Postgraduate - UnitMCM5501 - Depression and anxiety disorders in general practice

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of General Practice
Offered	Clayton First semester 2014 (Off-campus) Clayton Second semester 2014 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Prof Leon Piterman

Synopsis

Mental illness is one of the most common afflictions of developed communities with morbidity and mortality increasing each year. Australian data indicates that large segments of our population are at risk for mental illness, that a large component of mental illness is first seen in primary care settings where it is often unrecognised or inadequately managed. General practitioners intimate knowledge of patients, families and communities mean that they are ideally placed to provide effective primary care in depression and anxiety. This unit will explore issues such as the management and treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.

Outcomes

By the completion of this unit students should be able to:

Recognize common presentations of mood disorders particularly depression, anxiety and mania
Identify the risk factors and underlying causes of mood disorders particularly depression, anxiety and mania
Apply a systematic approach to assess the severity of different types of mood disorders
Describe the effects of mood disorders, including issues of morbidity and mortality.
Develop a rationale for choice of treatment(s).
Outline the current classification of mood disorders, particularly depression and anxiety disorders.

Assessment

Journal activities (Pass/fail)
2 Case reports (50% each)

Chief examiner(s)

Prof Leon Piterman

Prohibitions

CGP1002, CGP1003