The "Melancholia Rating Scale": a useful instrument for the assessment of affective disorders. Validity and reliability of the Spanish adaptation.

This instrument has been constructed with the purpose of quantifying the severity of depressive states, i.e. to identify the depressive patient and to measure the response to treatment with an antidepressant. Type of instrument: Ordinal rating scale, 11 items, 5 grades. Eleven variables are assessed: Activity (motor); Activity (verbal); Retardation (intellectual); Anxiety (psychic); Suicidal impulses; Lowered mood; Self-depreciation and guilt feelings; Emotional retardation; Sleep disturbances; Tiredness and pain; Work and interests. Tests were done to verify concurrent validity with the Hamilton Depression Scale (HDS); some data on inter-observer reliability are given.