Psychiatric Consultations in a General Hospital

Abstract

Psychiatric consultation in many general hospitals is regarded in much the same light as the French Revolution; it has its hazards and its critics, but tends finally to be accepted as “a Good Thing”. Various aspects of consultation have been discussed, (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (9), but the findings of Mendelson and Meyer are of particular interest, for they point out the high degree of social and family disruption in the patients seen. Elsewhere, the same authors indicate that the impetus for consultation comes, not from the patient, but from the physician, and that disturbed behaviour leads to the psychiatrist being called in (8).