Symptom Questionnaire Validity in Assessing the Need for Psychiatrists' Care

Abstract

In recent years there have been an increasing number of attempts to survey the distribution of psychiatric morbidity, or to estimate the need for psychiatric treatment, in the general population. Various methods of defining or diagnosing psychiatric illnesses have been used (Blum, 3; Scott, 20). These methods include interviews by psychiatrists (Lin, 17; Essen-Müller, 13; Hagnell, 14); the judgment of family physicians (11; Kessel, 16; Shapiro and Fink, 21); the use of self-administered symptom check lists (White et al., 23); and structured interviews by non-psychiatrists relating to symptom occurrence, attitudes, personality scales, etc. This paper outlines an attempt to determine some of the relationships between the results of a symptom-questionnaire; the diagnoses recorded by physicians; and the physicians' request for psychiatric consultation.

Las interconsultas psiquiátricas: Análisis y comparaciones.

“…El trabajo de Richman et al (13), revela que los criterios que se utilizan para la solicitud de interconsultas no guarda relación con la gravedad de los trastornos psiquiátricos de los pacientes internados. Ellos encontraron que la proporción de pacientes con trastornos psiquiátricos severos y leves es estadísticamente similar a la proporción de los que son interconsultados al servicio.…”

Psychiatry in a postgraduate teaching hospital

“…Even medical referrals are probably an underestimate of the frequency of psychiatric disturbances (Helsborg, 1958;Culpan & Davis, 1960;Denney, Quass & Rich, 1966;Richman, Slade & Gordon, 1966). Reasons for referral It seems likely that the low rate of referral of patients from the surgical and to a lesser extent the obstetrics and gynaecology wards reflects lack of awareness of psychiatric disorders that do not interfere with routine management.…”