Posted by detroitpistons on February 28, 2009, at 13:07:22
In reply to As a board, can we do anything about this?, posted by Neal on February 23, 2009, at 23:44:16
Personally, I try to tell people I know who are seeking mental health treatment to get an appointment with a psychiatrist as soon as possible. I tell them that GP's are not adequately trained in psychiatry.
On the bright side, I think GP's have started to realize over the past 10 years or so, that they have no idea what they're doing. For example, they are starting to learn that you can't just prescribe antidepressants without first ruling out a bipolar disorder.
Also, some GP's are a lot better than others. I think it comes down to intellectual curiosity. If they want to be informed about something, they have all the resources they need. Some care to educate themselves and others don't.
> Anybody aware of this?
>
> from a recent article:
>
> -"Part of the difficulty, Dr. Miles and his colleagues say, is that doctors are, in general, unskilled both in recognizing the symptoms of depression and in treating the illness.
>
> -The findings of a national survey published in June indicated that only 40 percent of Americans in treatment for depression received adequate care.
>
> -Other studies have found that doctors fail to identify depression in their patients 40 to 60 percent of the time."
>
> the second item is just shocking. If it was, say, heart disease, it would be a national scandal, wouldn't it?
poster:detroitpistons
thread:882093
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090223/msgs/883070.html