Therapist individuality in the diagnosis and treatment of depression

The influence of physician variables on the diagnosis and treatment of depression was analysed by presenting a trained pseudo-patient to four physicians each with different professional backgrounds. Although all physicians had earlier given their informed consent to the study design, they thought that they were treating a real patient during regular practice hours. All physicians assessed the acute psychopathology almost completely except for suicidal thoughts. Despite similar information about the case, four different diagnoses/pathogenetic concepts and four different treatments were chosen. Medical decision processes and their results can be related to the professional background and personal attitudes of physicians.