ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses additional selected issues relevant to the diagnosis of depression in medical settings. It begins with a review of studies regarding the detection of depression by nonpsychiatric clinicians. Other studies have examined physicians' detection of depression in patients with specific medical illnesses. With coronary artery disease, depressive symptoms are rarely recognized either by the cardiologist or by the general practitioner. The depression is often missed by physicians working with the medically ill. It has also been shown that physicians vary widely in their rates of detection. The chapter discusses the use of self-report, paper-and-pencil measures as screening devices for depression in the clinical setting. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) has been studied by several groups to determine its usefulness as a screen for depression in the medical setting. Nielsen and Williams (1980) administered the BDI to 526 medical outpatients. The burden of follow-up when screening for depression in the medically ill should not be underestimated.
