Treating Depression and Anxiety in Primary Care

Depression is one of the most common and most debilitating psychiatric disorders. It is usually recognized when patients present with clear-cut psychiatric symptoms, but many depressed patients have only physical symptoms for which no biologic cause can be found, and still others have symptoms out of proportion to the severity of their medical conditions. For the most part, depression is managed by primary care physicians. Unfortunately, the psychiatric problem frequently goes unrecognized, and even when the correct diagnosis is made, most patients are under-treated and continue to suffer. Improving the recognition and management of this condition is a worthy goal. . . .