The Depression Anxiety
Stress
Scales

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Depression
Anxiety
Stress
Scales
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A short history of Emotion Research

The history of emotions is a field of historical research concerned with human emotion, especially variations among cultures and historical periods in the experience and expression of emotions. 

Similar to the sociology of emotions or anthropology of emotions, the history of emotions is based on the assumption that not only the expression of feelings but also the feelings themselves are learned. Culture and history are changing and so are feelings as well as their expression. The social relevance and potency of emotions are historically and culturally variable. In the view of many historians, emotion is, therefore, just as fundamental a category of history, as class, race or gender.

Recent years
Recent years

Emotionology and methodical approaches

A number of different methodological approaches have been discussed in recent years. Some historians of the emotions limit their research to the historical analysis of emotional norms and rules under the heading of emotionology. Particularly in the recent past, however, the methodological spectrum of the history of emotions has expanded to include performative, constructivist and practice theory approaches. Currently fundamental methodological concepts include: emotives, emotional habitus and emotional practice. Additionally there are several terms that describe the different scope and binding effect of feeling cultures such as emotional community, emotional regime, and emotional style. More recently, the history of emotions has engaged with recent social and cultural turns in the neurosciences, positing the history of emotions as a component part of a broader biocultural historicism.

Depression Anxiety Stress Scales Details

The DASS is a set of three self-report scales designed to measure the negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. The DASS was constructed not merely as another set of scales to measure conventionally defined emotional states, but to further the process of defining, understanding, and measuring the ubiquitous and clinically significant emotional states usually described as depression, anxiety and stress. The DASS should thus meet the requirements of both researchers and scientist-professional clinicians.Each of the three DASS scales contains 14 items, divided into subscales of 2-5 items with similar content.

The Depression scale assesses:

  • dysphoria
  • hopelessness
  • devaluation of life
  • self-deprecation
  • lack of interest/involvement
  • anhedonia
  • inertia.

The Anxiety scale assesses:

  • autonomic arousal
  • skeletal muscle effects 
  • situational anxiety
  • the subjective experience of anxious affect.

The Stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. It assesses:

  • nervous arousal
  • being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive and impatient.
Subjects are asked to use 4-point severity/frequency scales to rate the extent to which they have experienced each state over the past week.Scores for Depression, Anxiety and Stress are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items.The DASS-21 is based on a dimensional rather than a categorical conception of psychological disorder. The assumption on which the DASS-21 development was based (and which was confirmed by the research data) is that the differences between the depression, anxiety and stress experienced by normal subjects and clinical populations are essentially differences in degree. The DASS-21, therefore, has no direct implications for the allocation of patients to discrete diagnostic categories postulated in classificatory systems such as the DSM and ICD.

About Depression, Anxiety and Stress

Featured image for Depression article | Edvard Munch painting
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales
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Depression

Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity. It affects more than 280 million people of all ages (about 3.5% of the global population). Depression affects a person’s thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being. Depressed people often experience loss of motivation or interest in, or reduced pleasure or joy from, experiences that would normally bring them pleasure or joy. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments.

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Featured image for Anxiety article | Edvard Munch painting
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales
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Anxiety

Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat whereas the latter is defined as the emotional response to a real threat. It is often accompanied by nervous behavior such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints, and rumination.

Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing. It is often accompanied by muscular tension, restlessness, fatigue, inability to catch one’s breath, tightness in the abdominal region, nausea, and problems in concentration.

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Depression Anxiety Stress Scales
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Stress

In psychology, stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial, as it can improve athletic performance, motivation and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, can increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression and also aggravation of a pre-existing condition.

Psychological stress can be external and related to the environment, but may also be caused by internal perceptions that cause an individual to experience anxiety or other negative emotions surrounding a situation, such as pressure, discomfort, etc., which they then deem stressful.

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Featured image for Depression article | Edvard Munch painting
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales
admin

Depression

Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity. It affects more than 280 million people of all ages (about 3.5% of the global population). Depression affects a person’s thoughts, behavior, feelings, and sense of well-being. Depressed people often experience loss of motivation or interest in, or reduced pleasure or joy from, experiences that would normally bring them pleasure or joy. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments.

Read Article
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales
admin

Stress

In psychology, stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial, as it can improve athletic performance, motivation and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, can increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression and also aggravation of a pre-existing condition.

Psychological stress can be external and related to the environment, but may also be caused by internal perceptions that cause an individual to experience anxiety or other negative emotions surrounding a situation, such as pressure, discomfort, etc., which they then deem stressful.

Read Article
Featured image for Anxiety article | Edvard Munch painting
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales
admin

Anxiety

Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat whereas the latter is defined as the emotional response to a real threat. It is often accompanied by nervous behavior such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints, and rumination.

Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is only subjectively seen as menacing. It is often accompanied by muscular tension, restlessness, fatigue, inability to catch one’s breath, tightness in the abdominal region, nausea, and problems in concentration.

Read Article
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Books about Depression, Anxiety and Stress

If you are interested in gaining a more in-depth understanding of depression, anxiety and stress, here we offer you a selection of the most relevant and valuable books that explore the subjects and can aid you in your endeavour:

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References
Media Credits
  1. Featured image for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales: Shore with red house, painting by Edvard Munch.
  2. Featured image for Depression article: Melancholia, painting by Edvard Munch.
  3. Featured image for Anxiety article: Anxiety, painting by Edvard Munch.
  4. Featured image for Stress article: The Scream, painting by Edvard Munch.

Edvard Munch, Norwegian Painter

Edvard Munch (12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, The Scream (1893), has become one of Western art’s most iconic images.
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