"But we have treatments available that do work," Dr. Leshner added.
But, consider that of the 4,000 diseases for which we have the exact molecular basis, only 250 have treatments available.
"For anyone that doesn't get that, we have medical treatment available".
Other patients stated that they treat themselves at home if they have appropriate treatment available, or just take pain medication to relieve symptoms.
"I found a number of patients who, in fact, he had told to stop their treatment, and died when they had effective treatment available to them," he said.
If we had treatments more broadly available for depression, I would guess from my clinical experience that the rate of H.I.V. infection in this country would be cut in half at least, with enormous consequent public-health savings".
"I believe we'll see a shift toward people having effective treatments available that doctors are willing to prescribe and patients are willing to take," Dr. Krystal said.
(See http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2003/NEW00897.html) Having such treatments available earlier means that it becomes increasingly difficult to collect information on the natural history of the untreated condition.
Unfortunately, few of these conditions have effective treatments available.
A few (15.3%) had given treatments available at home, commonly from previous consultations.
