Psychosomatic patients in a psychiatric clinic

This study reports lifetime prevalence of certain "psychosomatic disorders" in psychiatric patients in India. The "psychosomatic disorders" studied were peptic ulcer, bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, ischemic heart disease and irritable bowel syndrome. One percent of psychiatric patients had these psychosomatic illnesses. Ten of the fifteen cases had two psychosomatic illnesses. Patients with psychosomatic disorders were significantly more often older in age (p = 0.003) and from an urban background (p = 0.05) as compared to other psychiatric patients. Depression was the commonest diagnosis, and was significantly (p = 0.01) more often diagnosed in the psychosomatic patients. Psychosis was not diagnosed in patients with psychosomatic disorders. This article emphasizes the need for identifying concomitant psychosomatic problems in psychiatric patients for their appropriate management.