Activity Overview:
MENTOR III will explore the clinical issues facing appropriate diagnosis of
depressive aspects of both bipolar and unipolar depression with an emphasis
on complicated mood concerns such as non-remitting depressive symptoms and
moderate-severe depression.
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has a profound impact in the United States,
affecting almost 15 million American adults (6.7% of the population) in a given
year.1 It is the #1 cause of disability in adults ages 15-44.2 Bipolar disorder is another
common mood disorder seen in the nearly 44 million Americans with mental
illness.3 According to the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, 3.7-3.9% of
the U.S. population is believed to have bipolar disorder.1 Bipolar disorder is often
misdiagnosed - up to 69% in one study. Sixty percent of cases were incorrectly
diagnosed as unipolar depression, suggesting clinicians do not initially screen for
manic episodes.4 Misdiagnosis is heightened in non-psychiatric settings such as
primary care.5 Furthermore, 35% of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder were
symptomatic 10 years before actually receiving a correct diagnosis.4
Clinicians must understand the importance of achieving remission when treating
this condition. Persons with MDD who achieve symptomatic remission experience
greater improvement in functioning (and commensurate improvement in disability)
than those who obtain some response without full remission.6 Treating only to
"response" leaves the patient with residual symptoms and can lead to a more fluctuating,
chronic course of disease. Some researchers consider this "partial response"
equivalent to treatment failure.7
Join us to discuss clinical cases with video patient vignettes and audience response
keypads as we delve into more difficult-to-treat depression scenarios that you may
encounter in your practice.
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