The medical care of psychiatric patients

Longitudinal and cross-sectional data have demonstrated a high incidence of physical illness among psychiatric patient populations. Problems involved in the treatment of medically ill psychiatric patients include the nonspecificity of psychiatric symptoms, the inadequacy of previous examinations by a nonpsychiatric physician to rule out the possibility of physical disease causing psychiatric symptoms, and the patient's lack of awareness of current or pre-existing physical disease when consulting the psychiatrist. The following review examines nine categories of medical disorders that are known to produce psychiatric symptoms, with discussion of the psychiatric manifestations. Implications for current practice and training are briefly considered.