Revisiting the theoretical and methodological foundations of depression measurement

Digital tools for the assessment of pharmacological treatment for depressive disorder: State of the art

“…An accurate diagnosis is key for a good, timely, and fitting pharmacological treatment ( Fried et al, 2022 ). DSM and ICD criteria often serve as a reference ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ; World Health Organisation, 2019 ), both focusing on depressed mood, lack of pleasure (anhedonia), and lack of motivation or initiative (anergia) as coresymptoms in addition to cognitive aspects (e.g., concentration problems, thinking slowing, rumination) and several physical manifestations (changes in circadian rhythm, appetite, psychomotor and sexual activity) which play a major role in the reduced quality of life as experienced by depressed patients ( IsHak et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Digital phenotyping for pharmacological treatment, the focus of this integrative review, offers multiple opportunities, such as data-driven subtypes which can be identified through symptom clustering or symptom networks. Machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) can allow context-dependant learning from these vast data collections and facilitate effective treatment choices and advance personalized pharmacotherapy ( Chekroud et al, 2017 ;Chekroud et al, 2016 ;Fried et al, 2022 ). The integration of clinical phenotypic observations, genetics' variants, socio-economic and demographic data can predict the best clinically relevant antidepressant response ( Lin et al, 2018 ).…”

How to measure mental pain: a systematic review assessing measures of mental pain

“…Identifying a valid measure of mental pain is a first step in developing research to help address this outcome in clinical practice. Interestingly, like other constructs such as depression, no consensus exists for the definition of mental pain 19. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), mental pain is defined in the introductory section as a synonym for the ’distress associated with the symptoms’ 20.…”

“…Third, previous reviews have not assessed the development of the measures, nor have they compared their psychometric properties. The frequency at which measurement instruments of psychological dimensions lack validity suggests that this may also be true of mental pain scales 19 31…”

Kaleidoscope

“…Measurement in psychology and psychiatry broadly ranges from clinical impression through to psychometric assessments adorned with reassurances of interrater agreement, construct validity and test–retest reliability. In their perspective paper, Fried et al 4 explore the state of the art in measuring depression, exposing the flaws in our instruments and approaches. Some instruments (for instance, the widely used Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) have low mean overlap with other scales, at around 31% similarity.…”