From the American Academy of Family Physicians media release:
Many adults subscribe to beliefs that inhibit them from disclosing symptoms of depression to their primary care physician. In a survey of 1,054 adults, 43 percent of patients reported one or more reasons for not talking to a primary care physician about their depression, with the most frequently cited reason being concern the physician would recommend antidepressants (23 percent).
Other barriers reported by patients include the belief it is not the primary care physician’s job to deal with emotional issues (16 percent) and concerns about medical record confidentiality (15 percent). Other concerns reported by at least 10 percent of respondents included fear of referral to a counselor or psychiatrist, and being labeled a psychiatric patient.
The authors note that ironically, those who most subscribed to potential reasons for not talking to a primary care physician about their depression tended to be those who had the greatest potential to benefit from such conversations — individuals with moderate to severe depressive symptoms.
The authors call for the development of office-based interventions that address these patient concerns and encourage patients with depression symptoms to begin a conversation with their doctors.
“Suffering in Silence: Reasons for Not Disclosing Depression in Primary Care”, by Robert A. Bell, Ph. D., et al. University of California, Davis