What is Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form?

The Geriatric Depression Scale: Short Form is a 15-question screening tool for depression in older adults that takes five to seven minutes to complete and can be filled out by the patient or administered by a provider with minimal training in its use.

When using the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form which does a score of 1 to 5 indicate?

Scores of 0-4 are considered normal, depending on age, education, and complaints; 5-8 indicate mild depression; 9-11 indicate moderate depression; and 12-15 indicate severe depression.

What GDS 15?

Background: The 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) is a widely used screening instrument for depressive symptoms in the elderly, but its ability to detect alterations in depressive symptoms over time has not been established.

Can the elderly take antidepressants?

Choice of antidepressant The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the newer antidepressants buproprion, mirtazapine, moclobemide, and venlafaxine (a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor or SNRI) are all relatively safe in the elderly.

How is the GDS 30 scored?

On the full 30-question long-form, a score is considered normal if it’s between 0–9; an indicator of mild depression is between 10–19, and a positive for severe depression is between 20–30. If you’re using the five-item version, a score of two or more is indicative of depression.

Can my depression be cured?

While depression can be treated, and symptoms can be alleviated, depression cannot be “cured.” Instead, remission is the goal. There’s no universally accepted definition of remission, as it varies for each person. People may still have symptoms or impaired functioning with remission.

Which antidepressant should be avoided in elderly?

Tricyclic antidepressants, especially amitriptyline and dothiepin,16 are known to pose a high risk of death in overdosage. These drugs should therefore be avoided in older people whose medication is not supervised and who are at risk of taking an overdose.

How to use the Geriatric Depression Scale short form?

Geriatric Depression Scale (short form) 1 Tools may be copied without permission Instructions: Circle the answer that best describes how you felt over the past week. 1. Are you basically satisfied with your life? yes no 2. Have you dropped many of your activities and interests? yes no 3. Do you feel that your life is empty?

What are the cut off scores for depression?

Cut-off scores for different severities of depression are as follows: For the long form: Normal 0 – 10, Mild 11 – 20, Moderate to Severe 21 – 30. For the short form: Normal 0 – 4, Mild 5 – 9, Moderate to Severe 10 – 15.

Is there a Greek version of the Depression Scale?

Greek Version in Word format for Mac .hqx from Dr Alexis Benos of Medical Dept, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki P.O.Box 1689 54006 Thessaloniki Greece. Note, I do not have the right font for this and it only seems to work on my Mac.

Where can I find the Chinese Depression Scale?

Chinese Version in .gif format from Dr. Hing-chu B. Lee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the Clinical Gerontologist. Chinese Version in .gif format source unknown.