Post by superman on Nov 24, 2007 14:04:43 GMT -5
Hungarian GPs to be taught about depression
Hungarian psychiatrists conducting a research programme in the south central part of the country believe the results of their study could have a significant impact on the global suicide rate.
The programme, centred in Kiskunhalas, 145 km south of Budapest, is based on a 16 hour course teaching general practitioners how to recognise depression as an illness. "There is a frequent misconception [among general practitioners] here and in many other countries that their patients' depression is caused by some medical disorder," said Dr Zoltán Rihmer of the National Institute for Psychiatry and Neurology in Budapest.
"They say, 'I see he or she is depressed because they are ill. I'll treat the illness, and the depression will disappear.' It's not the fault of the GPs. Science has developed very rapidly, and if they graduated 20-25 years ago, most haven't kept up with the findings regarding depression.
"Research shows that 63% of suicide victims were suffering from unrecognised or undertreated depression when they took their lives, and that 40-65% of victims contacted healthcare institutions approximately four weeks before committing suicide."
Dr Rihmer is conducting the programme in conjunction with Dr Sándor Kálmar, chief psychiatrist at Semmelweis Hospital in Kiskunhalas, at the request of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The research is being funded by the Open Society Institute, based in New York.
Dr Rihmer participated in a similar training programme on depression for general practitioners, on Gotland, an isolated Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, in 1983-4. The programme, mandated by the Swedish Committee for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression, "resulted in a significant decrease in the suicide rate and provided evidence that early recognition and adequate treatment of depression is an essential method of suicide prevention," he said. "The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention wanted me to do a similar study in Hungary."
Until 1992 Hungary had the highest suicide rate in the world. Since then, the rate has steadily declined, from 45.9 suicides per 100 000 population in 1984 to 32.1 per 100 000 in 1998. This occurred despite the fact that unemployment rose from 1.7% in 1989 to 10.9% in 1996 and that the alcoholism rate grew by 25% during that period.
The decline is attributed to an increase in the number of psychiatrists, psychiatric outpatient facilities, and telephone emergency services. Kiskunhalas and the surrounding Bacs-Kiskun county were chosen for the study because the incidence of suicide in the region is about double the national rate (60 per 100 000 population a year).
Hungarian psychiatrists conducting a research programme in the south central part of the country believe the results of their study could have a significant impact on the global suicide rate.
The programme, centred in Kiskunhalas, 145 km south of Budapest, is based on a 16 hour course teaching general practitioners how to recognise depression as an illness. "There is a frequent misconception [among general practitioners] here and in many other countries that their patients' depression is caused by some medical disorder," said Dr Zoltán Rihmer of the National Institute for Psychiatry and Neurology in Budapest.
"They say, 'I see he or she is depressed because they are ill. I'll treat the illness, and the depression will disappear.' It's not the fault of the GPs. Science has developed very rapidly, and if they graduated 20-25 years ago, most haven't kept up with the findings regarding depression.
"Research shows that 63% of suicide victims were suffering from unrecognised or undertreated depression when they took their lives, and that 40-65% of victims contacted healthcare institutions approximately four weeks before committing suicide."
Dr Rihmer is conducting the programme in conjunction with Dr Sándor Kálmar, chief psychiatrist at Semmelweis Hospital in Kiskunhalas, at the request of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The research is being funded by the Open Society Institute, based in New York.
Dr Rihmer participated in a similar training programme on depression for general practitioners, on Gotland, an isolated Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, in 1983-4. The programme, mandated by the Swedish Committee for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression, "resulted in a significant decrease in the suicide rate and provided evidence that early recognition and adequate treatment of depression is an essential method of suicide prevention," he said. "The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention wanted me to do a similar study in Hungary."
Until 1992 Hungary had the highest suicide rate in the world. Since then, the rate has steadily declined, from 45.9 suicides per 100 000 population in 1984 to 32.1 per 100 000 in 1998. This occurred despite the fact that unemployment rose from 1.7% in 1989 to 10.9% in 1996 and that the alcoholism rate grew by 25% during that period.
The decline is attributed to an increase in the number of psychiatrists, psychiatric outpatient facilities, and telephone emergency services. Kiskunhalas and the surrounding Bacs-Kiskun county were chosen for the study because the incidence of suicide in the region is about double the national rate (60 per 100 000 population a year).