DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE GERMAN VERSI ON OF THE BRIEF PSYCHIATRICRATING-SCALE (BPRS)

Since the early 1960s the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) has be en one of the most frequently used standardized methods in internation al psychiatric research. The BPRS is used mainly for the rating of psy chopathological symptoms of schizophrenic subjects. According to the r esults of factorial analyses, the original version of the BPRS is divi ded into five subscales, which have been preserved in the German trans lation. The validity of this original scale structure for the German B PRS version has not been investigated, however. A principal-components analysis of the 18 BPRS items carried out on the data of 301 schizoph renics yielded four factors that are comparable with four of the origi nal subscales: Thought disturbance, Hostility/suspiciousness, Anxiety/ depression, and Anergia. These results are compared with earlier findi ngs and similarities and differences are discussed.