Patient Evaluation

A thorough, detailed history is the key to making a diagnosis of depression. Clinicians should remain aware of the power that stigma may play in causing patients to understate symptoms or disguise them as somatic complaints, and should structure questions accordingly.
The DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) criteria for major depression are listed in Table 3. Of the symptoms listed, five or more one of which must be depressed mood or anhedonia must be simultaneously present for at least two weeks.