Treatment seeking for depression: role of depressive symptoms and comorbid psychiatric diagnoses

Background: General population research has indicated that many persons with lifetime major depression report they have never sought medical help for their illness. We examined the role played by both depressive symptoms and comorbid psychiatric diagnoses in treatment seeking. Methods: From standardized psychiatric interviews of 7214 Edmonton residents, we identified 1348 subjects with lifetime depressive illness; 866 subjects (64%) had sought medical treatment. Results: Psychomotor retardation (odds ratio, OR = 1.4), suicidal ideation (OR = 1.4), comorbid mania (OR = 9.5), comorbid panic disorder (OR = 3.0), and comorbid drug abuse/dependence (OR = 0.6) were significantly associated with treatment seeking in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The finding that only a few depressive symptoms were associated with treatment seeking underlines the importance of public health education to address the undertreatment of depression. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.