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The first step to receiving treatment is
through the identification of the medical problem, many individuals are
often unaware that their moods may possibly be a psychiatric disorder.
"About 1 in 10 Americans who suffer from
depression and anxiety-related mental health disorders never receive
treatment because they don’t understand what’s
wrong, and when they go to their family doctor these treatable
illnesses are too often missed," said Dr. Bradley Gaynes, M.P.H., an
associate professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina
(UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
Gaynes led a study into the validity and
effectiveness of a 27-item questionnaire as a screen for four
illnesses: depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
The questionnaire, My Mood Monitor (M-3),
was designed to in three minutes evaluate checklist answers to provide
a dedicated risk analysis of the individual.
Gaynes conducted a study to test the
accuracy of the questionnaire as a screen. Six hundred forty-seven
adults over 18-years-old seeking care at the UNC Family Medicine Center
between July 2007 and February 2008 were enrolled in the study. They
were given a paper version of the checklist, after completing the list
their doctors then reviewed their emotional health with them.
Researchers later interviewed each person
within 30 days of their doctor visit and assigned finaldiagnoses.
Gaynes then compared the diagnoses with the participants’
answers to the checklist. The results showed that the M-3 was effective
in screening for any mood or anxiety disorder 83 percent of the time
and for a specific disorder in 76 percent of cases.
"The M-3 is a valid, efficient, and feasible
tool for screening multiple common psychiatric illnesses in primary
care. Its accuracy is equivalent to existing single disorder screens
with the benefit of being combined into a one-page tool. It has the
potential to reduce missed psychiatric diagnoses and assure proper
treatment of those identified," concluded Gaynes in his study.
Gaynes said the research team is currently
designing a second study to measure the effectiveness of the M-3
questionnaire in monitoring their mental health status over time.
The M-3 was created by primary collaborators
Dr. Robert M. Post, head of the Bipolar Collaborative Network; Dr.
Bernard M. Snyder, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at
Georgetown University and a cognitive behavioral therapist; Michael L.
Byer, president of M-3 information; and Dr. Gerald Hurowitz, assistant
clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and a clinical
psychopharmacologist.
Address: University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill School of Medicine, 200 E Cameron Ave., Chapel Hill, NC
27514; (919) 962-2211, www.unc.edu.
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