TY - JOUR T1 - Diagnosing Depression Among New Patients In Ambulatory Training Settings JF - The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice JO - J Am Board Fam Med SP - 91 LP - 97 DO - 10.3122/jabfm.1.2.91 VL - 1 IS - 2 AU - Marian Block AU - Herbert C. Schulberg AU - John C. Coulehan AU - Maureen McClelland AU - William Gooding Y1 - 1988/04/01 UR - http://www.jabfm.org/content/1/2/91.abstract N2 - A research-validated instrument, based upon the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III, is used as a “gold standard” to compare physician assessments of depression. Twenty-seven of 294 patients (9.2 percent) presenting to three primary care clinics for the first time met clinical criteria for a depressive disorder. Although the 27 depressed patients differed from the nondepressed patients on sociodemographic characteristics, prior service utilization patterns, and clinical variables, only 7 of the 27 were diagnosed as depressed by their primary care physicians. Factors associated with accurate assessment include comment in the patient’s chart of a prior psychiatric history. Many depressed patients reporting high levels of dysphoria on a screening instrument had no mood symptoms recorded on their charts. ER -