Brief Symptom Inventory

Reference

Derogatis, L., & Melisarators, N. (1983). The Brief Symptom Inventory: an introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13(3), 595-605. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291700048017

List of questions

Question number	Question	Original 53-item version	5-item version
1	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Nervousness or shakiness inside	✓
2	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Faintness or dizziness	✓	✓
3	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: The idea that someone else can control your thoughts	✓
4	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling others are to blame for most of your troubles	✓
5	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Trouble remembering things	✓
6	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling easily annoyed or irritated	✓
7	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Pains in the heart or chest	✓	✓
8	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling afraid in open spaces	✓
9	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Thoughts of ending your life	✓
10	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling that most people cannot be trusted	✓
11	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Poor appetite	✓
12	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Suddenly scared for no reason	✓
13	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Temper outbursts that you could not control	✓
14	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling lonely even when you are with people	✓
15	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling blocked in getting things done	✓
16	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling lonely	✓
17	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling blue	✓
18	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling no interested in things	✓
19	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling fearful	✓
20	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Your feeling being easily hurt	✓
21	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling that people are unfriendly or dislike you	✓
22	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling inferior to others	✓
23	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Nausea or upset stomach	✓	✓
24	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling that you are watched or talked about by others	✓
25	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Trouble falling asleep	✓
26	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Having to check and double check what you do	✓
27	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Difficulty making decisions	✓
28	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling afraid to travel on buses, subways, or trains	✓
29	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Trouble getting your breath	✓	✓
30	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Hot or cold spells	✓	✓
31	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Having to avoid certain things, places, or activities because they frighten you	✓
32	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Your mind going blank	✓
33	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Numbness or tingling in parts of your body	✓
34	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: The idea that you should be punished for your sins	✓
35	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling hopeless about the future	✓
36	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Trouble concentrating	✓
37	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling weak in part of your body	✓
38	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling tense or keyed up	✓
39	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Thoughts of death or dying	✓
40	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Having urges to beat, injure, or harm someone	✓
41	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Having urges to break or smash things	✓
42	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling very self-conscious with others	✓
43	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling uneasy in crowds	✓
44	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Never feeling close to another person	✓
45	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Spells of terror or panic	✓
46	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Getting into frequent arguments	✓
47	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling nervous when you are left alone	✓
48	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Others not giving you proper credit for your achievements	✓
49	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling so restless you couldn't sit still	✓
50	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feelings of worthlessness	✓
51	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling that people will take advantage of you if you let them	✓
52	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: Feeling of guilt	✓
53	During the past 7 days, how much were you distressed by: The idea that something is wrong with your mind	✓

Use of this scale in CLOSER Discovery study questionnaires and datasets

Version	Study	Year	Questionnaire	Dataset
5-item version	HEAF	2013-2014	HEAF Baseline	HEAF Baseline Dataset
5-item version	HEAF	2014-2015	HEAF Follow-up 1	HEAF Follow-up 1 Dataset
5-item version	HEAF	2015-2016	HEAF Follow-up 2	HEAF Follow-up 2 Dataset