14 DAY TRIAL // Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) investigators announce the creation of an 8-question test that can reveal negative thinking in people, one of the main indicators of a depressive episode.
Using the new approach, doctors could keep an eye on their patients at all time. If they suspect that someone might be heading towards a depressive episode, they could apply the test, and catch the disorder early on.
Detecting depression before it completely grabs hold of someone could have significant consequences for the millions of people who are diagnosed with this condition every year. At the same time, it could save healthcare systems millions of dollars in yearly costs.
The research team, from the CWRU Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, was led by the Kate Hanna Harvey Professor in Community Health Nursing at the university, Jaclene Zauszniewski. She is also the associate dean for doctoral education at the school.
The expert named the new test the Depression Cognition Scale (DCS). The survey asks questions about eight important parameters for well-being: helplessness, hopelessness, purposelessness, worthlessness, powerlessness, loneliness, emptiness and meaninglessness.
Respondents are asked to express their opinion by using terms that range from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” The DCS has already been in use internationally for some time, but experts wanted to improve its capabilities even further.
“Clinicians need guidelines and measures to know when negative thinking has reached a tipping point and has begun to spiral into clinical depression,” Zauszniewski says. She explains that the test needs to be able to figure out where negative thinking stops, and where clinical depression sets in.
Details of the new research appear in a paper entitled “Screening Measure for Early Detection of Depressive Symptoms: The Depressive Cognition Scale,” which is published in the latest issue of the Western Journal of Nursing Research.