How to Interpret the Beck Depression Inventory Scoring and Scale

Beck Depression Scale, also called the Beck Scale of Depression or Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), was designed and named after it's creator, Aaron Beck. The Becks Depression Inventory is a questionnaire created to determine level of depression in individuals suffering from this disorder. The test can be taken by persons over 13 years years of age.

BDI is a questionnaire consisting twenty-one questions that have been developed to discover and interpret the signs and symptoms of depression. Additionally, the questionnaire is followed by seven more questions that health care providers use to interpret the results.

Although the Beck Depression Scale may seem easy to interpret, it has been developed for health care providers who have undergone training to dispense, evaluate and interpret the findings.

Just about anyone can administer the Beck Depression Inventory or Beck Depression Test, but the results must always be confirmed by a trained professional. The BDI has the skill to distinguish between assorted classes of depression, from severe depression to dysthymia, which is a less severe form of depression.

What questions are asked to interpret the results?

The first set of questions on the Beck Depression Scale are twenty-one multiple-choice questions, that each have possible four answers to select from. All answers are rated from zero to three, with three being the most severe degree of depressive symptoms.The BDI helps measures levels of assorted emotional symptoms, such as feelings of:

• Dejection


• Failure


• Self-blaming


• Self-loathing


• Pessimism


• Guilt


• Suicidal tendencies.


• The Beck Depression Scale also assesses physiological problems such as:


• Lack of hunger and appetite


• Constant episodes of sobbing and crying


• Fatigue and tiredness


• Loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed


• Weight loss


• Lack of interest in sex


• Feelings of mind being preoccupied


• Thus, BDI is divided into two major sections, one containing questions relating to emotional symptoms, as well as other questions about physical symptoms.


• Beck Depression Scale or BDI has been found to be efficient in evaluating the degree of depression in people, due to it's ability to assess the emotional and physiological facets of depression

Three important features impacting depression:

• Negative feelings towards one self


• Negative feelings arising from repeated failure or inability to do well in various aspects of life personal, professional, or both


• Negative feelings due to illness and disease

The BDI is a well-designed questionnaire that considers all conceivable causes and factors leading to depression and analyzes the degree and of depression in patients diagnosed with the disorder.

How to Intrepret the Beck Depression Inventory:

People taking BDI have to choose one answer from the four choices rendered. Scores range from zero, which denotes the least degree of severity of symptoms, and a score of three, which describes the utmost severity. Scores are relative to the degree of depression experienced by the person taking the test.

The Beck Depression Scale inventory scores are interpreted differently for regular persons, as opposed to those diagnosed with depression. Regular people taking the test who receive a score of twenty-one or higher indicate depression. Persons diagnosed with depression are interpreted as follows:

• Scores between 0 and 9 are indicative of people experiencing minimum symptoms of depression.


• Scores between 10 and 16 are indicative of people experiencing minor symptoms of depression.


• Scores between 17 and 29 are indicative of people experiencing average levels of symptoms of depression.


• Scores between 30 and 63 are indicative of people experiencing major or severe form of depression.

by Barb Hicks, RN