Goldberg Depression Test: Characteristics And Functions
Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide; In addition, it can also be one of the most disabling. A person with depression has lost hope of enjoying life again.
There are various psychological tests that evaluate depression; however, Today we will focus on the Goldberg depression test which constitutes a screening tool to detect the presence of depressive symptoms (it is not a diagnostic tool).
The Goldberg depression test is a psychological test, as its name suggests, intended to determine whether or not there are symptoms of depression (it is an indicative or screening test, not diagnostic).
It is also known as the Goldberg Depression Inventory; It is a test that consists of 18 questions, which offer immediate information regarding the level of depression experienced by the evaluated person or patient.
It was designed by Dr. Ivan K. Goldberg, American psychiatrist The Goldberg Depression Test is a simple, self-administered screening test for depression.
Questions
The questions follow a Likert-type format with six response options each, always the same: “not at all”, “a little”, “sometimes”, “moderately”, “quite a bit” and “a lot”. The questions or statements to which the evaluated person must respond are such as: “I find it difficult to make decisions,” or “Pleasure and happiness seem to have disappeared in my life.”
When answering the questions, The evaluated person must respond taking into account what he or she has experienced, as well as his or her state of mind, in the last seven days. That is, you should focus only on that specific period.
Regarding the results of the Goldberg depression test, we must be cautious, since The test will provide us with purely indicative results, never diagnostic That is why in case of suspicion of moderate or severe depression, you should go to a specialized professional or doctor to make the relevant referral.
Applications
The Goldberg depression test can also be used not only as a diagnostic screening, but also as a monitoring tool, to check the patient’s progress throughout the sessions.
It is known that a 5% variation in the results can represent a symptom of both improvement and worsening.
Goldberg questionnaire: also for anxiety
Goldberg actually also developed a complete questionnaire, which also included an anxiety scale; the so-called Goldberg questionnaire or Goldberg scale (EADG). This questionnaire consists of two completely independent scales, one for anxiety and the other for depression.
The questionnaire has very high sensitivity and specificity values, and that is why it is widely used for healthcare and epidemiological purposes, as well as as a screening instrument and as a guide that guides the clinical interview in Primary Care.
Subscales
Each of the subscales of the Goldberg depression test (depression and anxiety) are administered simultaneously, and It is structured in 4 initial items that help determine whether or not it is probable that a mental disorder exists and in 5 secondary items that are only formulated if positive responses are obtained to the first 4 items (2 or more in the anxiety subscale, 1 or more in the depression subscale).
Questions and cut-off points
Questions 1-9 correspond to the anxiety subscale, and questions 10 to 18 correspond to the depression subscale. The first 4 questions of each subscale (questions 1–4) and (questions 10–13), respectively, are the precondition to determine whether the rest of the questions should be answered.
Thus, if a minimum of 2 questions from questions 1-4 are answered affirmatively, the rest of the first subscale should not be answered, while in the second subscale it is enough to answer affirmatively to one question from among the 10-13 to continue answering the rest.
The cut-off points for the anxiety scale it is 4 (or more), and for depression it is 2 (or more).
