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    Psychosis · 18 items · 18–126 · Overall JE, Gorham DR. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychol Rep. 1962;10(3):799-812.

    Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale: Scoring, Cutoffs & Interpretation

    An 18-item clinician-rated measure of overall psychiatric symptom severity, spanning psychotic, affective and behavioural domains.

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    BPRS0 / 18

    Clinician-rated: complete each item yourself after interview and observation, not as a patient self-report. Rate every item on the same seven-point severity scale, from not present (1) to extremely severe (7), choosing the rating that best reflects the patient's current presentation.

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    01Somatic concern: preoccupation with physical health; fear of physical illness; hypochondriasis.
    02Anxiety: worry, fear or over-concern for the present or future.
    03Emotional withdrawal: lack of spontaneous interaction; isolation; deficiency in relating to others.
    04Conceptual disorganisation: thought processes confused, disconnected, disorganised or disrupted.
    05Guilt feelings: self-blame, shame or remorse for past behaviour.
    06Tension: physical and motor manifestations of nervousness and over-activation.
    07Mannerisms and posturing: peculiar, bizarre or unnatural motor behaviour.
    08Grandiosity: exaggerated self-opinion; conviction of unusual power or abilities.
    09Depressive mood: sorrow, sadness, despondency, pessimism.
    10Hostility: animosity, contempt, belligerence or disdain for others.
    11Suspiciousness: mistrust; belief that others harbour malicious or discriminatory intent.
    12Hallucinatory behaviour: perceptions without normal external stimulus correspondence.
    13Motor retardation: slowed or reduced movements or speech; reduced body tone.
    14Uncooperativeness: resistance, guardedness, rejection of authority.
    15Unusual thought content: unusual, odd, strange or bizarre thought content.
    16Blunted affect: reduced emotional tone; reduction in normal intensity of feelings; flatness.
    17Excitement: heightened emotional tone; agitation; increased reactivity.
    18Disorientation: confusion or lack of proper association for person, place or time.
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    02 - The clinician's brief

    Last reviewed: · Reviewed by Lotte Kjær Svalberg

    01 - Scoring & cutoffs

    How scoring works.

    Score
    Severity
    Interpretation
    18–30
    Not ill to minimally ill
    Overall symptom burden in the range Leucht et al. mapped to not ill or minimally ill on the CGI.
    31–40
    Mildly ill
    Symptoms present but of mild overall severity.
    41–52
    Moderately ill
    Moderate overall symptom severity; active treatment and review indicated.
    53–126
    Markedly ill or worse
    Marked or greater overall severity; intensive review of treatment and risk indicated.

    Bands follow Leucht et al. (2005), which mapped BPRS totals to Clinical Global Impressions severity ratings; a score of around 31 corresponds to mildly ill, 41 to moderately ill and 53 to markedly ill.

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