Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-h5th4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-05T01:02:22.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Scale for the Assessment of Hedonic Tone the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

R. P. Snaith ,
M. Hamilton ,
S. Morley ,
A. Humayan ,
D. Hargreaves  and
P. Trigwell
R. P. Snaith*
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Clinical Sciences Building, St James's University Hospital, Leeds
M. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Clinical Sciences Building, St James's University Hospital, Leeds
S. Morley
Affiliation:
Leeds Regional Psychiatric Rotational Training Scheme
A. Humayan
Affiliation:
Leeds Regional Psychiatric Rotational Training Scheme
D. Hargreaves
Affiliation:
Leeds Regional Psychiatric Rotational Training Scheme
P. Trigwell
Affiliation:
Leeds Regional Psychiatric Rotational Training Scheme
*
Dr R. P. Snaith, Division of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Clinical Sciences Building, St James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Background

Hedonic tone and its absence, anhedonia, are important in psychopathological research, but instruments for their assessment are lengthy and probably culturally biased.

Method

A new scale was constructed from the responses of a large sample of the general population to a request to list six situations which afforded pleasure. The most frequent items were reviewed and those likely to be affected by cultural setting, age, or sex were removed. A pilot study led to an abbreviated scale of 14 items, covering four domains of pleasure response. This questionnaire was subjected to psychometric evaluation in new samples from the general population and psychiatric patients.

Results

The scale was found to have a score range that would distinguish a ‘normal’ from an ‘abnormal’ response. Validity and reliability were found to be satisfactory.

Conclusions

The new scale, the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), is an instrument which may be recommended for psychopathological research.

Information

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue 1 , July 1995 , pp. 99 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1982) Negative symptoms in schizophrenia: definition and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 784–788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birley, J. L. T. (1990) DSM–III: from left to right or from right to left? British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 116–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chapman, C., Chapman, J. P. & Raulin, M. L. (1976) Scales for physical and social anhedonia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 374–382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, C. G. (1992) Research on symptoms versus research in syndromes. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 304–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fawcett, J., Clark, D. C., Sheftner, A., et al (1983) Assessing anhedonia in psychiatric practice. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 79–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, D. (1972) Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guilford, J. P. (1954) Psychometric Methods (2nd edn). New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Hardy, P., Jouven, R., Lancrenon, S., et al (1986) L'échelle de plaisir-désplaisir. L'Encéphale, 12, 149–154.Google Scholar
Kazdin, A. E. (1989) Evaluation of the pleasure scale in the assessment of anhedonia in children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 364–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, D. F. (1974) Endogenomorphic depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 31, 447–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loas, G. & Piersen, A. (1989) L'anhédonie en psychiatrie: revue. Annales Medico-Psychologiques, 147, 705–717.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1962) Schizotaxia, schizotypy, schizophrenia. American Psychologist, 17, 827–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, S. A. & Åsberg, M. A. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 382–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snaith, R. P. (1993) Anhedonia: the forgotten symptom of psychopathology. Psychological Medicine, 23, 957–966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Praag, H. M. (1992) Reconquest of the subjective: against the waning of psychiatric diagnosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 266–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

This journal is not currently accepting new eletters.

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.