Since some sequelae of spinal cord injury (SCI) may be confused with s
ymptoms of depression, the use of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
in individuals with SCI may be problematic. We hypothesized that seven
BDI items would be poor discriminators between depressed and nondepre
ssed SCl subjects. To test this hypothesis, 124 veterans with SCI were
administered the BDI and were evaluated for the presence of a Major D
epressive Episode. Discriminant function analysis revealed that three
of the seven items were poor discriminators. Since clinicians are face
d with the dilemma of deciding whether endorsement of BDI items is ind
icative of depressive symptomatology or the sequelae of spinal cord in
jury, we derived cut scores appropriate for SCI patients. Data on the
sensitivity and specificity of these cut scores are provided.