Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Is depression overdiagnosed?

Task of primary care is to grade depression

BMJ 2007; 335 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39317.481134.BE (Published 30 August 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;335:413
  1. Petre T C Jones, general practitioner
  1. London E13 0LN
  1. Petre.JOnes{at}gp-f84750.nhs.uk

    Sadness is normal because life can be difficult.1 2 Sadness in bereavement, for example, is appropriate and healthy—I hope my children will be sad after I've gone. However, sadness is not depression: when it is combined with cognitive, emotional, somative, and behavioural features it becomes the syndrome of depression, with its multifactorial aetiology, so common in primary care. But diagnosis does not mean …

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