Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)

John E. Overall, Donald R. Gorham · 1962

Classic multi-symptom clinician rating of psychopathology, recast for tagging symptom evidence in interview speech.

The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) is one of the oldest and most widely used clinician instruments for measuring overall psychopathology across psychotic and affective illness. This scale covers the core, speech- and content-localizable items that an annotator can ground in a transcript.

Most items are evidence-mode: highlight the passage that supports a rating of somatic concern, anxiety, guilt, grandiosity, depressive mood, hostility, or suspiciousness. Two items concern disordered form or content of thought — Conceptual Disorganization and Unusual Thought Content — and are more instance-like: mark the specific utterances that are disorganized or that voice a delusional idea. Some items overlap neighbours (anxiety vs inner tension, hostility vs suspiciousness) — see each item's Contrastive Learning section. Rate only the subject's presentation.

Domains (11)

Somatic ConcernSOM

Preoccupation with physical health or bodily complaints, whether or not medically grounded.

Curated skill
AnxietyANX

Worry, apprehension, or fear about the present or future, reported by the subject.

Curated skill
Emotional WithdrawalEWD

Deficiency in relating to the interviewer or the immediate situation; disengaged, remote.

Curated skill
Conceptual DisorganizationCDS

Disorganized thought shown by disconnected, tangential, or incoherent speech.

Curated skill
GuiltGLT

Self-reproach, remorse, or excessive concern for past acts, real or imagined.

Curated skill
GrandiosityGRN

Exaggerated self-opinion, inflated conviction of unusual ability, wealth, power, or identity.

Curated skill
Depressive MoodDEP

Despondency, sadness, or discouragement expressed by the subject.

Curated skill
HostilityHOS

Animosity, contempt, or belligerence toward others, expressed verbally.

Curated skill
SuspiciousnessSUS

Belief that others have or intend harm; mistrust ranging from wariness to persecutory delusion.

Curated skill
Unusual Thought ContentUTC

Unusual, odd, or bizarre beliefs and delusional ideas voiced in speech.

Curated skill
Blunted AffectBLA

Reduced emotional tone shown by diminished feeling, flat voice, and impassive expression.

Curated skill
Overall JE, Gorham DR. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychol Rep. 1962;10:799-812. doi:10.2466/pr0.1962.10.3.799

Overall & Gorham 1962; public domain. Cite Overall & Gorham.