The PCMAD (Primary Care Mood and Anxiety Diagnoser)

Awareness of the abundance of people affected by mood and anxiety disorders is increasing. To minimize suffering, as well as economic, medical and societal costs incurred by mood and anxiety disorders, it is crucial to enhance detection. Many people initially visit their family physicians for treatment; however, time and communication limitations often results in misdiagnosis. When examining the diagnoses not detected by physicians, it was found that 51.1% of patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), 87.4% of patients with Bipolar Disorder (BPD), 73.6% of Panic Disorder sufferers (PD), 62.2% of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) patients, and an outstanding 97.1% of Social Anxiety sufferers (SAD) were unidentified. Diagnostic tools are often not utilized for diagnosis by family physicians. Thus, there is a need for a brief, simple diagnostic tool that is easily self-administered and designed for general practitioners to identify mental health patients. The Primary Care Mood & Anxiety Diagnoser (PCMAD) was created as a self administered psychometric tool, to effectively detect patients with SAD, GAD, PD, BPD and MDD in comparison to the MINI structured clinical interview.