Depression

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder in children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Primary care providers, not mental health professionals, treat the majority of patients with symptoms of depression. Persons who are depressed have feelings of sadness, loneliness, irritability, worthlessness, hopelessness, agitation, and guilt that may be accompanied by an array of physical symptoms as well as substance abuse. Identifying patients with depression and substance abuse can be difficult in busy primary care settings where time is limited, but certain depression/substance abuse screening tools may help diagnose the disorder.

Discuss a screening tool that can be used in the primary care setting that can help with the identification of patients with depression and or substance abuse. What is your responsibility as a primary care provider to this patient once a disorder has been identified?

About one page in length. At least 3 references, not older than 5 years old.

Answer preview

Choosing the correct tool to screen depression needs to be of high sensitivity, giving a quick indication of whether we will need further screening. It requires good content validity, inter-rater reliability, and reliable over time. It would be best to individualize each assessment to recognize cultural differences, age-specific issues, and intellectual impairments. Self-rated screening tools are the best when doing a primary depression screening. For example, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale measures symptoms of anxiety and depression (Uljarević, Richdale, McConachie, Hedley, Cai, Merrick, & Le Couteur, 2018). In this case, the patient answers simple questions to determine behavioral changes getting the answers directly from the source.

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