http://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/co … e-overview

Pathway on common mental health disorders a ‘one-stop-shop’ for advice.

Mental health disorders, such as depression, generalised anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, are thought to affect 15 per cent of the population at any one time.

While GPs encounter patients with such issues on a regular basis, the identification and recognition of these disorders can vary, meaning patients are not always receiving appropriate treatment.
This is partly due to under-recognition of certain conditions, patients’ concerns about the stigma associated with mental health problems, and the difficulty in diagnosing and treating patients with coexisting conditions.

The pathway overview page provides a gateway to all of NICE’s recommendations from diagnosis to management and principles for treatment and referral.
The page brings together all of NICE’s recommendations on:
• Antenatal and postal mental health
• Depression
• Generalised anxiety disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Panic disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Social anxiety disorder
This allows for easy access to recommendations on separate conditions – an important consideration given that patients often present with two or more coexisting conditions.

“The stepped model of care is very helpful as it helps you prioritise which are the most important conditions. I also think it’s really helpful to have the information for these coexisting disorders that we commonly see side-by-side in one place.”
Professor Tony Kendrick, Professor of Primary Care at the University of Southampton, said: “NICE Pathways are a really useful tool. They bring various pieces of guidance under one banner, allowing you to navigate between related topics within a network of information.

‘Particularly useful is the ability to get an overview of a particular topic, so that you can get an outline of a topic area, but equally, drill down to the detail within this context’- Mohan.

ref: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CLINICAL EXCELLENCE- DEC 2013.

G Mohan.