title: What is important in being cured from depression? Discordance between physicians and patients (1).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The comparison of what physicians and patients consider important in being cured from depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  426 outpatients (in primary care and in psychiatric care) with a clinical diagnosis of major depression were included: at the start of antidepressant treatment, the importance of a range of items for being cured from depression (depressive, anxious and somatic symptoms, positive affect, functional impairment, quality of life) was assessed in physicians and patients separately and a ranking was made; after 3 months of treatment, the importance of these items for being cured from depression was re-assessed in the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The items ranked top 10 by physicians mainly contain depressive symptoms while those ranked top 10 by patients mainly contain positive affect items and this attention to positive affect even increases at 3 months follow-up and is higher in patients with recurrent depression than in patients with a first episode of depression. Somatic symptoms consistently get the lowest ranking, as well in physicians as in patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physicians differ significantly from patients in what they consider important for 'being cured from depression': physicians mainly focus on alleviation of depressive symptoms while patients mainly focus on the restoration of positive affect.
authors.affiliation: University Psychiatric Centre, University of Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: koen.demyttenaere@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Demyttenaere
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Liège, CHU, Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne-Françoise
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Donneau
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Liège, CHU, Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Adelin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, University and CHU of Liège, CHU, Sart-Tilman, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ansseau
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Catholic University of Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Constant
authors.affiliation: University Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Unit for Suicide Research, University of Ghent Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kees
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: van Heeringen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
keywords: Antidepressants; Depression; Expectations; Outcome