Depression in Hospital and in General Practice: A Direct Clinical Comparison

A prospective study (Fahy, 1974) found that depressed patients referred to psychiatrists by family doctors differed from depressives not so referred in being more often difficult to reassure, diffusely anxious and subjectively retarded. Single men were selectively referred. Absence of hypochondriacal features characterized prompt referrals only. Generally, psychiatric referrals were obviously depressed in mood and showed a wealth of psychiatric symptoms, predominantly of ‘endogenous' type and not associated with overt physical stress-at-onset. For lack of data with a direct bearing on reliability, the repeatability of this study was uncertain and the question of a possible qualitative difference between depression in hospital and in general practice was left unanswered.