Symptoms of emotional distress in a family planning service: stability over a four-week period.

The 25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist ( HSCL -25) was used on two occasions four weeks apart to identify self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients attending a family planning service. Only 28 per cent of patients classified as anxious to start with remained so four weeks later, but 62 per cent of those with high depression scores and 74 per cent of those with high depression and high anxiety scores maintained significant levels of depression. The implications of these findings for routine screening are discussed.