Psychiatric illness and the general physician in a developing country

A prospective study is reported of the incidence, presentation, and challenge in the management of psychiatric illness in a large general hospital in Benin City, Nigeria. A sister hospital for nervous disease, Uselu, with a psychiatrist in charge, is situated a few kilometres away. Psychiatric illness was present in 363 out of 1403 patients (25%). Almost all had neurosis and they were mainly young adults with heavy social responsibilities who had failed to respond to previous medical treatments. An attempt is made to review the role of the physician in the management of these essentially psychiatric patients in general hospitals, urban and rural. The importance of having a department of psychiatry in large general hospitals is reemphasized.