Family physicians' and internists' consideration of psychosocial hypotheses during the diagnostic process

This study compared the psychosocial hypotheses generated by 12 internists and 12 family physicians as they reviewed three patient presentations with diagnoses of congestive heart failure, common duct stone, and sick sinus syndrome. Family physicians, compared to internists, produced a significantly higher proportion of psychosocial hypotheses on two of the three cases. Diagnoses considered more frequently by family physicians included anxiety, anxiety-depression, psychogenic pain, alcoholism, and other alcohol-related diseases. These results are consistent with the findings of previous studies reporting that family physicians attend to psychosocial problems to a greater degree than do internists.