Behaviour research and therapy
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Comparative Study
Detecting depression in chronic pain patients: adequacy of self-reports.
Depression, a complex psychobiological syndrome, has been found to be prevalent among individuals with chronic pain problems. It has been repeatedly recommended that chronic pain patients be routinely screened for depression. Many self-report questionnaires have been used to screen for depression although few have addressed potential limitations of using a self-report questionnaire to identify depressed chronic pain patients. ⋯ The results support the predictive validity of the CES-D and suggest that a cut-off score of 19 should be used for diagnosing depression in chronic pain patients rather than the standard cut-off point of 16. Interestingly, the removal of the somatic items did not enhance the effectiveness of the CES-D. The discriminatory ability of somatic items with the total assessment of depression is discussed.