Many People Hide Depressive Symptoms from Doctor Due to Fear of Anti-Depressant Prescription

A new study published in the Annals of Medicine suggests that a large number of people who may be suffering from depression do not reveal their condition to their doctors over fears that they might be prescribed anti-depressants.

More than a 1,000 adults took part in the study conducted by researchers at the University of California who found that over 43 percent of the participants had admitted not revealing their symptoms to their doctors.

While a number of different excuses were given for not discussing the problem, the top three reasons given were prescription of medicines, believing that it was not the doctor's job to handle emotional issues and concerns over medical record privacy.

"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 researchers said.

Source: Medindia