NR 547 Week 5 Discussion; Case Study - Evaluating the Hamilton Depression Scale

Screening Tool for Kristina’s Condition The primary tool that will be utilized in the diagnosis of mental health status of Kristin is the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. It's a multi-item survey that helps diagnose depression and monitor progress toward wellness. This scale has been published by Max Hamilton many times. Mood, guilt, suicidal ideation, sleeplessness, agitation or retardation, anxiety, weight loss, and somatic symptoms are some areas the questionnaire explores to determine the severity of depression in adults. Insomnia is given greater weight in the HRSD than despair, self-destructive ideas, or suicidal cognitions or behaviors, which has led to criticism of its use in therapeutic practice (Obeid et al., 2018). An antidepressant may register as less successful in treating the depression itself than it is, even if it increases suicidal thoughts but improves sleep or increases sexual and gastrointestinal symptom ratings as a side effect. The rationale for the Screening Tool Hamilton insisted that his scale was not meant to serve as a diagnostic tool, and he stood by that stance. The clinician assigns a score between 0 and 30 to 17 to 29 items (depending on the version) on a 3-point or 5-point Likert – type scale. It is subjected to the data provided by Kristin for the diagnosis of the condition she is suffering from. Based on the data, the following diagnostic criteria have been deduced. A score of 0-7 on the 17-item version is considered normal, while a score of 20 or greater is compelled to enter a diagnostic trial. Questions 18-20 may be documented to give additional data about the depressive episodes (such as whether diurnal variation or neurotic symptoms are present), but they are not part of the scale (Vindbjerg et al., 2019). For the interrogation, there is a pre-made interview guide. There have been variations of Hamilton’s scale with as many as 29 components (HRSD-29). Whereas the unstructured HDRS gives you a list of objects to rate, the structured HDRS could provide of the symptoms. The medicines will be subjected to the scale of the dynamic of symptom prevalence and pathological state.