The antidepressant treatment utility of two self-report depression measures

Previous studies have been inconsistent in their attempts to use diagnoses or individual symptoms to successfully predict outcome for depressed inpatients. The present study tested the treatment utility of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Scale (FCPS) in predicting positive treatment outcome for depressed inpatients. Sixty-five depressed inpatients were evaluated before treatment on demographic and clinical characteristics, initial levels of depression severity, and degree of anhedonia. Predictions of depression and global outcome were conducted using stepwise multiple regressions, while controlling for the possible effects of pretreatment severity. In addition, prediction of dichotomized outcome was conducted utilizing one-way analysis of variance. Lower FCPS scores (greater anhedonia) were predictive of positive depression outcome, while the BDI scores were not uniquely predictive of depression or global outcome. In addition, a lack of previous psychiatric hospitalizations and a family history of psychiatric hospitalizations were predictive of global outcome. Future research directions and implications for treatment planning were discussed.