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Bernard J. Carroll, MD, PhD
Department of Psychiatry University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982;39(10):1219.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.

—Dr Schuman and his associates are concerned about how the primary care physician can effectively use the DST to evaluate the conditions of patients with depression. The guidelines they need were outlined in the original article: an abnormal test result will be strongly indicative of melancholia in a depressed patient, whereas a normal test result will not rule out this diagnosis when the clinical features are otherwise consistent.

Whether the 50% sensitivity of the DST (in its simple outpatient version) is thought to be a limitation by the "beleaguered primary care physician" will depend on what that physician expects the test to do for him. If the DST can put him on the right track in treating an additional 25% of his patients with melancholia, then I consider it a useful contribution to the public health rather than an "absurdity" in a community-based practice. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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