RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
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
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 91
OP 97
DO 10.3122/jabfm.1.2.91
VO 1
IS 2
A1 Block, Marian
A1 Schulberg, Herbert C.
A1 Coulehan, John C.
A1 McClelland, Maureen
A1 Gooding, William
YR 1988
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/1/2/91.abstract
AB 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.