[The ICD-10 Symptom Rating (ISR): validation of the depression scale in a clinical sample]

The ICD-10 Symptom Rating (ISR) 1 measures the severity of psychiatric disorders with 29 items on 5 subscales as comprehensively as possible. The following syndromes are measured: Depressive syndrome, anxiety syndrome, obsessive-compulsive syndrome, Somatoform syndrome, eating disorder syndrome as well as additional items that cover various mental syndromes, and an overall score. The study reports findings on the validity and sensitivity to change of the depression subscale (ISR-D). In a clinical sample of N=949 inpatients with depression spectrum disorders the convergent validity was determined by correlation with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) 3 and the subscale "depression" of the Symptom-Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) 4. The high correlation between the different instruments confirms the validity of the ISR-Depression Scale. The sensitivity to change of the ISR seems higher than that of the BDI and the SCL-90. Because of its economy and the good psychometric properties the ISR is recommended for use in clinical samples.