As we shall explore shortly, other physical illnesses can have symptoms similar to depression, or may be the cause of depression itself. It is one of the doctor's jobs to rule out these illnesses when symptoms of depression are present. Psychiatrists are the physicians best suited to diagnose and treat depression. Psychiatrists are, first and foremost, medical doctors. They have, in addition, three years of training in the workings of the brain and mind.
Many psychiatrists now specialize in treating depression.
While diagnosing depression usually takes no more than one or two fifty-minute consultations, three minutes is obviously far too brief. This may explain why general practitioners fail to diagnose depression accurately about half the time. More and more general practitioners, however, are becoming well versed in the treatment of depression and are taking the necessary time to do a proper diagnostic evaluation. The psychiatrist, then, is certainly not the only physician who can successfully diagnose and treat depression. Most important, you want to find a competent physician with whom you feel comfortable, someone you can trust with the most intimate details of your life.