSI, and to include into the pyramid further relevant disturbances.

Pathways to ecstasy use in young adults: Anxiety, depression or behavioural deviance?

“…It contains two 7-item subscales measuring depression and anxiety, which have been found to correlate strongly with other scales of depression including the Beck Depression Inventory (Najman et al, 2000). Bedford and Foulds and others found that a cut-off of 4 or more symptoms produced the optimum combination of false positives and false negatives, based on Bedford and Foulds' validation studies ( [Bedford and Foulds, 1977] and [Rubino et al, 1997]). Consistent with the scale authors, symptoms of depression and anxiety were defined in this study as reporting 4 or more of the 7 symptoms in the DSSI depression and anxiety subscales.…”

Does a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy help predict future essential hypertension? Findings from a prospective pregnancy cohort study

“…16 The measure was developed to detect signs and symptoms of psychopathology that limit a person's capacity to function and to maintain relationships. This measure has high internal validity, 16,17 correlates well and shares items, with other measures of depression and anxiety such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. 18 Self-reported tobacco (non-smoker, 1-20 cigarettes per day and 20 or more cigarettes per day) and alcohol (abstainer, light, 1 þ serve per day) consumption was recorded during the last trimester of pregnancy.…”

Do paternal arrest and imprisonment lead to child behaviour problems and substance use? A longitudinal analysis

“…Maternal mental health was measured at 5‐year follow‐up with the Delusions‐Symptoms‐States Inventory (DSSI; Bedford & Foulds, 1978), a self‐report measure containing two seven‐item subscales assessing depression and anxiety. The DSSI is well validated (Bedford & Foulds, 1977; Bedford & Foulds, 1978; Rubino, Pezzarossa, Zanna, & Ciani, 1997); it correlates strongly with the Beck Depression Inventory (Najman, Andersen, Bor, O'Callaghan, & Williams, 2000) and is a valid instrument for detecting major depressive episodes (Bedford & Foulds, 1977; Rubino et al, 1997). Bedford and Foulds validated the scale against clinical samples and found that a cut‐off of 4 symptoms produced the optimum combination of false positives/false negatives based on Bedford and Foulds’ validation studies (Bedford & Foulds, 1977).…”