Dear Friends:
    When I read this article, I was stunned.
    What do the mental health professionals think and feel about diagnosing
mental illness so easily and casually? Why hasn't someone given a mental
health test to every man seeing a proctologist? How many men are walking
around depressed or with mood and/or eating disorders?  Could the fact that
the women were going to see an OB/GYN be enough to make them score lower?
What about the validity and reliability of this test? How will it be used?
Will OB/GYN practitioners use the results to take longer than the average 6
minutes per client in the office? Will they offer warm, friendly offices that
make women feel nurtured and valued? Or will they use results like this to
patronise women, prescribe more medications, discount what women
say.......what a scary thing to publish!
    GRRRRRRR!

One in Five OB/GYN Patients Is Diagnosed With a Mental Illness
October 4, 2000
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology/MedscapeWire


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Mental health disorders have been found to be present in 1 in 5 women who
make routine visits to their obstetrician/gynecologist, according to a study
published in the September issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynecology.

The study was designed to test the effectiveness of the PRIME-MD Patient
Health Questionnaire (PHQ), a patient-administered, physician-reviewed,
diagnostic tool, and it was found to enable OB/GYNs to rapidly and accurately
diagnose previously unrecognized conditions.

"This is the first large-scale, multi-site study to show the prevalence of
mental health disorders among women who visit their
obstetrician/gynecologist," said lead author Robert L. Spitzer, MD, Professor
of Psychiatry at Columbia University, New York. "A convenient, accurate
method for helping busy obstetrics/gynecology practitioners recognize mental
health disorders is particularly important as they are increasingly becoming
women's primary healthcare provider. This study demonstrates that the
PRIME-MD PHQ is a valuable diagnostic tool that can assess these conditions
during a routine office visit."

Three thousand patients were assessed by 63 clinicians in this multicenter
study. The most frequent illnesses diagnosed were mood disorders, such as
depression; anxiety; eating disorders; and alcohol abuse.

The PHQ evaluates the 5 most common groups of mental health disorders,
diagnostic criteria for these conditions, women's reproductive health issues,
and psychosocial stressors. Diagnoses are based on diagnostic criteria
contained in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), 4th edition. The
questionnaire is available in English and Spanish.
Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2000;183:759-769


Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner; childbirth educator
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporter of the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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