Mental disorders in somatic diseases: psychopathology and treatment

The prevalence of various mental disorders (especially anxiety syndromes, personality disorders, and addictions--somatoform, conversion and dissociative, dysthymic and depressive) during the life span reaches even up to 30% in the general population. It is significantly higher among people suffering from various diseases due to a variety of complex reasons, such as acute or chronic reaction to severe illness, suboptimal adaptation to hospitalization or disability, side effects of pharmacotherapy, and hormonal or metabolic changes. In all likelihood, physicians of all specialties have at least a few patients with mental disorders, which are either independent of or are secondary to a treated disease. These disorders may often substantially decrease the quality of life and the progress of treatment and rehabilitation.