On 17 March 2010 20:40, Walter Tim (BERKSHIRE WEST PCT)
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Just had an italian who presented with a PHQ-9 of 27/27. Clinically he is
> nothing like that and I would describe as situational distress and
> mild/moderate depression.
In English patients a score of 27/27 makes me suspect personality
disorder. It may also indicate fear that I won't take their symptoms
seriously without a high score. That may apply particularly to a
foreign visitor.
I once saw an Italian patient with stress-related symptoms, all
related via his daughter. Typical over-excitable Italian over-reacting
to circumstances, I thought to myself. Then by some quirk of the
history I found out that he also spoke good French, and I was able to
take the history myself. All of a sudden his story came to life, I
realised some of the implications of what he had been through, and
thought his response entirely reasonable.
There's a lot lost in translation.
Mike
--
Michael Leuty
Saint-Leu, La Réunion
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