Attitudes to psychiatry in the general hospital

A survey of consultant attitudes to psychiatry in six general hospitals is presented and compared with reported findings in general practitioners and medical students.Psychological factors were accepted as important in a variety of medical conditions. Different specialties differed little in their attitudes to neurotic patients and to psychiatrists, younger consultants tending to be more critical. Consultants had a lower level of neuroticism than the general population and medical students, and physicians were less extraverted than surgeons; these personality factors were not related to expressed attitudes.The results suggest that other specialties accept the role of psychiatry, and its integration into the general hospital is not likely to meet with antagonism.