TUESDAY,
Sept. To get a state that appears
Prepared to take a pill for any ill, a new study suggests the reverse seems
Accurate for many individuals with symptoms of melancholy,
whose issues concerning the unwanted effects of antidepressants were the top rationale
Warning indications wouldn’t be disclosed by them to their doctors.

A phone survey of more than
1,000 adults who had formerly participated in the California Behavioral Risk
Factor Survey System, which probed melancholy-associated beliefs, showed that 43
Percentage reported one or more reasons for not speaking with their primary care
Doctor about their melancholy. Nearly a quarter of them stressed that their
Physician would recommend antidepressants
— the most frequently mentioned reason for withholding the info.

Other stated hurdles to
sharing depressive symptoms comprised the belief that it is not a primary care
Doctor’s job to manage psychological issues (16 percent) and matters about
medical record confidentiality (15 percent). At least 10 percent said they were
fearful of being referred to a counselor or shrink and of being tagged a
psychiatric patient.

“When patients are
diagnosed with depression, they could go right into a state of shock emotionally and
See it as some kind of indictment of disposition or character,” said Dr.
Norman Sussman, a professor of psychiatry at New York University Langone
Medical Center, who was not involved with the study. “People would practically
Prefer to get a serious medical diagnosis
than be told they have a psychiatric disorder.”

The study is published in
the September/October 2011 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine,
and was supported with a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

About 10 percent of
Americans suffer with depression at just about any given time, as stated by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which released this
month suggesting about half the population will experience some type of mental
health problem at a certain point in their own own lives.

Study authors noted the
Sarcasm that those who were most unwilling to speak with a primary care physician
About their depression tended to be those who had the most potential to profit
from this type of dialogue — patients with moderate to severe depressive
symptoms.

Co author Dr. Richard L.
Kravitz, a professor of internal medicine at University of California, Davis,
Said targeted instruction systems — such as booklets or posters in
primary care offices reminding patients that doctors have an interest in hearing
about apparent symptoms of depression — are easy strategies to nudge dialogues
that could be life-altering or even lifesaving.

“On the one hand, the
fact that 16 percent of patients felt it was not their main physician’s occupation to
deal with melancholy meant that [84 percent] did feel it was within their
Physician’s purview,” said Kravitz, additionally co-vice chair of research in the
Section of internal medicine. “Always, the glass is half full or half
empty. But overall, the news is mixed and there are . . . Some straightforward things
Doctors can perform in their very own practices.”

Also a concern is that
Primary care physicians may fail to recognize depressive symptoms in their
patients, said Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill
Hospital in Ny. Manevitz, noting that many main doctors prescribe
Anti depressants after a “haphazard” diagnostic procedure, may not
Follow up right due to time constraints or a focus on
Disorders that are physical.

“A leading reason folks
don’t like to reveal things about themselves is they are afraid their physician
Then may not take physical symptoms seriously — they’re worried their
symptoms may be minimized since they are depressed,” he said.
“That’s a myth. I believe it’s something physicians are a great deal more complex
about.”

Sussman said the
Consequences of not reporting and treating depression can be serious, with
Damaging effects on relationships careers and general health. About 8.4
Million Americans had suicidal thoughts in 2.2 and 2008 to were plans by million made
Kill themselves, based on the CDC report that is recent.

“The patients are
correct in that there’s a certain number of misgivings in being treated with
antidepressants,” which are linked to sexual dysfunction, weight gain and
Even some cardiac effects, Sussman said. “No one needs to take these
Drugs should they don’t have to, but at least two thirds get some benefit. So
there are effects of not telling your doctor.”

In some cases, doctors
can work with patients’ concerns about medication side effects by beginning with
the lowest doses of antidepressants considered to be powerful. Patients who select
a treatment strategy that will not contain antidepressants may also reap the benefits of a
referral to a psychologist, who is able to work together in talk therapy and closely
Track their depression.