there is considerable diversity in strategies for primary carebased treatment of mildtomoderate disorders between oecd countries and strategic approaches differ based on the organisation of the mental health system and primary care provision as well as in many instances following the idiosyncrasies of individual primary care practices glied et al treating mildtomoderate mental disorders in primary care is less costly for health systems than treatment by specialists or by most specialist services who and wonca with sufficient increase in coverage depression treatments in primary care were found to be an effective use of health resources even in resourcepoor settings chisholm et al as well as bringing economic benefits through helping return to work and improved productivity oecd more effective treatment of mental disorders in primary care can contribute to fewer inappropriate referrals to more expensive specialist care services nice