Guide to Assessment Scales in Major Depressive Disorder

Introduction to assessment in depression.- Observer rating scales.- Self-rating Scales.- Assessment of pediatric depression.- Assessment scales for geriatric patients.- Appendices A-D.

George Alexopoulos, MD, is SP Tobin and AM Cooper Professor of Psychiatry, founder and director of the Weill-Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, and director of the Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research in Geriatric Mood Disorders at Cornell University, New York, USA. Dr Alexopoulos received his MD from the National University of Athens, Greece, trained at New Jersey Medical School, and completed his psychiatric residency at Cornell University Medical College, where he completed a research fellowship in Psychobiology. Dr Alexopoulos has made fundamental contributions to the study of the biology of late-life depression including identifying brain mechanisms contributing to poor response to antidepressant drugs, development of new treatments for patients with depression and severe medical illnesses, and improving the practice model for the identification and treatment of depression in primary care. Dr Alexopoulos has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health and has received four consecutive Center Grant Awards from the National Institute of Mental Health and numerous individual grants. He has been the Director of the T32 NIMH Research Fellowship in Geriatric Mood Disorders since 1989. Dr Alexopoulos is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, American College of Psychiatrists (ACP), and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He has received several awards, including an APA Presidential Commendation, the Research Award of the International College of American College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology, the APA Greenberg Award, the ACP Geriatric Research Award, the Joseph Zubin Research Award of the American Psychopathological Association, the APA Distinguished Psychiatrist Lecturer Award, and the Senior Investigator's Award of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Dr Alexopoulos is the editor of the International Journal of