Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS; Posner et al., 2011)

The C-SSRS is a 20-item clinician-report measure assessing the severity of suicidal behavior and ideation in adolescents and adults. The C-SSRS can be used as a screening tool (Center for Suicide Risk Assessment, Columbia University, 2013), and to monitor symptom changes over time (Posner et al., 2011). The C-SSRS consists of subscales on the severity of ideation, the intensity of ideation, suicidal behavior, and lethality, as well as versions for varying time periods and settings. Respondents are asked to rate items on varying ordinal and nominal scales, depending on the subscale and level of behavior. The C-SSRS demonstrates adequate to excellent internal consistency (α = .73-.93; Posner et al., 2011). The C-SSRS demonstrates convergent validity (Posner et al., 2011) with the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI; Beck, Kovacs, & Weissman, 1979), the suicidal ideation item on the MADRS (Montgomery & Asberg, 1979), and the suicide item on the BDI (Beck et al., 1961). In addition, the C-SSRS demonstrated divergent validity with somatic depression items on both the MADRS and BDI. Although it is not required for clinical use, free online training is available on the C-SSRS’s website. The scale is available in 103 languages. The measure is available online (http://www.cssrs.columbia.edu).