Problems in the Use of Global Scores of Rating Scales in Psychiatric Research

The word “rating scale” is used in at least two different ways. In the strict sense a “rating scale” is concerned with the measurement of different degrees of severity of a single item, such as “mildly, moderately, severely depressed”. However, a list of such single rating scales has also come to be called a “rating scale”, which is a somewhat improper use of the word. Usually the “measurement” coming out of such a list (of single rating scales) is a total score.