Part 1: It is Time to Bring Depression Out of the Closet

Abstract

GPs often avoid (and neglect!) patients with depressive disease. This may be the result of medical training. As students they only depressed patients in "Mental Institutions''- and these are not the same category of patients who come to them in their practices, Students are being trained diagnose depression by exclusion, thus creating the impression it is a less significant disease. There is a great need lo train students "hands-on" in ibis field la change their bias against mental diseases, show them that depression is a legitimate organic disease with significant biochemical abnormalities- a disease with needs not only insight into a life style, but sometimes aggressive treatment with a follow-up programme to prevent relapses.