CD: Beck Depression Inventory - from archives

[janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Post: 032755
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997
From: janet paterson
Subj: CD: Beck Depression Inventory
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Hello cyb-sibs

this is the questionnaire that Dr. David D. Burns
["Feeling Good - The New Mood Therapy" - highly recommended]
recommends using on a weekly basis
and the one which i had originally intended to post

i have just re-read an introductory paragraph from the book cover
and think it's worth reproducing here:

"Depression is an illness.

"It's *not* part of healthy living or a more authentic aspect of human
experience.

"Largely by bad habits of thinking, we create our own private black holes.

"When you 'face the fact' that you're a fundamentally uninteresting person,
that your life has been one long procrastination, that you've never
*really* succeeded in a relationship, or when you stoically resign yourself
to the unchanging gloom of the universe, what you're actually doing is
'buying into' your own self-deceptions.

"The pessimistic 'lucidity' that aaccompanies depression is not the truth
but a cognitive distortion - even when a genuinely negative event does
occur, your feelings are determined by the meaning you attach to the event,
not by the event itself."


Dr. Burns describes the following questionnaire as:
"...a reliable mood-measuring device that detects the presence of
depression and accurately rates its severity."

briefly, he suggests:
"... read each item carefully and circle the number next to the answer that
best describes how you have been feeling the past few days..."



Dr. Burns comments:
"...Although the BDI test is not difficult or time-consuming to fill out
and score, don't be deceived by its simplicity.

"You have just learned to use a highly sophisticated tool for diagnosing
depression.

"Many research studies in the past decade have demonstrated that the BDI
test and similar mood-rating devices are highly accurate and reliable in
detecting and measuring depression.

"In a recent study in a psychiatric emergency room, it was found that a
self-rating depression inventory similar to the one you just filled out
actually picked up the presence of depressive symptoms more frequently than
formal interviewing by experienced clinicians who did not use the test.

"You can use the BDI with confidence to diagnose yourself and monitor your
progress."

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cognitive therapy is only one of several ways
of dealing with this eminently treatable condition

i found it extremely helpful
in giving me insight to those 'automatic negative thoughts'
but the only truly effective way [for me] to blast away the cd fog
was to tackle the bio-chemical component in this bio-body of mine
and take anti-depressant medication as well

we are all made up of our own individual chemical 'stews'
and "vive la difference!"
but what works for me
might not work for someone else

be careful out there!


your cyber-sibling

janet

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janet paterson
53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
613 256 8340 / PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada
come visit my website "a new voice" at: