DEPRESSIVE-DISORDERS IN THE MEDICALLY ILL - AN OVERVIEW

Depressive disorders are far more serious than most people realize, an d depressive disorders are disabling affected persons progressively ea rlier in life. Heavy utilization of medical services, extensive disabi lity and morbidity, and high suicide risk exact a staggering economic toll in the United States annually. Depressive illness is, like pneumo nia and septic shock, a dread complication of major medical illness, a nd depressive illness appears more frequently as the medical illness w orsens; diseases affecting the brain may have the highest rates of dep ressive symptoms. Correctly diagnosing a depressive disorder in a medi cally ill patient is a clinical challenge that requires systematic, pe rsistent clinical scrutiny. Compassion demands that depressive disorde rs, when diagnosed, be treated aggressively.