Guidelines in the US advocate for depression screening in adolescents in the hopes that mental health struggles can be identified early and that this will prevent them from becoming more problematic over time. But a new study found that there was no difference in outcome between those who were screened and those who were not.
The research was led by Kira Riehm at Johns Hopkins University and published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Suppose screening was successful at connecting those who need it to treatment that improves depression. In that case, those who are screened should be less likely to need intensive care, such as ending up in the emergency department or hospitalized, and they should be less likely to attempt suicide.
However, Riehm and the other researchers found no difference between the group that was screened and the group that was not.
They write, “Being screened for depression was not consistently associated with emergency department use, inpatient hospitalizations, or medically-treated suicidal behaviors.”
The one exception was emergency department use specifically for mental health reasons—but screening appeared harmful, not helpful, for this outcome. Contrary to the expectation that screening would help improve depression (and thus prevent worse outcomes), the group who was screened for depression had a 16% higher risk of going to the emergency room because of their mental health.
The researchers suggest that one explanation for this finding is that screening has an iatrogenic effect, actually worsening mental health problems because it causes people to focus on them. They note that similar findings have been found in studies of pain screening, in which people who are screened report worsening pain afterward.
Read more at MadinAmerica.com.
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