What is important in being cured from depression? Discordance between physicians and patients (1)

Koen Demyttenaere; Anne-Françoise Donneau; Adelin Albert; Marc Ansseau; Eric Constant; Kees van Heeringen

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.12.004

What is important in being cured from depression? Discordance between physicians and patients (1)

J Affect Disord. 2015 Mar 15:174:390-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.12.004. Epub 2014 Dec 10.

Authors

Koen Demyttenaere¹, Anne-Françoise Donneau², Adelin Albert², Marc Ansseau³, Eric Constant⁴, Kees van Heeringen⁵

Affiliations

¹ University Psychiatric Centre, University of Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: koen.demyttenaere@med.kuleuven.be.
² Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, University of Liège, CHU, Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, University and CHU of Liège, CHU, Sart-Tilman, Liège, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Catholic University of Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
⁵ University Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Unit for Suicide Research, University of Ghent Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.

PMID: 25545606
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.12.004

Abstract

Aims: 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.

Keywords: Antidepressants; Depression; Expectations; Outcome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Antidepressive Agents / therapeutic use
Depressive Disorder, Major / diagnosis
Depressive Disorder, Major / drug therapy
Depressive Disorder, Major / psychology*
Dissent and Disputes*
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Physicians / psychology*
Primary Health Care*
Prospective Studies
Quality of Life
Young Adult

Substances

Antidepressive Agents