The Gotland Male Depression Scale has been developed to improve the recognition of major depression in males. The Gotland Male Depression Scale was compared to the Major Depression Inventory in a population of male patients treated for alcohol dependency at the Alcohol Outpatients Clinic of Copenhagen University Hospital. The prevalence of depression as well as the prescription of antidepressants were used as indices of validation. The Gotland Male Depression Scale was shown to have an adequate internal validity. The prevalence of depression according to the Major Depression Inventory was 17% and according to the Gotland Male Depression Scale 39% of the patients had a probable or definite depression and should be considered for treatment with antidepressants. The Gotland Depression Subscale was found to be better than the Gotland Distress Subscale at discriminating between patients treated and not treated with antidepressants.