Depression: Overdiagnosed by the Overwhelmed

(Full disclosure: Dr. Mojtabai kindly furnished a copy of his article for review. I don’t think this freebie altered my judgement but then, no one ever does.)

A new study shows that 3/5ths of those diagnosed with depression don’t have Major Depressive Disorder. Damning proof America’s mental health system is riddled with quacks, right? Actually, no. But it suggests a worrisome disconnect between those with mild depressive symptoms and those trained to treat them.

Ramin Mojtabai of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied 5,639 adults who reported, “a doctor or other medical professional,” diagnosed them with  depression in 2009 or 2010. He found only 38.4% had met criteria for a major depressive episode in the past twelve months. Nearly three-quarters of those who did not meet criteria had been prescribed medication.

Who’s making these diagnoses? Probably primary care doctors – the people we’re most likely to talk to if we gain weight, lose energy or have trouble sleeping. In 2011, Mojtabai found 7% of all doctor visits involved a prescription for antidepressants.[i]  For his current study, he started with data collected through the United States National Survey of Drug Use and Health. While this study didn’t ask participants what type of medical professional diagnosed them, he found only 34.6% of those who hadn’t met criteria for a major depressive episode received outpatient mental health services. It’s not much of a leap to surmise primary-care doctors are responsible – especially considering  Mitchell and Vaze’s 2009 study, which found such doctors misdiagnosed depression more often than they identified it correctly.[ii]

Is it a problem if family doctors reach for a quick fix when they encounter mild-to-subclinical depression? Per the studies Mojtabai cites, there’s little evidence antidepressants help such cases. Effective treatments include a referral to counseling, advice on boosting one’s mood with diet and exercise, or watchful waiting. Instead of these, three-quarters of those with only mild depressive symptoms got a prescription.

Three possible solutions come to mind. None would be quick, easy or cheap.

1. Better training in diagnosis

If misdiagnosis is the problem, more training is the answer, right? Bear in mind, for every public health problem, the initial thought is, “Let’s get the primary care doctors on the case.”  Family doctors are expected to follow up on everything from lead exposure to trampoline safety.  Depression has to compete with every other disease in need of greater public awareness.

2. Counter-programming

Primary care doctors are barraged by pharmaceutical companies which promise quick and easy solutions, based on often-dubious research. Olfson and Marcus found antidepressant use doubled from 1996 to 2005. In the same period, the number of patients who received therapy as well as antidepressants dropped by a third.[iii]  (Essay question: Should we allow unscrupulous Big Pharma to exploit human suffering by placing profit ahead of facts and the public’s health, or should jackbooted government thugs trample free speech by placing unaccountable technocrats in charge?)

Organizations such as the American Counseling Association and the American Psychology Association should return fire with their own brochures. On the front cover: fit, attractive people of all ages and cultures beaming over the success of their non-pharmaceutical treatment. Inside: large-print bullet-points on how to differentiate the different intensities of depression, and the relative efficacy of medication, lifestyle improvements and counseling. Last page: a handy list of local therapists for referrals.

3.  A nationwide program

In his article, Mojtabai mentions the United Kingdom’s National Health Services’ “Improving Access to Psychological Therapies“. This program trained thousands in cognitive-behavioral therapies and provided general practitioners with free on-line training about depression. As a result, patients move easily from a more-accurate diagnosis to a simpler referral for help.

In the U.S., surveys show we dislike government programs and government spending, but we do like the benefits that spending on government programs brings. Per NHS data, their big-government program moved 45,000 workers off public benefits by getting them back to work. It also benefited the UK’s economy by an estimated £272,000,000 by preventing the need for more expensive treatments.  The program has been criticized for restricting the range of therapies available and providing lightly-trained staff. Even with these limitations, it has delivered a respectable (if non-astonishing) recovery rate of 42.5%.

For the next go-round:

Mojtabai’s study is enticingly exasperating; the kind that raises more questions than it answers. Tough questions for a follow-up:

1. Exactly who provides these misdiagnoses? Which specialty is most on-target, and which is most likely to misdiagnose? Master’s-level counselors, social workers and psychologists should all be assessed for accuracy.

2. Out of the patients who received outpatient mental health treatment, what percentage received counseling and which only received more meds from a psychiatrist?

3. How hard is it for a primary medical doctor in other countries to refer a client to therapy? How much resistance do clients offer, and what would help doctors address their concerns?

The 3/5ths of participants that grabbed the headlines may not have met criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, but it’s a safe bet they weren’t happy and fulfilled, either. More information for better diagnoses and more-appropriate treatments, please.

Citation:

Mojtabai R. Clinician-identified depression in community settings: concordance with structured-interview diagnoses. Psychother Psychosom. 2013;82(3):161-9. doi: 10.1159/000345968. Epub 2013 Mar 27.

© 2013 by Jonathan Miller. All Rights Reserved