The Depression - Happiness Scale and Quality of Life in Patients with Remitted Depression

With the aim of studying validity of Depression-Happness Scale (D-HS) in the assessment of bipolarity of affect in patients with remitted depression and its impact on quality of life, 31 patients of both genders, aged 17 to SO , fulfilling the ICD-10 criteria for recurrent deppressive disorder and bipolar affective disorder, currently severe depression and single episode severe depression were included in the study. Patients were rated on Hamilton Depression Scale (HDRS) on the third day of their admission.After treatment, when patients had remitted (either symptom free or 50% reduction in HDRS scores), D-HS and WHOBREF QOL were administered. Results indicated that the D-HS is valid measure of bipolar affect. Its correlation with final HDRS scores (r=-.356;P< 05) and overall quality of life (r=.46;P< .0l) confirm the convergent and construct validity of D-HS . Implications are discussed along with the possibility of using D-HS for clinical and research purpose.