Diagnosis and treatment of depression in the medically ill.

The evaluation of depression in the medically ill is a complex task that requires considerable clinical skills. Physical illness is a common cause of psychopathology and this should alert the physician to search for possible organic explanations of depressive symptoms, especially in the elderly. Major depressive disorders need to be differentiated from physiological demoralizations secondary to the strains of somatic disturbances. Clinical guidelines for the use of antidepressant medications in the medically ill are provided.