Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Expanded BPRS-E

What is BPRS-E

The 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Expanded Version (BPRS-E) provides a highly efficient, rapid evaluation procedure form assessing symptom change in psychiatric patients. It yields a comprehensive description of major symptom characteristics. The BPRS-E assesses a wide range of psychopathology including symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychosis, mania, and withdrawal. Ratings are based on patient report and observation of the patient during the interview. The BPRS (Overall and Gorham 1962) originally contained 16 symptom categories and was later expanded to 18 items (Guy 1976). The items are rated on a 1- to 7- point scale of increasing severity. Included in these scales are the psychotic symptoms of greatest importance for assessing the clinical condition of schizophrenic patients, i.e., hallucinations, unusual thought content (including delusions), and conceptual disorganization (including incoherence). The BPRS was designed originally for use by clinical observers of inpatient psychiatric populations in psychopharmacological outcome studies.

BPRS-E Printable PDF

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BPRS-E Scoring and Interpretation

The BPRS-E consists of 24 symptom constructs. The rater should enter a number ranging from 1 (not present) to 7 (extremely severe). 0 is entered if the item is not assessed.

Total BPRS-E Score = Sum the scores from the 24 items.

Graphing of symptomatology can provide vivid representations of the relationships between specific types of symptoms (e.g., hallucinations) and other variables of interest, such as (1) medication type and dose, (2) changes in psychosocial treatment and rehabilitation programs, (3) the use of "street" drugs or alcohol, (4) life events, and (5) other environmental or familial stressors. Repeated measurement and graphing of symptoms over time can be done for individual items (e.g., anxiety or hallucinations), or for clusters of symptoms (e.g., psychotic index). Such clusters can be chosen from factor analyses of earlier versions of the BPRS (Guy, 1976; Overall, Hollister, and Pichot, 1967; Overall and Porterfield, 1963).

The BPRS-E consists of 24 symptom constructs, each to be rated on a 7-polnt scale of severity ranging from "not present" to "extremely severe." The items are rated on a 1- to 7- point scale of increasing severity. If a specific symptom is not rated, mark "NA" (not assessed).

PsyPack can automatically score the BPRS-E assessment and prepare corresponding tables and graphs.

Further, PsyPack automatically plots a graph to help you easily track progress over time.

Sample Report of BPRS-E

Domain

Schizophrenia, Psychotic Disorders

What does BPRS-E measure

The purpose of the evaluation is to:

wide range of psychopathology, and
assessing symptom change in psychiatric patients.

Administration

Clinician-administered

Type of outcome tool

Clinical

Assessment modes

Questionnaire

Age and eligibility

Adults

Estimated time

10 to 40 minutes

Notes

Clinician's administration may influence the subject by how they explain the question. Interpretation of the subjects response may also be hindered by the clinician even when methods are present to prevent interviewer biases.

Please familiarize yourself with BPRS-E manual (Ventura et al. 1993).

Attribution and References

Lukoff, D., Nuechterlein, K.H., Ventura, J. (1986) Manual for the Expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Schizophrenia Bulletin 12: 594-602.

Archived link

Ventura, J., Green, M. F., Shaner, A., & Liberman, R. P. (1993). Training and quality assurance with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale: "The drift busters." International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 3(4), 221–244.

Archived link

Lukoff D, Liberman RP, Nuechterlein KH. Symptom monitoring in the rehabilitation of schizophrenic patients. Schizophr Bull. 1986;12(4):578-602. doi: 10.1093/schbul/12.4.578. PMID: 3810065.

Archived link