Main Entry: Beck Depression Inventory

Pronunciation: \ˈbek-\

Function: noun

: a standardized psychiatric questionnaire in which the subject rates each statement on a sliding scale and that is used in the diagnosis of depression

Beck, Aaron Temkin (born 1921), American psychiatrist. Beck held the concurrent positions of professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, section chief at Philadelphia General Hospital, and consultant to Philadelphia's Veterans Administration Hospital. His areas of research included depression, suicide, cognitive aspects of psychopathology, cognitive therapy, and anxiety and panic disorders. He developed his depression inventory in the 1970s as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool for the treatment of childhood mood disorders. It uses a total of eighteen criteria for depressive illness.