[Scales, factor analysis and subscales of the French-language AMDP system]

The 4th and 5th forms of the AMDP-System consist of a Psychopathology Scale (100 + 15 items) and of a Somatic Scale (40 + 7 items); the total duration of the interview and filling out is 45 to 60 mn. On the basis of a decade of research done or initiated in Liège, the French-speaking section of the AMDP has contributed to the System with several improvements: the inclusion of write-in or "reserve" items to the standard scales, esp. on anxiety (generating Anxiety and Dramatization factors missing in the German version as well as an Anxiety Subscale); modifications of the somatic scale (adopted in the 1979 German revision); modification of the item scaling from 0-3 to 0-4, the category "severe" being subdivided in "severe" and "extremely severe" (adopted in all other translations); elaboration and preliminary validation of a BPRS-like Syndromic Scale (AMDP-SY); inclusion of a semi-structured interview for the AMDP-4 and of a standardized interview for the AMDP-5. A multicentre Franco-Belgian factor analysis and several drug trials in France and Belgium confirm the validity, sensitivity and factorial stability of the AMDP scales. The subscales (Mania-Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) are potentially useful but need further research except for the Anxiety subscale, which has been validated in Belgium and Spain and is free of somatic symptoms, an advantage in psychosomatics (e.g. cancer research).