[Activities of the International Committee for Prevention and Treatment of Depression].

During recent decades depressive states, mainly those of a psychogenic nature, have been encountered with ever increasing frequency; somatization of depressive syndromes has also been on the increase. Since the number of psychiatrists available had become hardly sufficient to cope with all the depressed patients, it proved possible--thanks to progress in the diagnosis and management of depression--also to enlist the aid of general practitioners in treatment for depression on an ambulant basis. The general practitioner is in fact usually the first person to whom depressed patients, including especially those with physical complaints, turn for help; it is he who must then decide whether the patient is suffering from depression and, if so, whether he himself will treat the case or refer the patient to a practising psychiatrist or to a hospital. In order to contribute to the postgraduate instruction of non-psychiatrists working in everyday practice by enlightening them on the problem of depression, an "International Committee for Prevention and Treatment of Depression" (P.T.D. Committee) was founded some 15 years ago.