Knowledge and attitudes of general practitioners about depression

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to learn more about general practititoners' knowledge, attitudes and social distance towards depression which is the most prevalent mental disorder seen in general practice. Method: The survey was conducted in 2002 using face-to-face interviews in offices of 300 general practitioners in Turkey. Data were derived from the questionnaire developed for the survey called "Attitudes Towards Mental Disorders". Results: Almost all of the practitioners believed that depression was treatable, and it could be completely cured according to 90% of the respondents. 80% of the practitioners considered "extreme sadness", near half of them "weak personality" and more than 90% "social handicaps" to be as the causes of depression. 66% believed that these patients would not improve unless social problems were solved. Attitudes of the subjects with relatives diagnosed depression, married, and older were more positive than the others with respect to social distance characteristics. Discussion: Although general practitoners with closer social distance held more positive attitudes towards depression than community people, the results suggest that incorrect knowledge and beliefs about etiology, nonmedical treatment methods and risk of dependency have a tendency to persist in this group. The results of this study underline the need for development of new education programmes aimed to decrease effects of stigmatization based upon information obtained more studies about attitudes and beliefs of physicians.