Psychological test

Abstract

　Vestibular diseases are sometimes associated with comorbid psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety and depression. These conditions often exacerbate the bodily symptoms of vestibular patients, e.g., dizziness and vertigo. In such cases, treatment not only for the organic vestibular diseases, but also for the comorbid psychiatric conditions is important for relieving the bodily symptoms. Diagnosis of anxiety/depression should be based on the diagnostic criteria, however, psychological assessments using questionnaires are helpful as a screening tool in the clinical setting. In this review, several questionnaires for psychiatric assessments, including HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), SDS (Self-rating Depression Scale), STAI (State Trait Anxiety Inventory), MAS (Manifest Anxiety Scale), CMI (Cornel Medical Index), POMS (Profile of Mood States), and SRS-18 (Stress Response Scale-18), are described in brief, including the targeted diagnoses (anxiety, depression, mood, or stress), normal ranges of scores, and clinical usefulness in the vestibular research. These questionnaires should be used not only for patients with suspected psychiatric disorders, but also for those in seemingly normal mental health, since the latter patients also sometimes show abnormal responses to the questionnaires. In addition, psychiatric questionnaires are also useful for evaluating the treatment outcomes.