Estimated costs of neurotic disorder in UK general practice 1985.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Wilkinson.
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The literature on referral of patients by GPs to psychiatrists and mental health specialists is examined. Referrals to psychiatrists account for 3% of all those made by GPs, but the individual rates vary widely. The proportion of patients referred to psychiatrists and paramedical mental health workers in general practice is unknown, but probably substantial.
Two-stage screening for minor psychiatric morbidity was carried out with a consecutive sample of 256 patients aged 15-69 consulting an experienced GP in a semirural setting over a seven-week period. Patients completed a short GHQ, and the GP made a standardised assessment of the reason for consultation and the degree of psychological disorder. A 40% random subsample were evaluated using PROQSY, a newly developed computerised psychiatric assessment based on the CIS. PROQSY is acceptable to patients in general practice, and yields an estimate of the prevalence of minor psychiatric morbidity (33%), and validity indices for the 12-item, 28-item, and 30-item GHQs, comparable with those found in similar studies, when the CIS has been administered by an interviewer. PROQSY may be recommended as a research tool, providing a criterion measure of minor psychiatric morbidity in general practice, where it may reduce time and manpower, and eliminate interviewer bias.
A questionnaire on general practitioners' use of community psychiatric nursing services was sent to a random sample of 100 general practitioners in two contrasting areas, Croydon and Cambridgeshire. General adult services were widely available though used less often by Cambridgeshire general practitioners than Croyden doctors. Apart from services for the elderly, specialist services were uncommon. Over a third of doctors reported that their adult services were based in a psychiatric hospital. Less than a quarter of general practitioners had access to primary care based nurses. The pattern of responses demonstrates the wide variety of ways in which general practitioners relate to community psychiatric nurses, even where the psychiatric nursing services are long-established. There remains a need for more consistent and coherent policies about the ways in which community psychiatric nurses are employed in primary care.
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Patterns of consultation for physical illness were analysed in a body of consultation data covering a continuous 20 year period from a single general practitioner in south London. Three groups of adult patients were identified: patients with a psychiatric disorder and a new prescription for a psychotropic drug; patients with a psychiatric disorder but no new prescription for a psychotropic drug; and a control group without psychiatric disorder. The percentages of patients having one or more consultation for physical illnesses were stable over the years studied, being roughly 90%, 85%, and 60% respectively. For groups identified in 1972 their patterns of consultation for physical illness were examined in 1957, 1962, and annually from 1967 to 1976. In every year studied except 1957 the group with a psychiatric disorder and a new prescription for a psychotropic drug exceeded both other groups in the percentage of patients having one or more consultations for physical illnesses. Both groups with psychiatric disorders had an excess of consultations over the control group; this excess halved in about four years for the group with a new prescription and in about one year for the group without a new prescription. Mental health care by general practitioners for patients with psychiatric disorders does not seem to have an offset effect on general health care of these patients.
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A videotape-assisted simulated consultation model was used in a pilot study comparing range of assessment and treatment decisions made by trainee general practitioners and trainee psychiatrists in response to two cases representing women with depressive disorders. The doctors were studied individually in their consulting rooms or offices. In relation to the methods of analysis chosen, levels of agreement within and between the two groups of trainees were generally low. The findings are discussed in relation to previous similar work undertaken with experienced clinicians studied in groups.
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A meta-analysis of studies was carried out to compare treatment by specialist mental health professionals in the general practice setting and 'usual GP treatment'. Overall, treatment by specialist mental health professionals had a 10% greater success rate.
This paper describes the development, validation and use of a computerized assessment for minor psychiatric disorder based on the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS; Goldberg et al. 1970). There was good agreement between the computerized assessment and the CIS administered by psychiatrists, both in assessing overall severity and in defining 'cases' of psychiatric disorder. Individual symptoms elicited by the computer and the CIS were compared, and the levels of agreement found were similar to those from inter-observer studies of standardized interviews. Subjects from a variety of non-psychiatric settings regarded the assessment as acceptable, accurate and easy to use. It is concluded that this computerized assessment of neurotic symptoms is valid and reliable. It eliminates observer bias, it is an efficient use of research resources and it may have clinical applications in primary care.
The authors interviewed 428 pathologically confirmed cases of colon cancer and controls matched on age, sex, race, and neighborhood in the New York counties containing the cities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Rochester. Risk of colon cancer in both males and females, studied separately, appeared to increase with the amount of total fats and total calories ingested. In addition, we found the risk to increase with increases in the Quetelet index of relative weight (weight (kg)/height (m)2). Dietary fiber was only equivocally associated with risk. Fats and Quetelet index were associated with increased risk in a regression analysis adjusting each factor for the other, as well as for fiber, age, and socioeconomic status. The same was true for calories and Quetelet index. Future efforts to clarify a possible protective role for fiber and to disentangle the effects of fats and calories need to be undertaken. The fact that calories ingested and obesity are each associated with increased risk suggests the importance of studying calorie expenditure.
A two-stage screening strategy was used to study psychiatric morbidity and social problems in a consecutive series of out-patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was 18%, and consisted of depression, anxiety, and attendant symptoms. Patients reporting major social problems had significantly higher levels of psychiatric symptoms. Psychiatric morbidity was not associated with the presence of complications of diabetes.
A straightforward test for detecting clustering in patterns of parasuicide in individual patients is described and applied to data from the Edinburgh Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre.
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