Depressive disorders in primary health care: Practice of diagnosis and treatment

93 general practitioners participating in a WHO field trial testing the ICD -10-primary health care classification system in German-speaking countries completed a questionnaire dealing with their practice of diagnosis and trea tment of patients with depressive disorders. There was a great variety of d iagnoses that were often vague. Counselling tended to be "good advice" inst ead of specific intervention. Antidepressant medication mostly consisted of tricyclic antidepressants in rather low dosages. Only few of the general p ractitioners informed patients thoroughly about side-effects and risks of a ntidepressant medication.