Pediatric ADHD

VADPRS (Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Parent Rating Scale) and VADTRS (Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Teacher Rating Scale)

These two rating scales (one for the parent and one for the teacher) collect key symptom information in two important settings—home and classroom. Each takes about 10 minutes for the parent or teacher to fill out and 5 minutes for the mental health professional to score.

Adult ADHD

ASRS (Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale)

This simple 18-item checklist takes just 5 minutes to complete, and produces an immediate score without need for numerical calculations. The first 6 questions are found to be most predictive of the disorder.

AIMS (Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale)

This tool helps to detect and assess the level of possible dyskinesias in patients taking antipsychotic medications. Comes complete with an instructional video showing what the symptoms look like and how to score them.

BPRS (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale)

This 18-item scale assesses the positive, negative and affective symptoms of individuals with psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia. Based on the clinician's interview and observations of the patient, it is useful for documenting the efficacy of treatment.

BSDS (Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale)

The 19-question items on this scale are helpful in detecting severe cases of bipolar disorder as well as patients who fall into the "softer" end of the bipolar spectrum. The scale takes only a few minutes to complete and includes 2 sections.

HAM-A (Hamilton Anxiety Scale)

This widely used scale measures the severity of a patient's anxiety, based on 14 parameters including mood, tension, fears and somatic complaints. It is useful mainly for assessing a patient's response to therapy or drug treatment.

HAM-D (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale)

This 21-item scale has become the standard for rating a patient's level of depression before, during and after treatment. Based on a patient interview, it takes 15-20 minutes to complete.

Jay M. Pomerantz, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School, Boston

A large number of psychiatric tests, scales, and forms have been created over the years to help in diagnosing mental illness and assisting in treatment and follow-up. This Web-based service offers copies of some of the most popular and useful instruments. The hope is that healthcare professionals—whether in specialty practices, primary-care settings, or emergency services—will find this format convenient and useful, allowing them to find the right instrument quickly, print it out for immediate use with patients, and add the findings to their records. Since most of the tools are designed for repeated use over time, they will provide not only a longitudinal view but also document the medical record.

In addition to the forms themselves, you will find instructions on how to administer and score the scales as well as related articles and links to other useful guidance. When appropriate, we will supply video resources for additional insights.

These scales have demonstrated high levels of accuracy and validity and the results can give important clues to possible mental disorders that warrant follow up. However, please remember that they depend on the skills of the clinicians administering them and the accuracy of the information provided by the patients.