Anxiety Depression Stress Scale (ADSS): A Factor Analytic Study

Everyone experiences anxiety, depression and stress at one time or another. Be it educated, professional, students or those living in marginalized existence, for almost all, it is an overwhelming experience predisposing them at times for emotional and psychiatric breakdowns and physical ailment at other point of time. Objective: To explore the factors underlying a scale to assess anxiety, depression and stress (Bhatnagar et.al, 2011). Sample: The factors underlying ADSS were assessed on both psychiatric and non psychiatric patients (972 non-psychiatric and 205 psychiatric individuals). Main Outcomes and Results: The scale developed and used in the present study had 48 items. The principal factoring with VARIMAX rotation yielded 3 factors in anxiety scale viz. physical symptoms, apprehension and dryness of mouth, 2 factors in depression scale viz. inertia-loss of interest and worth and poor emotional control and 2 factors in stress scale i.e. emotional arousal and negative life events. Conclusion: The need of the hour is to gear up efforts for accessibility of mental health services both in terms of screening, as well as, prevention and treatment.