Moving beyond that, New York hospitals are implementing a new screening test to determine if adult patients are at risk for depression. The screening test, developed using research from Columbia University, derives a depression "score" based on answers to nine questions dealing with mood and behavior. Although not intended as a formal diagnosis, a high score could lead a doctor to recommend more thorough clinical screening.
Under the direction of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the program is underway in hospitals run by the city. The goal for the first two years is to have every primary care physician in the city hospital system use the test, eventually involving millions of patients.
Doctors and administrators claim that the screening could help millions of people whose depression might not have been diagnosed and treated. "Depression is woefully unrecognized and untreated as such," says Dr. Ann Sullivan of Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. "This is an avenue for depressed patients to get treatment that they otherwise would have never received."
Advocacy groups such as the Alliance for Human Research Protection disagree about the benefits of screening. They say the test could create a stigma for some patients and lead to the over-use of psychiatric drugs.
An expert panel convened by President George W. Bush in 2002 recommended the expansion of mental health screening. Congress budgeted $20 million for state pilot programs this year, and Florida and Illinois are investigating participation in large-scale screening programs.
