Who will be screening young people for anxiety and depression? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Young people should be screened for anxiety and depression, a federal task force has recommended, and that means primary care physicians will have yet one more task to add to their list when it comes to providing the best care. Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Karen Swartz says there are pluses and minuses to this strategy.

Swartz: The whole idea that we’re now going to ask primary care doctors to add something else, that’s it’s own worry. The good news about the primary care doctors being involved the pediatricians being involved is that that’s where people are going. Most people have a relationship there, they don’t have a psychiatrist or a therapist. So that could be good. The problem is we’re asking them to do a lot, and they don’t really have time to do that next step. There’s also concerning data about what the quality of treatment is in primary care settings.  :31

Swartz says any positive screen should be followed up with confirmation by a mental health professional. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.