RECOGNIZING AND MANAGING DEPRESSION IN PRIMARY-CARE

Depression is a common disorder in the primary care setting; it is ass ociated with considerable distress and dysfunction. The management of depressed primary care patients can be complicated by the fact that th ese patients may lack insight into the cause of their symptoms and rep ort only the somatic manifestations of their disorder to their physici ans. Primary care patients may also be reluctant to accept a diagnosis of depression or referral to a mental health specialist. Primary care physicians may feel thy lack the time or the training to adequately a ddress their patients' depressive disorders. This paper presents a mod el for identifying, evaluating, and treating depression which has been specifically developed to help primary care physicians overcome these barriers.