Annual screening day focuses on depression

Primary care outreach program is designed to help physicians incorporate mental health screening tools into their practices.

By Stephanie Stapleton, AMNews staff. Sept. 10, 2001.

Washington -- An estimated 19 million Americans experience depression each year. And a large percentage -- some of whom have regular contact with a physician -- go undiagnosed and untreated.

Douglas Jacobs, MD, a psychiatrist and clinical professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, wanted to reverse this trend. His idea was to apply the screening methods used in medicine and public health to mental disorders -- to identify, for instance, those patients at risk for depression the same way patients' risks are assessed for medical illnesses such as diabetes or high cholesterol.

Out of this concept grew National Depression Screening Day, a now annual event that provides screening tools to physicians, mental health professionals and a whole range of health care organizations. In the past years, between 1,000 and 4,000 doctors have participated.

Although the official screening day is set for Oct. 11, primary care physicians are encouraged to incorporate the screening activities into their practice any day in October or November. The AMA, as well as other organizations such as the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, is a sponsor of the initiative's primary care outreach program.

"The idea is that eventually screening for depression will become like taking someone's blood pressure," said Dr. Jacobs.

Although 80% of depressed people can be effectively treated, nearly two out of three of those who experience depression do not seek or receive appropriate treatment. [...]