To study anxiety and depressive disorders in medical institutions, the Hads Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was invented. Anxiety is associated with increased activity of the autonomic nervous system, gloomy forebodings, and nervousness. The degree of anxiety is a kind of segment that conveys the degree of anxiety in a given period of time. Depression can affect the quality of life and affect physical he alth.
The Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale is very easy to use, any patient can easily cope with it in a short time. There are many different diagnostics to study the emotional state of a person and the level of illness of a patient.
Rules for using the Hads scale
An accurate diagnosis and the state of the emotional sphere of the patient helps the doctor to establish a hospital anxiety and depression scale. The interpretation of the results consists in summing the scores on the two parts of the scale. This test task has two components: the first - on anxiety, the second - ondepression. Each part consists of 7 items. It takes 12-15 minutes to complete them. Of the four response options, the patient must choose the most appropriate for his condition at the moment and mark with an icon.
If you have a hospital scale for depression and anxiety, then you should not think about the answers for a long time, since the result caused by the primary reaction will be the most correct.
How points are calculated
- A score between 0 and 7 indicates that there are no overt signs of depression or anxiety.
- If the indicators are from 8 to 10 points, then depression and anxiety are pronounced and require medical treatment. This condition implies the appointment of antidepressants.
- A score over 10 indicates a high degree of anxiety and depression and requires urgent hospitalization of the patient.
Each case is different: some may have more pronounced anxiety, others may have depression. The points of each part do not need to be summed up with each other.
The essence of questions for assessing the level of anxiety
- The question helps to find out how often the patient feels tense.
- Explores the level and frequency of fear experienced.
- Sets the degree of disturbing thoughts.
- Surveys how relaxed a person can be.
- Knows if the patient has symptoms such as trembling and tension.
- Determines the level of perseverance and the need for constant movement.
- Revealspresence of panic states.
What Depression Questions Reveal
- Determines whether the person is enjoying what they are doing at the moment.
- Finds out how much the patient can rejoice, perceive humor.
- Reveals if the person is in a state of alertness.
- Determines the state of the reaction.
- Reveals if the patient has a desire to take care of their appearance.
- Explores a person's desire to do what they love.
- Finds out how much the patient is interested in movies, books, music.
The study did not include questions related to cognitive and suicidal symptoms. The Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale is a kind of test that helps the doctor make an accurate diagnosis and find out the level of the disease. It should be remembered that anxiety and depressive disorders lead people to heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. They are also a common cause of suicide. At first, depression can disguise itself as a physical illness: a person’s blood pressure rises, severe headaches, and nausea appear. And only then there is anxiety, panic, fear. The Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale was invented to make it easier to recognize mental illness. This method has been successfully used by many specialists.