[Psychosocial strain among patients at a psychiatric emergency unit]

The frequency of psychosocial strain was systematically registered concerning 330 consecutive patients in the psychiatric emergency unit in Odense. Psychosocial strain was found in 211 patients (63.9%). In all, 551 stressful events were reported, which corresponds 2.5 per patient. Distribution of psychosocial strain by age, sex and civil status revealed no statistically significant correlation at the level of p less than 0.05, but there was a tendency towards greater strain among young persons, women and married/cohabiant patients. All those seeking education had psychosocial strain, while there were significantly fewer patients with psychosocial strain among early retirees and old age pensioners. The investigation showed that there were significantly fewer schizophrenic patients with psychosocial strain, and significantly more patients with strain were found among those with affective reactions and attempted suicides compared with the other patient categories. The most frequently occurring form of strain in all diagnosis groups was interpersonal conflict with a close person. In most cases the strain was not the result of an external catastrophe, and often the patient may himself have contributed in causing the psychosocial strain. This opens the possibility for socialpsychiatric intervention.