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Dealing With Depression: Treatment Study
Aired June 17, 2003 - 13:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, experts say that depression is no longer a dirty word. But getting the right treatment for major depression remains a challenge.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the results of the latest research into this.
Now you said people are going in. But what's the deal with the doctors? They're not giving the right diagnosis?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, people going into the doctor for depression more than they used to, which is a good thing, but what the study is finding is that people are not always getting the right treatment.
Now, there's more depression around than there used to be, or at least that's what the statistics would say. The study found that one out of six people is depressed.
Let's take a look at what happens when they do go to the doctor. What the study found is this four out of five received inadequate treatment. And sometimes that was a drug dosage problem. In other words, the drug was given, but at the wrong dosage.
Also, sometimes it was the patients. They just discontinued the treatment. They decided they didn't want to do it any more. And also that patients used unproven treatments. In other words, patients on their own would go and seek out some over the counter thing that really didn't work.
And so the bottom line here of this study is that depression is a disease. It's just like, say, cancer. You wouldn't treat cancer on your own. You wouldn't want to treat depression on your own. You should seek out help and you want to make sure, of course, that you're getting the right kind of help.
And one of the ways to do that is you can see is that it should be talk therapy and drug therapy together. That's what's proven to work the best.
PHILLIPS: So don't necessarily just go to your internist, but psychologist or psychiatrist. That's not always easy to do, though. A lot of people think, "I don't want to go see a shrink."
COHEN: Right, there's a huge stigma around that. You don't want to see a shrink. But too often what happens is that people will go see an internist who isn't quite sure what to do because he or she may not have the right training and may not have the right time. Your general family physician will often have only eight or nine minutes to see people, doesn't always follow through in the way that they should. So if you're feel like you have major depression, that it has made an impact on your life, you should seek out some specialized treatment.
PHILLIPS: Talking about why not just see a priest or a pastor. But medication sometimes is very necessary.
COHEN: That's right. For people who really truly have clinical depression, it's not going to help just to talk to someone. You need sometimes medication. A priest or a pastor can't give medication.
PHILLIPS: All right. How do we know if we're depressed or if we're just feeling a little blue?
COHEN: Right. There is a huge difference. Sometimes people from time to time will feel a little down. Well, that's not major depression.
Let's take a look at what actually defines major depression. It's feeling five or more of the symptoms that I'm about to read every day for at least two weeks. And those symptoms include feeling sad or empty, decreased interest or pleasure in activities, appetite change with weight gain or weight loss, decreased or increased sleeping, and also, in addition, feeling worthless or guilty, being either agitated or slowed down, difficulty thinking or concentrating, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
So, again if you're feeling five or more of those on a daily basis for two weeks or more, it's definitely time to seek help.
PHILLIPS: Reading all those is a little depressing. I think, "OK. I've been through every one of those emotions."
COHEN: That's right. And probably many people have. Buy the difference is does it last or does it go away? Like Monday, you feel bad, but Tuesday you feel better. That's probably not major depression.
PHILLIPS: Good news. Thank you very much, Elizabeth Cohen.
COHEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 17, 2003 - 13:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, experts say that depression is no longer a dirty word. But getting the right treatment for major depression remains a challenge.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the results of the latest research into this.
Now you said people are going in. But what's the deal with the doctors? They're not giving the right diagnosis?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, people going into the doctor for depression more than they used to, which is a good thing, but what the study is finding is that people are not always getting the right treatment.
Now, there's more depression around than there used to be, or at least that's what the statistics would say. The study found that one out of six people is depressed.
Let's take a look at what happens when they do go to the doctor. What the study found is this four out of five received inadequate treatment. And sometimes that was a drug dosage problem. In other words, the drug was given, but at the wrong dosage.
Also, sometimes it was the patients. They just discontinued the treatment. They decided they didn't want to do it any more. And also that patients used unproven treatments. In other words, patients on their own would go and seek out some over the counter thing that really didn't work.
And so the bottom line here of this study is that depression is a disease. It's just like, say, cancer. You wouldn't treat cancer on your own. You wouldn't want to treat depression on your own. You should seek out help and you want to make sure, of course, that you're getting the right kind of help.
And one of the ways to do that is you can see is that it should be talk therapy and drug therapy together. That's what's proven to work the best.
PHILLIPS: So don't necessarily just go to your internist, but psychologist or psychiatrist. That's not always easy to do, though. A lot of people think, "I don't want to go see a shrink."
COHEN: Right, there's a huge stigma around that. You don't want to see a shrink. But too often what happens is that people will go see an internist who isn't quite sure what to do because he or she may not have the right training and may not have the right time. Your general family physician will often have only eight or nine minutes to see people, doesn't always follow through in the way that they should. So if you're feel like you have major depression, that it has made an impact on your life, you should seek out some specialized treatment.
PHILLIPS: Talking about why not just see a priest or a pastor. But medication sometimes is very necessary.
COHEN: That's right. For people who really truly have clinical depression, it's not going to help just to talk to someone. You need sometimes medication. A priest or a pastor can't give medication.
PHILLIPS: All right. How do we know if we're depressed or if we're just feeling a little blue?
COHEN: Right. There is a huge difference. Sometimes people from time to time will feel a little down. Well, that's not major depression.
Let's take a look at what actually defines major depression. It's feeling five or more of the symptoms that I'm about to read every day for at least two weeks. And those symptoms include feeling sad or empty, decreased interest or pleasure in activities, appetite change with weight gain or weight loss, decreased or increased sleeping, and also, in addition, feeling worthless or guilty, being either agitated or slowed down, difficulty thinking or concentrating, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
So, again if you're feeling five or more of those on a daily basis for two weeks or more, it's definitely time to seek help.
PHILLIPS: Reading all those is a little depressing. I think, "OK. I've been through every one of those emotions."
COHEN: That's right. And probably many people have. Buy the difference is does it last or does it go away? Like Monday, you feel bad, but Tuesday you feel better. That's probably not major depression.
PHILLIPS: Good news. Thank you very much, Elizabeth Cohen.
COHEN: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
