ABSTRACT
The accuracy of diagnostic identification by several systems ranged from about one quarter to one third of cases examined, not very far from chance expectation and too weak to be of value to the practicing clinician. The distinction between an inventory item that measures an immediate, momentary state and one that taps a chronic, continuing characteristic like a trait is ordinarily evoked by instructions to the respondent. Clinical usage suggests that the two most effective measures of anxiety among special scales are the Tryon, Stein, and Chu Tension Scale (TSC/T) and the Wiggins Phobias Scale (PHO). Depression, the most commonly used term in the psychopathology lexicon, is a vastly complex phenomenon. Depression as a mood is clearly a state. Trait depression is more difficult to conceptualize. The Subjective Depression subscale of Scale 2 (2SD) contains the depression items that deal with subjective feelings of unhappiness, guilt, worthlessness, and so on.
