On what evidence should education concerning depression be based?
Disease depresses. As a consequence depressed mood is almost ubiquitous in medicine. This is as true for physical disorders as it is for mental disorders. Depressed mood, moreover, seldom comes alone but is generally accompanied by other troublesome phenomena. In other words, the transition from distress towards depression is a gradual one, at least from the clinical point of view. One could therefore rightfully assume, that most physicians will be well versed in diagnosing and treating depression. Regrettably that is not the case. Depression is an under-diagnosed and under-treated disorder. Hence sophisticated educational programs to enhance the diagnostic and therapeutic skills of those frequently encountering depressive and depressed patients are much in need. The Dep Relief program is a CD-ROM program well suited for this purpose. It is wide-ranging, evidence-based, easily adaptable to various audiences and scrutinized by a panel of international experts. In short, it is an important tool to disseminate up-to-date information about mood disorders.
van Praag
H M
HM
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000639:trends*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans