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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Patient Educ Couns. 2010 Jun 8;82(2):207–213. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2010.05.007

Table 3.

An Empirical Taxonomy of Relational Barriers to Depression Help-Seeking in Primary Care

Barrier Problem Statement
Competence Deficits in PCP knowledge or inflexibility in characterizing the
clinical issues: what they know and how they think
Openness Perception that mental health issues are not part of the PCP’s
domain; social distance separating doctor and patient; deficits
in depression-related discourse
Trust While essential for supporting useful dialogue, trust is fragile,
readily undermined by problems in being, saying and doing.

PCP=primary care physician