Posted by JohnL on August 30, 2000, at 5:30:57
In reply to Are you depressed ? Ask the question !, posted by stjames on August 30, 2000, at 2:05:48
> I read a great study showing if doc's will just ask people
> "Are you or have you ever been depressed?" the sucsess of finding
> signifant depression goes up. Bedside manor helps. If a cold doc is wipping down a check list,
> no one says "Yes" or "I, don't know". I would like to see primary docs
> ask more questions of every patient, at least once while that person is in their care or every 5 years or so.I agree completely!
To take it one step further, I think each time a patient has a regular physical exam, they should also be given a depression inventory written test. Like the Beck's test, or the one at Depression Central. Something that can objectively identify depression, the severity of the depression, and the primary symptoms of that person's depression. But, when they are asked to take 5 minutes to fill out the test questions, any hint of depression in the test's title should be removed. The patient should not be aware they are taking a depression test. It should instead be viewed as a routine generic questionnaire that goes along with any physical exam.
It could very well pinpoint problems the doctor and the patient may never have identified otherwise. The test could easily, for example, identify problems in appetite, insomnia, depression, anxiety, occassional suicidal thoughts, productivity at work, etc. The patient might have some physical or mental problem that should be identified and addressed. It could highlight problems that were totally missed in casual questioning and missed in a physical exam.
poster:JohnL
thread:44042
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000822/msgs/44050.html