Depression and primary care: drowning in the mainstream or left on the banks?

To discuss the treatment, barriers, and successful strategies to treat depression in a primary care setting.

Historical, conceptual, and individual barriers hinder the treatment of depression. Additionally, a lack of clarity about whether the responsibility for care lies with primary care or behavioral health providers further leads to fragmented and uncoordinated systems. Depression is a chronic illness, not unlike diabetes, heart failure, and asthma. Therefore, disease models used to treat these chronic illnesses can also be applied to successfully treat depression.

Appropriately managing patients with depression and other behavioral health conditions will require changing the entire health care system. Future strategies should include developing a continual quality improvement process, developing bridges between behavioral health and primary care, eliminating clinical and financial barriers between systems, and viewing the mind and body as a whole.