Screening for depression: preventive medicine or telemarketing?

In this editorial, the authors critically examine a recent recommendation by the United States Preventive Services Task Force that all adults visiting primary care practitioners be routinely "screened" for depression. Drug industry funding for depression screening campaigns, popular but unproven assertions that depression is a "biochemical disorder," and the banality of antidepressant prescribing are seen to motivate the proposal. The full report cited by the Task Force omits information on the lack of effectiveness of antidepressants compared to placebo and recognizes that the potential harms of screening have not been studied.