Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale

The Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (abbreviated MADRS) is a ten-item diagnostic questionnaire which psychiatrists use to measure the severity of depressive episodes in patients with mood disorders. It was designed in 1979 by British and Swedish researchers as an adjunct to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) which would be more sensitive to the changes brought on by antidepressants and other forms of treatment than the Hamilton Scale was. There is, however, a high degree of statistical correlation between scores on the two measures.