Table 3.
Attitude of the Participants toward Depression (n = 400).
| Items | Scales | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Do not know | ||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | MS | |
| During the last 5 years I have seen an increase in the number of patients presenting with depressive symptoms | 10 (2.5) | 178 (44.5) | 212 (53) | 2.51 |
| The majority of depression cases I see originated from recent misfortune | 6 (1.5) | 15 (3.8) | 379 (94.8) | 2.93 |
| Most depressive disorders improve without medication | 45 (11.3) | 221 (55.3) | 134 (33.5) | 2.22 |
| Biochemical abnormality is at the basis of more severe depression | 57 (14.2) | 40 (10) | 303 (75.8) | 2.62 |
| Difficult to differentiate unhappiness or a clinical depressive disorder that needs treatment | 47 (11.8) | 158 (39.5) | 195 (48.8) | 2.37 |
| It is possible to distinguish two groups of depression, one psychological in origin and the other caused by biochemical mechanisms | 117 (29.3) | 49 (12.3) | 234 (58.5) | 2.29 |
| Depressed patients are more likely to have experienced deprivation in early life than other people | 7 (1.8) | 19 (4.8) | 374 (93.5) | 2.92 |
| I feel comfortable dealing with depressed patients | 11 (2.8) | 229 (57.3) | 160 (40) | 2.37 |
| Becoming depressed is a natural part of becoming old | 57 (14.2) | 243 (60.8) | 100 (25) | 2.11 |
| The primary health care worker could be a useful person to support depressed patients | 9 (2.3) | 24 (6) | 367 (91.8) | 2.90 |
| There is little to be offered to depressed patients who do not respond to what primary health care workers do | 15 (3.8) | 94 (23.5) | 291 (72.8) | 2.69 |
| It is rewarding to spend time looking after depressed patients | 2 (0.5) | 1 (0.3) | 397 (99.3) | 2.99 |
| If depressed patients need antidepressants, they are better off with psychiatrists than with primary health care workers | 34 (8.5) | 11 (2.8) | 355 (88.8) | 2.80 |
| Antidepressants usually produce a satisfactory result in the treatment of depressed patients in general practice | 52 (13) | 119 (29.8) | 229 (57.3) | 2.44 |
| Depressed patients can be managed or treated with exorcism methods | 105 (26.3) | 274 (68.5) | 21 (5.3) | 1.79 |
| Psychotherapy for depressed patients should be left to a specialist | 12 (3) | 16 (4) | 372 (93) | 2.90 |
| If psychotherapy were freely available, this would be more beneficial than antidepressants for most depressed patients | 55 (13.8) | 14 (3.5) | 331 (82.8) | 2.69 |
| Patients with depression are discriminated in by the general public and avoided | 38 (9.5) | 195 (48.8) | 167 (41.8) | 2.32 |