Study: Ask for antidepressants, get screened

Primary care doctors' track record when it comes to detecting classic symptoms of depression is mixed, at best. But at least one thing seems to capture their attention. When patients ask their doctor about antidepressants on their own initiative, they get more thorough depression screenings than those who don't ask, according to a new study by University of California at San Francisco researchers. The study used actors to portray one of two clinical presentations, either a patient with major depression and carpal tunnel syndrome, or another with an adjustment disorder and low back pain. Patients who asked about antidepressant in general were more likely to be asked questions related to depression histories than patients who didn't discuss these drugs. Oddly, if a patient asked for a brand-name depression drug, physicians showed very little inclination to ask additional depression screening questions. (Perhaps they assume that the patient is not really depressed, but has rather self-diagnosed from watching branded pharmaceutical ads?)

Learn more about this research:
- read this United Press International article