What can alert the general practitioner to people whose common mental health problems are unrecognised?
OBJECTIVES: To assess the characteristics of people with common mental health problems who are recognised by their general practitioner, and those who are not. DESIGN: Two different case-finding techniques (brief self-report and structured diagnostic interview) were compared with GPs’ independent assessments of patients’ presentations as psychological and/or medical. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 371 patients in general practices in metropolitan Sydney and rural New South Wales, with follow-up telephone interview as soon as possible after the GP visit. The study was conducted from 2001 to 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall rates of disorder, measured by the 12-item Somatic and Psychological HEalth REport (SPHERE-12), and anxiety, depression and somatisation diagnostic categories of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview – Auto; rates of disability, assessed by the 12-item Short-Form (SF-12) General Health Survey’s mental (MCS) and physical component scales; GP ratings of patien
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- What aspects of psychological therapy are acceptable and not acceptable to people with severe and complex mental health problems?
- What can alert the general practitioner to people whose common mental health problems are unrecognised?
- how reliably can mental health professionals make judgments about the cause of symptoms?
