ABSTRACT
LACK OF MEASUREMENT WHEN TREATING DEPRESSION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE-AN INADEQUATE STANDARD OF CARE Imagine going to your primary care doctor with fever and symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection. Your primary care provider puts his or her palm to your forehead and agrees that you feel warm. A course of treatment is recommended, you return in a couple of days, and he or she again feels your forehead and notes that you are cooler. Would you be happy with this approach toward care? Would you continue to see a doctor who evaluated your body temperature in this way? We would not accept this level of care from an internist, family practitioner, or pediatrician, and yet this is the community standard of care provided by most behavioral health clinicians when treating depression.
