TPC-Journal-V4-Issue3

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 3 222 Self-Administered Measures . The Severity Measure for Depression—Adult and Severity Measure for Depression—Child Age 11–17 (Spitzer et al., n.d.-d, 2002), which were adapted from the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), include nine items rated from 0 ( not at all ) to 3 ( nearly every day ) with a time period of the past 7 days. The first two items on these measures are similar to the first two symptoms needed for major depressive disorder in the DSM-5 , both referring to depressed mood and decreased interest or pleasure (APA, 2013g). These measures include somewhat of a weight component similar to that of the DSM-5 , although the weight items on the measures examine appetite/overeating, while symptoms in the DSM-5 examine an extra component of weight loss/gain or appetite changes. The components regarding sleeping and psychomotor symptoms, fatigue, worthlessness, concentration and thoughts of death on the measures are all similar to criteria in the DSM-5 , although worded differently. Irritability is added to an item on the child measure (Spitzer et al., 2002), but was not included in the adult measure (Spitzer et al., n.d.-d). The child measure’s item on eating refers to “poor appetite, weight loss, or overeating,” (Spitzer et al., 2002) whereas the adult measure does not mention weight loss (Spitzer et al., n.d.-d); similarly, one DSM-5 criterion for major depressive disorder states, “in children, consider failure to make expected weight gain” (APA, 2013g, p. 161). In spite of a few differences, the Severity Measures for Depression are mostly consistent with DSM-5 criteria for major depressive disorder. The Severity Measure for Separation Anxiety Disorder—Adult and Severity Measure for Separation Anxiety Disorder—Child Age 11–17 (Craske et al., 2013g, 2013h) include 10 items examining the past 7 days based on a scale of 0 ( never ) to 4 ( all of the time ). The statements focus on separation and thoughts, behaviors and feelings behind the separation (Craske et al., 2013g, 2013h). The 10 items from the measure are mostly similar to criteria for separation anxiety disorder in the DSM-5 (APA, 2013g). Items 1 and 2 on the measures (which refer to terror, fear, fright, anxiety, worry and nervousness) appear similar to the distress from separation criteria in the DSM-5 with different wording. Thoughts of bad things happening, avoidance of places, physical symptoms of anxiety and difficulty sleeping are similar criteria to those in the DSM-5 . The four items included in the measures but not in the DSM-5 criteria are as follows: “when separated, left places early to go home,” “spent a lot of time preparing for how to deal with separation,” “distracted myself to avoid thinking about being separated,” and “needed help to cope with separation” (Craske et al., 2013g, 2013h). Although these measures and the DSM-5 contain similar criteria for separation anxiety disorder, the measure includes items that may not be congruent to DSM-5 criteria. The Severity Measure for Specific Phobia—Adult and Severity Measure for Specific Phobia—Child Age 11–17 (Craske et al., 2013k, 2013l) have 10 items that include five different groups of phobias, including (a) driving, flying, tunnels, bridges or enclosed spaces; (b) animals or insects; (c) heights, storms or water; (d) blood, needles or injections; and (e) choking or vomiting. The individual completing the form chooses one phobia and answers items according to that phobia on a scale of 0 ( never ) to 4 ( all of the time ; Craske et al., 2013k, 20131). The measures include more items than the criteria in the DSM-5 . Items 1 and 2 (terror, fear, fright; anxiety, worry, nervousness) on the measures resemble criterion A (fear or anxiety) in the DSM-5 for specific phobia (APA, 2013g, p. 197). Physical symptoms (e.g., racing heart, tense muscles) are not included in the DSM-5 criteria. Avoidance of a situation is included both in the measures and in the DSM-5 . The items in the measures which are not included in the DSM-5 are “spent a lot of time preparing for, or procrastinating about (i.e., putting off), these situations,” “distracted myself to avoid thinking about these situations” and “needed help to cope with these situations” (Craske et al., 2013k, 2013l). The specifiers in the DSM-5 (animal, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, situational and other) are similar to phobias included in the measures (APA, 2013g, p. 198). The DSM-5 states that “in children, the fear or anxiety may be expressed by crying, tantrums, freezing, or clinging” (APA, 2013g, p. 197), and this information is not included in the child version of this measure.