Clinical judgments of depression

In an effort to reevaluate Gough's (1954) classic study of common misconceptions about neuroticism, an investigation was undertaken of the degree to which judges could simulate the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) responses of a clinically depressed patient group. Judgments were recorded of the probability of responding to each of 240 BPI items by a total of 56 university student judges. Judges were assigned randomly to one of two information conditions, one that had only the label "clinical depression" and another that had, in addition, a more extensive definition. Judgmental profiles of depressed patients indicated very high reliabilities (.99) across information conditions, a high association with actual profiles of clinically depressed patients, and differentiation from other psychiatric patients and normal controls. Results were interpreted as supporting the accuracy of judgments of psychopathology, particularly when certain preconditions are met, namely, the use of a meaningful construct of psychopathology and the prediction of behavior relevant to that construct.