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The Measurement of Pessimism: The Hopelessness Scale

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Aaron T. Beck
Aaron T. Beck
Aaron T. Beck
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Arlene Weissman at American college of Physicians
Arlene Weissman
David Lester at Stockton University
David Lester
Larry Trexler
Larry Trexler
Larry Trexler
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
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Abstract

Administered a scale designed to quantify hopelessness to 294 hospitalized suicide attempters, 23 general medical outpatients, 62 additional hospitalized suicide attempters, and 59 depressed psychiatric patients. The scale had a Kuder-Richardson-20 internal consistency coefficient of .93 and correlated well with the Stuart Future Test (SFT) and the pessimism item of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; .60 and .63, respectively). The scale was also sensitive to changes in the patient's state of depression over time, as evidenced by a correlation of .49 with change scores on the SFT and .49 with the change scores on the BDI. Findings also indicate that depressed patients have an unrealistically negative attitude toward the future and that seriousness of suicidal intent is more highly correlated with negative expectancies than with depression. A principal-components factor analysis revealed 3 factors which tapped affective, motivational, and cognitive aspects of hopelessness. (16 ref)
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... The BDI has excellent internal consistency and good concurrent validity when used with psychiatric patients (Beck et al., 1988a, b). The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS; Beck et al., 1974) was used to assess feelings of pessimism about the future. The BHS is a 20-item, true or false, self-report measure with scores ranging from 0 to 20 and higher scores reflecting increased levels of hopelessness. ...
... The BHS is a 20-item, true or false, self-report measure with scores ranging from 0 to 20 and higher scores reflecting increased levels of hopelessness. The measure demonstrates good reliability and convergent validity in depressed and suicidal patients (Beck et al., 1974). The Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI; Beck et al., 1979) is a 19-item, clinician-administered measure designed to assess the intensity of suicidal ideation. ...
Examining the Occurrence and Clinical Impact of Difficult Experiences that Emerge During a Mindfulness-Based Intervention Among Individuals at High Risk of Suicide
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2024
  • Mindfulness
Objectives Experiences of difficulty (e.g., anxiety, difficult emotions) can occur during mindfulness practice. This study characterized the occurrence of such difficulties, defined as abnormal distress, dysregulation, or agitation, among high-suicide-risk participants during a mindfulness-based intervention. The study also evaluated whether mindfulness difficulties were associated with baseline differences or poorer outcomes during follow-up. Method Participants (n = 50; mean age = 49 years, 84% male, 24% Latinx) were from the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Prevention (MBCT-S) trial. Occurrences of mindfulness difficulties were identified via systematic review of progress notes. Serious clinical outcomes (suicidal events, suicide attempts, and psychiatric hospitalizations) were tracked over 12 months follow-up. Participants experiencing difficulties during MBCT-S were compared to those who did not on baseline characteristics and serious clinical outcomes. Incidence density sampling and Cox proportional regression analyses tested whether experiencing difficulties during mindfulness increased the risk of subsequent serious clinical outcomes. Results Eighteen percent of participants had difficulty during mindfulness practice, which mostly included experiences of anxiety or hallucinations. Those experiencing difficulty showed several diagnostic differences at baseline, but were not at significantly greater risk of a suicidal event, HR 0.62 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.14–2.71) or an acute psychiatric hospitalization, HR 0.85 (95% CI, 0.19–3.82). There were no suicide attempts among the nine participants who experienced mindfulness difficulty, compared to five suicide attempts in those without mindfulness difficulty. Conclusions Difficulties during mindfulness practice were common, but did not show increased risk of serious clinical outcomes in participants at high risk of suicide. Preregistration This study reports findings from a secondary analyses of a randomized clinical trial that was preregistered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01872338).
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... Hypomania (Ma): T= 68, moderate score. BHS [19] Translated and adapted to Portuguese by Cruz (1992); [21] Total score = 13, indicating moderate hopelessness [14]. Considering that the cutoff point is 9, the score obtained indicates a worrying value since scores above the cutoff point detect the presence of worrying levels of hopelessness, indicating the need to detect suicidal ideation [20]. ...
Pain Management: A Psychological Clinical Case in Hospital Care of CBT-Brief Therapy
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2024
This work presents a clinical case of Mrs. T., a 48-year-old female patient referred by the family doctor at the health center in her area of residence for control of right tibiotarsal pain. She fractured her right fibula and tibia, resulting in a plate and screws being placed in her foot. As a result of this fracture, he presented intense complaints to his family doctor, especially during his mobilization, who turned to Pain Medicine to help control the pain. Eight weekly sessions were held. Research shows that CBT-brief therapy is more effective in a hospital context and Mrs T. had CBT-brief therapy. Pre and post psychological assessment were used, and the results show a significantly clinical improvement in depression and anxiety scales as well as in coping pain strategies. Chronic pain is characterized by persistent or recurrent pain that lasts three or more months [1]. Some constraints that chronic pain causes in an individual’s life are recognized, namely: (a) changes in sleep and appetite, (b) emotional variations, (c) concentration difficulties, (d) lack of motivation, (e) inactivity, among others and also for public health, especially with the effective increase in medical costs for patient intervention and the possibility of removal from work [2]. The worsening of these conditions tends to occur due to the accumulation of failed attempts to control pain, which leads most individuals to express feelings of hopelessness and consider giving up. Consequently, we are witnessing the development of comorbidities, particularly with depressive and anxious conditions, which promote the adoption of dysfunctional coping strategies such as avoidance and escape. In cases of chronic pain, it is not uncommon to identify possibilities for patients to seek secondary gains from pain, usually associated with time off work or receiving extra attention from their close circle [1] (Hanson & Gerber, 1990). Keywords: HLA-B27; Bamboo spine; Prishta Basti; Erandmooladi Niruh Basti; BASDAI score Abbreviations: AS: Ankylosing Spondylitis; HLA: Human Leukocyte Antigen; NSAIDs: Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs; DMARDs: Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs; ESR: Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate; CRP: C-Reactive Protein; BASDAI: Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index
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... De acuerdo con la "Guía de Práctica Clínica de Prevención y Tratamiento de la Conducta Suicida" (2020)[101], del "Ministerio De Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad" de España, dentro de las escalas auto-aplicadas recomendadas, se encuentra la "Escala de desesperanza de Beck", validada para Chile [102]. La "Beck Hopelesness Scale (BHS)" [103], fue diseñada para medir el grado de pesimismo personal y las expectativas negativas hacia el futuro inmediato y a largo plazo. La desesperanza es uno de los factores de riesgo que más se han asociado a la conducta suicida. ...
RELACIÓN ENTRE RIESGO DE SUICIDIO, LA INTELIGENCIA EMOCIONAL RASGO, AUTOESTIMA Y EL BURNOUT ACADÉMICO EN ESTUDIANTES DE ENFERMERÍA
Thesis
Full-text available
  • Jun 2024
Los estudiantes de enfermería son una población vulnerable a problemas de salud mental, sufriendo múltiples afecciones. Estos alumnos presentan una susceptibilidad al desarrollo de ideación y conductas suicidas. Existen variados factores asociados; como son estrés, depresión, ansiedad, burnout académico, entre otros. Asimismo, coexisten numerosos factores preventivos, y entre ellos la inteligencia emocional rasgo y la autoestima aparecen como protectores ante estos riesgos. La educación en enfermería causa un aumento en los niveles de estrés y agotamiento con una correlación significativa entre el estrés y el agotamiento, situación que se mantiene desde antes de pandemia, durante ella y post-confinamiento. Por ello, considerando lo anterior, para la presente tesis doctoral por compendio de publicaciones se ha planteado un objetivo general: 1. Establecer la relación entre variables de riesgo de suicidio, inteligencia emocional rasgo, autoestima y burnout académico en estudiantes de enfermería en Chile en el entorno pandémico. Cada uno de estos artículos científicos, se han desarrollado con los siguientes objetivos específicos: a. Caracterizar la muestra en función de las variables sociodemográficas de los estudiantes de enfermería en Chile en el entorno pandémico. b. Describir el riesgo de suicidio en una muestra de estudiantes de enfermería en Chile en el entorno pandémico. c. Describir el nivel de Inteligencia Emocional rasgo de una muestra en estudiantes de enfermería en Chile en el entorno pandémico. d. Describir el nivel de autoestima de una muestra en estudiantes de enfermería en Chile en el entorno pandémico. e. Describir el nivel de burnout académico en una muestra de estudiantes de enfermería en Chile en el entorno pandémico. f. Establecer la correlación entre los riesgo de suicidio, inteligencia emocional rasgo, autoestima, y nivel de burnout académico en la muestra analizada en el entorno pandémico.
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... Participants were asked to complete the Japanese version of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) [30]. The BHS is a 20-item self-report scale developed by Beck et al. [31] to assess the level of despair about the future. Participants were asked to respond on a 2-point (true or false) scale, and the maximum score was 20 points. ...
Depression Accompanied by Hopelessness Is Associated with More Negative Future Thinking
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2024
Background: This study aimed to delineate the interplay between depression, hopelessness, and episodic future thinking (EFT), focusing on cognitive biases towards negative future thinking that are central to depressive symptomatically. Methods: A Japanese university student was utilized to scrutinize divergences in EFT across groups stratified by varying degrees of depression and hopelessness. The research leveraged a modified future thinking task (FTT), the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II to gauge participants’ levels of hopelessness and depressive symptoms. Results: Consistent with prior research, the non-depressed group showed a reduction in positive EFT, reinforcing the idea that diminished positive future thinking is a hallmark of depressive conditions, even in the absence of a clinical diagnosis. Moreover, individuals with comorbid depression and elevated hopelessness demonstrated a significant decrease in positive EFT and an increase in negative EFT, substantiating a distinctive cognitive profile for this subgroup. This finding suggests that the presence of hopelessness exacerbates the negative cognitive biases associated with depression. Conclusions: The study emphasizes the importance of considering hopelessness as an independent construct when assessing EFT in clinical contexts. The pronounced impact of hopelessness on future thinking in those with depression suggests that targeted interventions, such as future-directed therapy (FDT), may be particularly effective for individuals with hopelessness depression by focusing on modifying negative future thinking patterns and enhancing life quality.
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... Estimativas recentes apontam que, a cada ano, mais vidas são perdidas devido ao suicídio do que à malária, HIV/AIDS, câncer de mama, guerras e homicídios (OPAS, 2021). A diminuição das taxas de suicídio é um objetivo que está relacionado ao desenvolvimento sustentável de um país, sendo considerado, portanto, um importante parâmetro relativo à qualidade de vida da população e às chamadas causas de mortes evitáveis (OMS, 2023 (Beck et al., 1974). A pontuação, que varia de 0 a 20, classifica a desesperança em quatro níveis diferentes: mínimo (0-4 pontos), leve (5-8 pontos), moderado (9-13 pontos) e grave (14-20 pontos) (Cunha, 2001). ...
Padrão de comportamento impulsivo, de desesperança e de história de trauma na infância em uma amostra de pacientes com tentativa de suicídio do sul do brasil: um estudo do tipo caso-controle
Article
  • Jun 2024
O comportamento suicida inclui desde ideação à morte por suicídio. É um fenômeno multicausal sendo responsável por 800.000 mortes ao ano no mundo. Fatores psicopatológicos relacionados a traços de impulsividade, de sentimentos de desesperança e de adversidades na infância podem contribuir para a explicação deste comportamento. O objetivo do presente estudo foi comparar uma amostra de indivíduos com tentativas de suicídio (TS) e ideação suicida (IS) residentes na região do Vale do Taquari/RS com controles residentes na mesma região, levando em consideração o padrão de comportamento impulsivo, de desesperança e de história de trauma na infância por meio de escalas padronizadas. Esse trabalho é um estudo de caso-controle, no qual os instrumentos utilizados foram Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) e Questionário Sobre Traumas na Infância (QUESI). A amostra incluiu 170 indivíduos, sendo 119 com TS e/ou IS e 51 controles. A análise estatística utilizou Qui-Quadrado de Pearson ou Teste t de Student. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que indivíduos com sintomatologia de impulsividade motora (p<0,001), atencional (p=0,002) e de não planejamento (p=0,001), de desesperança (p<0,001) e com histórico de trauma na infância (p=0,001), estão em maior risco para o comportamento suicida quando comparados a controles. Esse estudo inédito aferiu comportamento impulsivo, desesperança e história de trauma na infância em uma amostra residente na região com maior prevalência de comportamento suicida no Brasil.
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The Beck Hopelessness Scale's psychometric features: A new short version based on item response theory
Article
  • Jun 2024
  • J AFFECT DISORDERS
Background The assessment of hopelessness plays a significant role in preventing various psychological disorders and major life events within the general population. However, the psychometric properties of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) have been a subject of controversy, primarily studied in clinical groups. The aim of the present study was to gain new psychometric insights and propose a new short version of the BHS for the general population using the Item Response Theory (IRT) approach. Methods A total of 2164 Argentinean individuals completed the BHS alongside the Inventory of Suicide Orientation-30. We compared IRT models with two and three parameters for the original BHS version, exploring the removal of redundant and less informative items. Convergent and discriminant validity was also examined. Results Our results support the 2PL model for the BHS-19. In addition, the BHS-10 short version adequately depicted the same range of the measured trait as the original version, showing reasonable measurement accuracy in the middle-high levels of the trait (marginal reliability = 0.70, Cronbach's α = 0.86). Notably, a positive correlation was found between the factorial score of BHS-10, BHS-19, and suicide orientation. Conclusions In conclusion, our findings support the use of a simplified version as a practical and valuable tool for both research and clinical practice in the future.
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Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Kişilik Tipleri, Kariyer Farkındalığı ve Gelecek Kaygıları Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi
Article
Full-text available
  • May 2024
Bu araştırma üniversite öğrencilerinin kişilik özelliklerinin, kariyer farkındalığı ve gelecek kaygıları arasındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesi amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma ilişkisel tarama modeli kullanılarak nicel araştırma yönteminde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Veri toplama aracı dört kısımdan oluşmakta olup, ilk kısımda katılımcıların demografik özelliklerine ilişkin sorular yer almaktadır. İkinci kısımda katılımcıların kişilik özelliklerinin belirlenmesi amacıyla “Beş Faktör Kişilik Ölçeği” kullanılmış, üçüncü kısımda katılımcıların kariyer farkındalıklarının belirlenmesi amacıyla “Mesleki Kariyer Farkındalığı Ölçeği” ve son olarak dördüncü kısımda ise “Beck Umutsuzluk Ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini Munzur Üniversitesinde önlisans bölümlerinde eğitim gören öğrenciler oluşturmaktadır. Katılımcıların cinsiyetlerine bakıldığında 211 kadın, 163 erkek öğrenci olmak üzere 374 öğrenci yer almaktadır. Elde edilen verilerin normallik analizi ile değerlendirilerek basıklık ve çarpıklık değerlerine bakılarak, verilerin normal bir dağılım gösterip göstermediği incelenmiş ve inceleme sonucunda verilerin normal dağılım gösterdiği sonucu elde edilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılım gösteren öğrencilerin demografik özelliklerinin ve belirleyici diğer özelliklerin ortaya konulmasında yüzde, ortalama, frekans ve standart sapma gibi ölçütler değerlendirmede yer almıştır. Verilerin normal dağılım göstermesinden dolayı araştırmada t-testi ve ANOVA testi kullanılmıştır. Ayrıca araştırmada yer alan kişilik özelliklerinin kariyer farkındalığı ve umutsuzluk üzerine etkilerinin belirlenmesi amacıyla da korelasyon analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre; kadın katılımcıların mesleki bilinçlerinin erkek katılımcılara göre daha yüksek olduğu, gelecekle ilgili duygular ve motivasyon kaybı açısından erkeklerin kadınlara göre umutsuzluklarının daha yüksek olduğu, mesleki hazır bulunmuşluk ve mesleki bilincin yaşı küçük olan öğrencilerin yüksek olan öğrencilerden daha yüksek olduğu, mesleki bilinç düzeyleri açısından aylık hane halkı geliri düşük olan öğrencilerin, gelir düzeyi yüksek olan öğrencilerden daha yüksek olduğu sonucuna varılmaktadır. Öğrencilerin kariyer farkındalığı arttıkça umutsuzluklarının azaldığı sonucuna ulaşılmaktadır.
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İyimserlik-Kötümserlik Ölçeği Türkçe Geçerlik Güvenirlik Çalışması
Article
  • May 2024
Bu çalışmada, Khalek ve Lester (2006) tarafından geliştirilen Arapça İyimserlik Kötümserlik Ölçeği’nin (The Arabic Scale of Optimism and Pessimism) Türkçe’ye uyarlama sürecindeki geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizlerine yer verilmiştir. Ölçek uyarlama çalışmasında keşfedici ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizleri için iki farklı örneklemden (N1 = 274, N2 = 310) veri toplanmıştır. Keşfedici faktör analizi sonucunda elde edilen iki faktörlü yapı (İyimserlik Kötümserlik), doğrulayıcı faktör analizi sonuçlarında doğrulanmıştır. Ölçeğin ölçüt bağımlı geçerliğini test etmek amacıyla mutluluk korkusu ölçeği ve Beck umutsuzluk ölçeğinden yararlanılmıştır. Güvenirlik analizleri için Cronbach alfa iç tutarlılık katsayısı incelenmiş ve ölçeğin alt faktörlerine ait Cronbach alfa değerlerinin sırasıyla, .937 (F1-İyimserlik Boyutu) ve .955 (F2-Kötümserlik Boyutu) şeklinde olduğu görülmüştür. Gerçekleştirilen analizler sonucunda İyimserlik Kötümserlik Ölçeği Türkçe Formunun “iyimserlik” ve “kötümserlik” olmak üzere iki faktörlü ve 27 maddeden oluşan yapısı ile Türkçe alan yazında yapılacak olan çalışmalar için geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçüm aracı olduğu görülmüştür.
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Future time perspectives in alcoholics and social drinkers
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 1968
33 ALCOHOLICS AND 33 SOCIAL DRINKERS MATCHED FOR AGE, SEX, OCCUPATION, AND MARITAL STATUS WERE COMPARED USING WALLACE'S METHOD OF MEASURING FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE ALCOHOLICS HAD SUBSTANTIALLY LESS EXTENSIVE AND LESS COHERENT PERSPECTIVES. A CORRELATION BETWEEN AGE AND EXTENSION FOR THE ALCOHOLICS INDICATES THAT THE DEFICIENCY MAY DEVELOP AS A RESPONSE TO PROBLEM DRINKING RATHER THAN BEING A SELECTIVE FACTOR IN ITS DEVELOPMENT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
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Thinking and Depression
Article
  • Jun 1964
  • ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT
The cognitive distortions and the idiosyncratic thought content of depressed patients have been described by me in a previous article.2 It was suggested on the basis of clinical observation that many of the phenomena in depression may be characterized in terms of a thought disorder. This conclusion was drawn from the consistent finding of systematic errors, such as arbitrary inferences, selective abstraction, and overgeneralization in the idiosyncratic conceptualizations of the depressed patients.The present paper will present a theoretical analysis of the thinking disorder observed in depressed patients. The formulations will be limited to a few broad areas in which the relevant clinical material was considered adequate to warrant a formal theoretical exposition. The discussion will be directed toward two salient problems: first, how the typical idiosyncratic content and cognitive distortions become dominant during the depressed phase; secondly, the relationship
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Hopelessness, Depression, and Attempted Suicide
Article
  • May 1973
Surveyed 68 14-63 yr old suicide attempters admitted consecutively to a general hospital over a 6-mo period, using interviews and clinical, historical, psychiatric, and psychometric data. A component of the depression syndrome-the cognitive element of negative expectations-was identified as a stronger indicator of suicidal intent than depression itself. This not only suggests a solution to the puzzling question of why there is a relationship between depression and suicide, but also indicates that approaches specifically designated to alleviate hopelessness may be successful in preventing suicide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Types of Hopelessness in Psychopathological Process
Article
  • Jul 1969
  • ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT
It is memory that gives us the power of foresight: We push into the future with images in which we fixed the past. Full consciousness therefore looks both ways, and its most important look ... is into the future. All biological processes are directed toward the future, but man is distinguished by being consciously directed−his consciousness includes the future. J. Bronowski1
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A Time Perspective and Suicide Potential
Article
  • Sep 1970
  • ARCH GEN PSYCHIAT
LATEST statistics regarding the suicide rate in the United States list 24,000 per year, ranking suicide at least tenth as a cause of death. It is not generally recognized that suicide ranks at least fourth in the young, productive ages (18 to 45), this rate having increased considerably in the last ten years.1 Since many suicides are never recorded as such, and still many other accidental deaths are considered equivocal as to cause (such as many of the 53,000 auto fatalities last year), the actual number of suicides has been conservatively estimated by some to be 60,000 or even 80,000 per year.2,3 The number of suicide gestures or attempts has likewise been judged to be at least several times the above cited rate, or over 150,000 per year.3-4 The resultant waste of human resource is immeasurable, as is the trauma experienced by the survivors of the person
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