Psychiatric illness in family practice

Area of Science:

• Family Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Emotional distress is a significant concern in primary care settings.
• Identifying and quantifying psychiatric illness in family practice is crucial for effective patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of symptom-based psychiatric illness (emotional distress) in a family practice setting.
• To assess the concordance between physician and patient ratings of emotional distress.
• To understand the treatment preferences for patients experiencing high distress.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted on 120 patients from each of 6 family practices.
• Physician ratings and patient self-assessments using the abbreviated Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25) were used to evaluate emotional distress.
• Concordance analysis was performed on the assessment data.

Main Results:

• Nineteen percent of patients were identified by physicians as experiencing high distress.
• Twenty-one percent of patients reported high distress on the HSCL-25.
• A high concordance rate of 86.7% was observed between physician and patient assessments of distress.

Conclusions:

• Emotional distress is prevalent in family practice patients.
• Physician and patient perspectives on emotional distress largely align.
• Pharmacotherapy is frequently the preferred treatment for patients with high levels of emotional distress.