[Masked depression: medical face of psychic depression]
Goic A (1991) [Masked depression: medical face of psychic depression] Rev Med Chil (IF: 0.5) 119(3) 321-6Abstract
The internist is frequently faced with patients affected by depression. The incorporation of psychiatry to general hospitals allowed physicians to become aware of many forms of depression, among them masked depression. The term is usually applied to patients whose depression is hidden behind somatic symptoms. Outstanding among them are common symptoms such as diarrhea, headache, palpitation, abdominal pain, etc; acute or chronic systemic diseases which are accompanied or followed by depression; depressive symptoms appearing for the first time in older patients or depression secondary to the use of drugs including alcohol. An active search for depressive symptoms is required from the physician if masked depression is not to go unnoticed.
