Improving outcomes in depression

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7339.737

BMJ 2002;324:737 ( 23 March )

Letters

Improving outcomes in depression

Integrated solutions should not be provided at the expense of reduced participation of statutory sector

Practice of medicine should carry health warning

Integrated solutions should not be provided at the expense of reduced participation of statutory sector

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ An overview by experts in the field reasoning for and recommending the better quality and delivery of care to a substantialpopulation is greatly to be welcomed.¹ We need a person centred,whole system approach, with medical management being but a partof the best practice "prescription." Early intervention and activemanagement work for every other condition known to man and preventthe long term complications of potentially recurrent or chronicill health, whether it be asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or depression.The cerebral dysfunction associated with depression (which isfar more than a mood disorder) produces lost quality of life,disability, comorbidity, and somatisation $---$ all of which cost thehealth, social, and employers' budgets billions of pounds a yearand place a huge burden of work on practitioners of primary healthcareand socialcare.