The analysis, by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, of antidepressant prescriptions (not including refills) written after doctors talked with patients in-person or over the phone found that in 2005:

• 29 percent of prescriptions were written by psychiatrists �?medical doctors who specialize in the treatment of mental disorders.
  
  
• 23 percent came from general practitioners �?physicians who provide primary care but are specialty-trained.
  
  
• 21 percent came from family practitioners �?primary care physicians who complete a residency in family medicine.
  
  
• 10 percent came from internal medicine specialists �?physicians who complete a residency in internal medicine and who focus on the diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of adults with illnesses that are difficult to diagnose or manage.