Despite findings that depression is a risk factor for heart disease and for death following cardiac events and that depressed cardiac patients experience significantly reduced quality of life and are less likely to follow treatment regimens, depression is neither adequately identified nor treated in cardiac patients. Recent calls in the literature…

The effectiveness of the Beck Anxiety and Beck Depression Inventories for Primary Care for discriminating 56 primary care patients with and without diagnosed anxiety and mood disorders. Use of these instruments to screen primary care patients before conducting extensive diagnostic evaluations with them is discussed. (SLD)