Depression clinic

Making an Appointment

Before attending the clinic we require a referral from the patient’s managing doctor (General Practitioner or Psychiatrist) that includes background and history of mood disorder, as well as the specific advice (e.g. diagnosis, management) sought by that doctor or by any other managing health professional.

Referral form for your doctor [Word doc]

The referral can be faxed to (02) 9382 8510 or mailed c/- Black Dog Institute, Hospital Road, Prince of Wales Hospital, RANDWICK  NSW  2031. The clinic secretary will then call to confirm a time and date.

For any further enquiries please contact the Clinic Secretary on (02) 9382 2991.

What is the Depression Clinic?

The Depression Clinic, initially established as the Mood Disorders Unit in 1985, commenced in 2005 at the Black Dog Institute premises. It continues to provide a specialist state-wide service (in NSW).  In essence, the Clinic provides a consultancy service to health professionals (e.g. psychiatrists, general practitioners, psychologists) who are managing a patient with a mood disorder which may be persistent, only partially responsive to treatment or treatment resistant, or which would benefit from sub-typing.  Our detailed assessment will give a refined diagnosis, offer a formulation for why the patient may have developed their disorder and will suggest a “treatment paradigm” and will provide management suggestions.

• The Clinic does not take over patient management - this remains with the referring doctor.  Clinic specialists will write to the referring doctor following consultation outlining suggested management options
• No costs are involved as Clinic psychiatrists accept the Medicare rebate (thus, we need a medical referral)
• As the clinic is located within a teaching and research facility, the interviewing psychiatrist may have another (visiting or training) health practitioner sitting in on assessments

What happens at the assessment?

The Depression Clinic is generally run according to a two-stage process, involving some four hours of detailed assessment. This generally requires attendance to the Black Dog Institute on two separate occasions (or possibly once if the patient lives outside Sydney).

Patient Information Sheet [PDF, 60KB]

Referral form for your doctor [Word doc]

Stage 1 - Computer-based Mood Assessment Program (MAP)

Patients will be greeted by a staff member at the Black Dog Institute and asked to complete a computer-based assessment.  This computer-based program will ask about a range of factors that may be relevant to depression (such as anxiety, mood swings and stressful events), and will take about an hour to complete.  It can be helpful if patients bring a list of any previous drugs received (and their helpfulness) to assist completion.

The information collected in this computer-based program will be provided to the psychiatrist who will be interviewing the patient at the second appointment at the Black Dog Institute.

A staff member will be on hand to assist throughout the computer-based assessment, and will also speak to patients after the assessment to answer any questions.

As we continue to refine the decision rules, a research assistant will interview the patient about a number of diagnostic decisions.

Stage 2 - Consultation with a psychiatrist

At this interview a consultant psychiatrist will undertake a comprehensive clinical assessment, which will take approximately one hour.

The consultant psychiatrist will generally review the history taken with a senior psychiatrist and, in some cases, a psychologist to discuss the assessment and consider the most appropriate management strategies.  Tea and coffee are provided in this break, which will take approximately 20 minutes. If the assessment is relatively straightforward, the second assessment with the senior psychiatrist may not be required.

The consultant psychiatrist or the whole assessment team will then meet again with the patient to discuss treatment and management recommendations.  Patients are free at this stage to have a family member sit in.

For any enquiries please contact the Clinic Secretary on (02) 9382 2991.