Skip to ContentGo to accessibility pageKeyboard shortcuts menu
OpenStax Logo
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

A | Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale

Psychiatric-Mental Health NursingA | Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale

The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) is an assessment tool to be administered by a mental health professional who has been trained in its application. It is used in clinical treatment and in research. The scale ranks symptoms such as depression, anxiety, or psychosis on a scale of 1, if symptoms are not present, to 7, if symptoms are severe. The BPRS can be useful to determine baseline symptoms or treatment effect. There are different formats of the instrument; some with ranking by numbers and some with terms, such as mild, moderate, and severe. Items on the scale indicate interview as the assessment technique, though some are answered through rater observation. Family report may also provide assessment data.

A form used to assess the psychiatric status of a client. It assesses somatic concern, anxiety, emotional withdrawal, conceptual disorganization, guilt feelings, tension, mannerisms and posturing, grandiosity, depressive mood, hostility, suspiciousness, hallucinatory behavior, motor retardation, uncooperativeness, unusual thought content, blunted affect, excitement, and disorientation from 1 to 7.
Figure A1 The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale was first published in 1962 and revised in 1965. (credit: “Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale” by Overall and Gorham, Public Domain)
Citation/Attribution

This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's permission.

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychiatric-mental-health/pages/1-introduction
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychiatric-mental-health/pages/1-introduction
Citation information

© Jun 25, 2024 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.