Write to letters@thetimes.co.ukSir, One reason why there is likely to be an overdiagnosis of common mental health conditions is that tests used for assessing patients with such problems were designed for a bygone, information-sparse age (“Labour war of words on disability benefits”, Mar 17). GPs and others often use standardised tools such as the nine-question PHQ-9 scoring sheet to assess whether patients are likely to be depressed, and the seven-question GAD-7 scoring sheet to assess whether patients may be suffering from anxiety. Although these (and other) screening sheets were tested to show they could be used to detect patients requiring further mental health assessment, they were not designed for establishing the diagnosis or determining the length of treatment of conditions. Despite this,

Source: The Times March 18, 2025 09:18 UTC