Collaboration to overcome barriers in primary care

Guidelines facilitate the differentiation of depression from normal moodiness, with intervention strategies that can be offered during the consultation for milder cases while identifying those requiring specialist referral. Since adolescents attending primary care have increased rates of depression (usually unrecognised) 5 and primary care is the only medical setting to which they have ready access, we developed a single dose intervention that provides advice on self help and encourages adolescents to seek support from within their family and social environment.